Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

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Bigskyguy1976
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Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Bigskyguy1976 »

Has anyone heard of this at all?

I heard snippets of this years ago and have often thought about going to look for myself.

The rumor was that the old town of Vantage (before the Wanupum Dam flooded the area) is still there. Seems reasonable to me that it would be a recreational depths but probably wicked current if the dam is discharging water.

I have dove in Wanapum LK before further upstream (below the Gorge). Viz was about 10' moderate current, lots of fish checking me out and the columnar basalt formations were cool to look at. Oh, and it is a treat to dive in fresh water from time to time.

Ok, I'll quite rambling on. Just curious is anyone else has heard of diving off the old town of Vantage?
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Nwcid »

I have not heard of that but we would be interested as that is right in my area of weekly travel.
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Mateo1147
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Mateo1147 »

If you can find more information about location I'm in. I live an hour and a half from there and it would be cool. In the winter the viz will be better and less river flow also.
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loanwolf
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by loanwolf »

Hard to say what is down their. the current USGS maps do not show it. Best to get a hold of the USGS and get a hold of a pre 1960 map that shows the roads and town. May make a good scooter run and follow the road down. Better to know the layout first buy getting a hold of the old map.
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Dusty2
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Dusty2 »

A quick scan of the historical write ups produced some interesting reading. Did you know that when the new bridge opened they took the old bridge out and reassembled it to cross the snake river gorge at Lyons ferry. How about that! Recycling in the 60's and you thought it was something new!

Anyway I found the info for the regional off of the lands use office and they might be able to give you some good info on the site.
Regional Contact Information
Region 2
1550 Alder Street NW
Ephrata, Washington 98823-9699
Office Hours: Monday - Friday
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Telephone (509) 754-4624
Fax (509) 754-5257
TeamEphrata@dfw.wa.gov
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kdupreez
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by kdupreez »

I take its open to boaters?

Take a boat out there and do some side and down scanning to see whats down there.

would be kinda cool to go checkout.
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loanwolf
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by loanwolf »

It is open to boaters, the boat launch is the old road on the west side. Long ways to tow a boat and kind of out now that winter has hit.
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Bigskyguy1976
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Bigskyguy1976 »

I would take my 26-foot open deck centerconsole dive boat there if some people wanted to go in the spring. I dont have very good sonar on it though (yet).

I'll dig and do some more research.

I'm located in Tacoma btw.
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lirpa246
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by lirpa246 »

I'd love to hear more about this if you figure it out!
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by LowDrag »

This definitely sounds cool. I will be watching with interest.
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kdupreez
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by kdupreez »

Its unclear if they removed / demolished the site prior to filling the reservoir.

Sounds like its only 50ft deep at the old town location

(Thanks Ben Griner for passing on this link)

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM87 ... Washington

Back then:
Image

Today:
Image
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loanwolf
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by loanwolf »

Great find you guys. Hard to say what it there? At least the foundations should be there but who knows.
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Nwbrewer
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Nwbrewer »

That's awesome! Good find!
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Rooinater
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Rooinater »

There's not a lot of articles about it that I could find. The old cement sections of the old bridge are supposedly still there. Everything else I could find so far mentions relocation of the town. As to whether that means removal of all buildings, I'm not sure. From the sounds of it they discharged a lot of water fast from grand coulee to rapidly fill the new lake and people had to leave.

So it's completely plausible, some of it is still there. I contacted someone I know that does maps and property boundries for a living to see if there is any aerial photography or maps available in the state archive. I'll see how that pans out. The same person mentioned something about several other towns underwater in a previous conversation about eastern washington.

Comparing google earth, to that above image that certainly looks like the boat launch is the road to town. Anyone interested in slinging a stage and scooting out there next month with me?
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kdupreez
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by kdupreez »

I could be convinced to take a side scanner out there in the spring. I'm not sure if trailering a boat is a good idea in winter weather.
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CaptnJack
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by CaptnJack »

kdupreez wrote:I could be convinced to take a side scanner out there in the spring. I'm not sure if trailering a boat is a good idea in winter weather.
What kind of sidescan do you have available? I have a Burton on extended loan, but its not easy to produce useful data. And it needs to be flat calm - not typical for the Gorge.
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kdupreez
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by kdupreez »

Lowrance Structurescan

at 50ft it should produce some pretty good images. I'd be hesitant to take a towfish out there without knowing whats down there first. hooking something with a burton could get expensive :)
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CaptnJack
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by CaptnJack »

The Burton is not that deep running to be an issue.
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airsix
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by airsix »

I'm pretty sure I talked to someone 15-20 years ago who's dived it and said there were only foundations and a bit of rubble. I could be wrong, but that's what I seem to remember.
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Tom Nic
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Tom Nic »

I remember seeing an article of folks who dove it.

Don't remember where.

But I thought it was on NWDC......??

Too lazy / busy to look.
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CaptnJack
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by CaptnJack »

I'd be willing to give it a shot. Does the lake ever freeze up solid enough for an ice dive? If not then summer since I have no desire to tow a boat over the pass in winter.
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Bigskyguy1976
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Bigskyguy1976 »

wow, i have not looked in on this post in a while. You guys have dug up some great info!
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Mateo1147
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Mateo1147 »

CaptnJack wrote:I'd be willing to give it a shot. Does the lake ever freeze up solid enough for an ice dive? If not then summer since I have no desire to tow a boat over the pass in winter.
The river never freezes up even in the coldest winters. Late winter would actually be your best dive window though. Lowest flows and least green gunk / run off to deal with.
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Rooinater »

Sat down and talked to my grandparents about the old vantage this weekend. They grew up in eastern WA, Grandma's dad used to be a sheep herder out near Quincy in the early 1900's. Grandpa says you won't find much there, and grandma had a video from the Grant County PUD about the bridges. I figured I'd share some screen shots from the video of the flooding. It looks like primarily it would only be the old bridge pilings, a few scattered buildings and maybe a few cars that got stuck in the rising water. Grandma did mention an old spanish stone castle that she doesn't think was removed upstream from Wenatchee by where they herded sheep. She said next time I come over for the summer she'll take me out that way and show me about where it was. The orchard near by kept the name Spanish Castle Orchard as well to this day.

Current day, with the contours of the land down to the old river bed.
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As the water rises, a few buildings possibly present.
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A few cars getting stuck in the rising water, and possibly the top of a building to the left.
Image
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Rooinater
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Re: Diving the OLD town of Vantage??

Post by Rooinater »

A large majority of the residents during the construction of the Dam, were in trailers as well. With the more permanent residents in the few buildings.
Image
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