I don't know how it came to me to wonder about Atlantis - the lost sunken city. The Lion City — aka Shi Cheng — was once a major metropolis, an economic and political powerhouse in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, established about 1300 years ago, so there are spectacular stone carvings on the facades of temples and prominent buildings.
In 1959 it was submerged under an artificial lake and hydroelectric power station - its inhabitants were evacuated from their homes, and Shi Cheng stood at the bottom of an enormous man-made lake, now known as Thousand Island Lake.
Tourism seems to be the key to this story - this submerged city is an attraction to divers. So there are many articles on how to get there, where to stay, etc. Most of the pictures are from The Chinese National Geography Magazine (its own version of National Geographic) made a special dive to photograph the beautiful ancient temple and other ruins. One might consider it ‘China’s Atlantis.’ Being a lake, it is dangerous, cold and dark as one descends. Dive lights are mandatory as it becomes a night dive in the ruins 80 to 130 feet below.
I wondered if there was anything equivalent in the U.S. There are many 'drowned towns' in the U.S, again through dams and power stations. One of the most noteworthy is St. Thomas, Nevada, which had a population of 500 at its peak. It was flooded in the 1930s when the Hoover Dam was created and 60 feet of water covered it. However, it has reappeared with drought. In 2005, parts of 40 buildings were visible. Now the town is back on land and has become a tourist destination.
St. Thomas had a railroad line through it, so made me look at the layout below with a fresh perspective of something lost and then found.
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