Mile 12.3, Colorado River, Upstream View from River Left (Stake 754)
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23 December 1889
From a rocky talus slope, Nims captured this view of a bend in the river with a large sandbar along the right bank. He was standing approximately at the top of the old high-water zone, an area of bank swept clean of vegetation by pre-dam floods. A large netleaf hackberry is visible at right center. The shrubs in the foreground may be Mormon tea. The image was taken from the same camera station as Stake 753.
Photo credit: Franklin A. Nims, 57-RS-239, courtesy of The National Archives
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11 June 1975
This view captures only the central portion of Nims’ original; the other images have not been cropped down to this field of view. Tamarisk is now growing on both sides of the river corridor, including on the formerly barren sandbar. Bare talus cones, remnants of dam construction, are now present in the center of the image, and two large power poles are visible on the top of the cliffs.
Photo credit: Raymond M. Turner
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19 December 1989
Raymond M. Turner
This image, which more completely matches Nims’ view, was flashed during development, but some information can still be determined. In addition, the camera stage has not been lowered and appears at the bottom of this wide-angle image. The tamarisk is leafless in the winter season, but appears to be similar in cover to that of 1975, in spite of scouring during the 1983 and 1984 high-flow releases. Foreground vegetation include netleaf hackberry, longleaf brickellbush, pepperweed, and four-wing saltbush.
Photo credit: Raymond M. Turner
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21 April 2011
Netleaf hackberry and four-wing saltbush dominate the foreground of the view, and pepperweed has increased considerably. Many of the tamarisk appear to have died back. A boat is anchored where the sandbar once was emergent along the left shoreline.
Photo credit: Bill Lemke
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