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The Salton Sea region was part of the Gulf of California until about 4.4 million years ago. The Colorado River silt eventually blocked off the gulf and separated the region from the Pacific Ocean.

Over the centuries at least 5 lakes occupied the basin where the current Salton Sea lies.

The Salton Sea was created between 1905 and 1907 when the Colorado River broke through diversion canals in the irrigation system in Imperial County.

The Salton Sea near the Mexican border in Southern California has been at various levels for three million years. Technically a "saline lake," it is saltier than the ocean, though slightly less salty than the Great Salt Lake. The basin was nearly dry until the beginning of the 1900s when failed irrigation canals diverted the Colorado River into the large basin, and the raging river brought the snowmelt from the Rockies into the Salton Sea.

The engineers from the Southern Pacific railroad were unable to stem the waterfall that the river created. By petitioning Congress and President Roosevelt, the engineers received the "battleship" loads of rock they needed to block the hole, however, it took more than six months before they diverted the river again. The Salton Sea had grown larger than Lake Tahoe to its current size of about 15 miles wide and 35 miles long.

At first, it was unclear that this lake was a nuisance. The Sea was a productive fishery during the 40s, and with post-war wealth became a popular tourist spot in the 50s with resorts, beach-front homes, and water skiing.

But the incredible salinity of the lake and the heavy agriculture of Southern California slowly destroyed the ecosystem. Runoff from farms polluted the sea, and many of the fish species, save the hardy tilapia, could not survive, while migratory birds were poisoned with botulism and other lethal bacteria.

In the 1950s and '60s, Bombay Beach in California was a thriving resort. Guests swam, water-skied, and golfed during the day, then headed to the yacht club to party into the night.

Now, Bombay Beach is a bleached, rusted, abandoned wasteland. The water smells of salt, petrol, and rotting fish. The shores, once lined with sunbathers, are covered in green sludge and desiccated fish carcasses. It's an apocalyptic landscape.

To understand how this place turned from paradise to purgatory, you need to know the story of Salton Sea. Bombay Beach lies not on the west coast, but in the Colorado Desert. In 1905, the Colorado River swelled, breached its levees, and flooded the desert valley known as the Salton Sink. The water flowed for two years, creating a 15- by 35-mile lake dubbed the Salton Sea.

Though the creation of this inland sea — the largest lake in California — was an accident, it initially appeared to deliver substantial benefits. Birds flocked to the area, and fish thrived in the Salton Sea. Developers seized upon the rare setting and branded it the "Salton Riviera," a "miracle in the desert." Hotels, yacht clubs, homes, and schools sprang up along the shores as the Salton Sea became a resort destination. But disaster loomed.

By the late 1970s, the ecosystem was deteriorating rapidly. With no drainage outlet, almost zero yearly rainfall, and runoff flowing in from nearby farms, the sea was polluted with pesticides and saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Periodic flooding brought the poisoned water further ashore. Depleted oxygen in the sea killed scores of fish and dragged their rotting bodies onto the beach, where they shriveled in the sun. As they decomposed, the sand became coated in a layer of fragmented fish skeletons.

Hints of the Salton Sea's heyday still litter the shores. Boarded-up motels, rusting boat frames, and cracked concrete swimming pools covered in graffiti are a few of the sights that remain. People do live here — Bombay Beach is home to around 250 residents, who travel the barren landscape by golf cart and must drive 40 miles to stock up on groceries.

There is one part of the Salton Sea that's shiny and new: the North Shore Yacht Club, long abandoned, was refurbished in 2010 and opened as a community center. The cheery, brightly colored building is an odd sight among a landscape of bones and sludge.

T200 wrote:I've been wanting to go to the Salton Sea for a while.

There is a great documentary (I think John Waters was the narrator) about it called Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea. Good shit. Was on Netflix years ago so probably still is I guess.

Bob Wildes wrote:

T200 wrote:I've been wanting to go to the Salton Sea for a while.

There is a great documentary (I think John Waters was the narrator) about it called Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea. Good shit. Was on Netflix years ago so probably still is I guess.

Yes, I saw it a few years ago. Val Kilmer is in it.

I don't recall any of it, so it isn't spectacular, but I gave it 5 stars so I oviously liked it at the time.

Bedlam 0-0-0 wrote: