Last year, Folsom Lake in California receded due to drought until Mormon Island, a once submerged ghost town, reemerged. According to Fox 40, “Visitors (could) now see building foundations, bricks, broken pottery and rusty nails that were all once part of Mormon Island.”
This isn’t the only Latter-day Saint ghost town that was submerged by water.
Thistle, near Spanish Fork, was flooded and is now almost entirely gone. This year, Lake Mead’s water level receded because of the drought, revealing several bodies but also the once-settled town of St. Thomas. The town of Grafton, Utah, was flooded in 1862, leading to its eventual decline — and subsequent usage as a film set for Western towns.
Mormon Island was entirely submerged, but before that happened, this small town thrived in some respects.
According to Only in Your State, Mormon Island was once one of the largest towns during the gold rush era — two members of the Mormon Battalion settled this area and eventually, it was populated by hotels, homes and stores.
Atlas Obscura details the extent of the settlement: It “had a population of 2,500 and was the stopping point on the stage line between Sacramento and Coloma. There were four hotels, seven saloons, a winery, post office, school, cemetery, and numerous shops (including one operated by Sam Brannan, California’s first millionaire and the man credited with publicizing the discovery of gold, later a California senator).”
The town emerged because W. Sidney, S. Willis and Wilford Hudson went out in March 1848 to hunt deer and struck gold, according to the Office of Historic Preservation in California. Even though the town quickly developed, a fire destroyed the town less than a decade after it was founded and the town was never rebuilt.
Then, the Folsom Dam was built in 1955, which flooded the area.
Fox 40 reported that in 2021, the town had emerged again because of the drought. It wasn’t the first time this happened — the town was also visible in 2015. Only in Your State reported that when the town is visible, there are several artifacts that can be seen.
Droughts continue to expose the ruins of the past and Mormon Island is no exception.