Lake Mead’s Iconic Vertical Speedboat Removed
Posted on: August 6, 2025, 11:35h.
Last updated on: August 6, 2025, 01:03h.
- An abandoned speedboat sunk in Lake Mead has been removed from near the shoreline
- Nicknamed “The Monolith of Lake Mead,” the boat rose to attention in 2022 when the water level in Lake Mead dropped 188 feet due to climate change
Was it really just an eyesore, as National Park Officials claimed? Or was the so-called “Monolith of Lake Mead” a beneficial reminder to visitors, and the world at large, of the pending water catastrophe faced by the 40 million people who depend on the slowly vanishing Colorado River for sustenance?
Either way, it was removed on July 25 as part of the Love Lake Mead program, an effort to remove debris and restore the shoreline of the lake to its natural character.
We understand that some were curious about the abandoned boat in the Las Vegas area,” Lake Mead Superintendent Mike Gauthier said in a statement to KLAS-TV/Las Vegas. “But the boat, like other abandoned boats, was also viewed as an eyesore and nuisance — and poorly represented the quality of boating recreation at Lake Mead.”
Gauthier first made known his impression of the sunken icon during a virtual community meeting in September 2023.
“We don’t want our visual to be abandoned boats,” he said. “We want our visual to be people having a great time at the lake.”
Drought of Sight
The vertical speedboat, stuck stern-down in the since-hardened bottom where it landed decades ago, plummeted as much as 174 feet from where the Lake Mead surface was at full capacity from 1983 to 1999.
The Monolith of Lake Mead first garnered attention when it surfaced for the first time in the summer of 2022, when Lake Mead dropped 188 feet from its full capacity due to climate change. In fact, it became the symbol of the crisis, much as the unfinished Fontainebleau became the symbol of the Great Recession in nearby Las Vegas. Hikers hunted it down as a background for their social-media selfies.
“This was our Statue of Liberty,” one fan wrote on Facebook.
The 112-mile-long lake near Las Vegas has seen an average decline of six feet per year since 2000, exposing boats and the bodies of missing people, though recent conservation efforts have led to temporary rises.
Projections suggest the lake could drop to 1,041.06 feet by May 2027, nearing the 2022 record low, with a potential worst-case drop to 1,030 feet.
Last Comments ( 5 )
Due to climate change
I agree with Andy C. To write that the lake levels have dropped "due to climate change" is very misleading and almost seems agenda driven. It's fair to include the lake feeds a city of excess built in the middle of a desert. Also, the dam supplies more than it what was ever intended to should be mentioned before "climate change."
Richard, Yes, a lot of lakes are "seasonal", depending on snowmelt, consumption and evaporation. But, The Colorado River flows have been declining for decades, and so have Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Please, check the snowpack for the high mountain peaks for the last 40 years in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Arizona. I think you will find, of the last 26 years, the Upper Colorado River Basin tributaries have been lower because of warmer winters and drier summers in the west. The Green, Yampa, Blue, Eagle, Gunnison, San Juan, Delores, The Little Colorado, Gila and Virgin Rivers have all suffered. The Lower Colorado River Basin tributaries, The Concho River, Pecan Bayou, San Saba River, the Llano River, Sandy Creek, Pendernales River and Onion creek are all spring fed streams except for Pecan Bayou which flows from Texas.
More people use the water and population has soared in past 40 yrs...not everything is "climate change" caused. The climate continously changes and this is a man made lake! It's not natural to begin with.
It’s a seasonal reservoir where water fluctuates throughout the seasons and over the years. There is no evidence the low water levels are “due to climate change.” Stop perpetuating this myth.