Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam. Undated photo for Historical American Engineering Record survey, courtesy Library of Congress

This is part of a Library of Congress collection of photographs taken as part of the Historical American Engineering Record surveys, an amazing body of documentation of America’s built environment. The pictures in this LOC on line archive aren’t dated, but my best guess based on clues (a distinctive URL) is 1987. Mead was close to full that year. I’d love it if any of y’all can suss out other clues to help me figure out if that’s right (lookin’ at you, DG).

Lake Mead Then and Now

I don’t have any pictures from the same vantage point from my most recent trip, but here’s one from the same side, a bit up river and looking back toward the intake towers, taken in February. If I’m right about the dates, Mead’s surface elevation was between 1,205 and 1,210 feet above sea level in 1987 when the above picture was taken. When I took mine in February, it was somewhere around 1,089, 120 feet lower. It’s currently at 1,078, more than 10 feet lower than when I took this picture:

Hoover Dam, February 2015, by John Fleck

Here’s another of the HAER images, taken by photographer Jet Lowe, with an angle similar to my shot to allow a better comparison:

Hoover Dam, HAER, by Jet Lowe, courtesy Library of Congress

One key lesson (in addition to the fact that we’re using too much water downstream) is that Jet Lowe is a much better photographer than I. But it’s hard to take a bad picture of Hoover Dam.