Drought Uncovers 19th Century Wagon and Oregon Town Remnants

While western and central Oregon currently have fall rainfall, four years of drought on the West Coast mean that unexpected things have cropped up in the area. For one thing, officials in the town of Detroit, Oregon recently discovered the remains of another town that was submerged by a reservoir 60 or more years ago, as the Statesman Journal reported.

In 1953, the tiny town of Old Detroit's 200 residents left behind their homes, because Congress had put through a nearby dam that would flood the area. The resulting reservoir is currently known as Detroit Lake.

Over the years, various things have risen out of falling water levels in the reservoir. But this year's level is at a record low, which revealed a 19th century wagon in mud when a local sheriff's deputy drove past in October.

"I went on a treasure hunt down along the river, figuring I'd find foundations or something like that," Marion County Sheriff's Deputy Dave Zahn said to the Statesman Journal. "Then I saw a piece of old history right there."

Last winter the area had little to no snow, which caused the lake's level to fall to the lowest point in nearly 50 years, about 143 feet below capacity.

"As far as I know, the wagon's never been seen until this year," U.S. Forest Service archaeologist Cara Kelly said in the Statesman Journal article. "This might not have been its original resting place...It could've come from anywhere in the town of Detroit or even up the drainage."

The wagon has been identified as one made in 1875 by the Toledo, Ohio Milburn Wagon Company. That was one of the nation's largest manufacturers of wagons then.
Low oxygen levels at the lake bottom have nearly perfectly preserved the wagon.

Also in October, the ruins of a 450-year-old church were revealed by drought in Mexico's Chiapas state. It was built by Dominican monks near a highway used by conquistadors, but abandoned in the 18th century, as the Smithsonian reported.

All that said, locals in Oregon and Chiapas likely would rather not suffer the drought.
"Hopefully it will be another 40 years before Detroit's this low again," Zahn said in the newspaper article.

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