LAKE MEAD BECOMES A PLAYGROUND

"THE LAKE BECOMES A PLAYGROUND" BY GORDON C. BALDWIN

Vast Lake Mead, with a shoreline of 550 miles, offers a wealth of recreational op portunities and is becoming one of the West's popular and publicized playgrounds.

The Lake Mead-Boulder Dam Area-this is the west's newest and largest recreational area, a region replete with scenic and scientific wonders, including Lake Mead, Boulder Dam, the Valley of Fire, Rampart Cave, Columbine Falls, Devil's Paint Pots, Fortification Hills, Iceberg Canyon, the western Grand Canyon, and hundreds of others equally as magnificent.

Turquoise blue water in a land of vividly colored desert canyons and mountains, an unbelievable lake in the desert, that is the distinctive and surprising feature of this unique National Park Service unit, the Boulder Dam National Recreational Area.

Early in the construction of Boulder Dam it was realized that there would be extensive recreational possibilities around the lake to be formed behind the dam. Thus in 1936 an interbureau agreement was drawn up between the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service, both agencies of the Department of the Interior. Under the terms of this agreement Boulder Dam, Boulder City, and the engineering activities were retained under the control of the Bureau of Reclamation which had constructed them, while the National Park Service was given jurisdiction over the newly created Boulder Dam National Recreational Area, including 2700 square miles of desert and mountain in Arizona and Nevada, with Lake Mead as the central feature. In this vast region it is the aim of the National Park Service to develop recreational facilities and to protect the natural features and wildlife in much the same manner as they are protected in the national park and monuments.

Today Boulder Dam has finally tamed the wild Colorado River and has changed the entire picture of these lower Colorado River canyons. Boulder Dam not only provides flood control, silt control, water conservation, and electric power, but also furnishes a year round scenic playground area of mountains, desert, canyons, and water. Lake Mead, with a shoreline of more than 550 miles, extends 115 miles upstream from Boulder Dam, forming the largest artificial lake in the world.

As we look off across the shimmering blue water of the lake today, it is a little difficult to visualize a time when there was no lake here, with nothing but barren desert valleys and mountains to catch the eye. Now power boats traverse the length and breadth of the lake, sending up cascading showers of spray hundreds of feet above the forever buried rocks and ridges of the former valleys.

Perhaps the most striking feature of this area is Boulder Dam, a lasting monument to modern engineering genius, the world's high est dam, towering 727 feet above its foundations. Highway 93 from Kingman crosses the very top of the dam and observation lookouts on both sides permit excellent views of the dam and Black Canyon. No trip to the area is complete without a tour through the dam itself, with Bureau of Reclamation guides explaining the amazing array of facts and figures on the dam and power plant.

Lake Mead, however, represents the central attraction in the Boulder Dam area, with swimming, fishing, and boating holding the major interests. Bathing conditions are ideal during the spring, summer, and fall months, water temperatures ranging from 75 to 90 degrees. Excellent beaches have been constructed at a number of points on the lake, particularly at Boulder Beach, Las Vegas Wash, and Overton, and equipped with free dressing rooms, diving floats and barges, floodlights in the evening, and lifeguards. Adjacent to the Boulder Beach area is a modern trailer and tent campground surrounded with shade trees, and lodge facilities are located nearby along the lake shore.

Lake Mead offers some of the finest bass fishing to be found anywhere in the west. The lake has been adequately stocked with large-mouth black bass, blue-gill, and crappie; catches of six-, seven-, and eight-pounders are frequently reported, and even larger bass, up to thirteen pounds, fourteen ounces, have been officially recorded. The thrill of tying into one of these giant bass is an experience long to be remembered. In addition to bass fishing in Lake Mead there is also excellent rainbow trout fishing in the Colorado River for 50 miles below Boulder Dam. Here one has the unique experience of trout fishing In the clear, cold waters of the Colorado River in the middle of the desert. Three and four pound rainbows are the usual fisherman's luck in this most unusual stream. Catfish are also plentiful in Lake Mead and the lower Colorado River and range from two to 20 pounds in weight. Incidentally, fishing is permitted the year round on Lake Mead and the Colorado River below Boulder Dam. When your favorite trout stream is closed for the winter, then head for Lake Mead and the Colorado River.

Boating is exceedingly popular on Lake Mead with more than three hundred privately owned boats showing that their owners are taking full advantage of the year round boating opportunities offered here on the desert. Boats of all sizes, from small fishing craft to large cruisers, are also available for fishing and scenic charter trips. From the Boulder boat dock regularly scheduled trips take one across the lower basin of the lake past rugged Fortification Hill and the bril liantly colored Devil's Paint Pots into Black Canyon to the upper face of the dam and return.

Perhaps the best way to see the greater part of this scenic area is by boat. If you have a boat of your own by all means bring it and explore Lake Mead and its interesting shore at your leisure. Lake Mead has now opened up more than 100 miles of hitherto little known and practically inaccessible desert valleys and canyons, each with a charm all its own. One of the most spectacular and scenic boat trips in the world is that from Boulder Dam up lake about 100 miles into the western Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. This trip takes you across immense inland lakes and through narrow winding canyons, every turn of the lake a new wonder.