BY HABEAB KURDI
Special to the Lake Travis View
The steady recession of Lake Travis recently revealed vehicles missing for decades. Because the lake levels continue to drop, more artifacts, archeological history, and junk could pop up in the coming weeks.

Two cars and a motorcycle — all reported stolen — were recovered from the lake recently, and ancient Indian pottery and buffalo bones have come about as well. With historic sites like Lohman’s Crossing and old building foundations lurking in the depths along with debris in the murky waters, it is extremely difficult to search the lake further with divers despite the low lake levels, according to Roger Wade, spokesman for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
Although receding water levels are negatively impacting the area, a further loss of water could mean more things jutting out of the water’s surface.
“There is all kind of debris in Lake Travis, rumor has it there’s even a house that’s still down there intact,” Wade said. “There’s trees and shrubs and oil drums — you name it, it’s probably down at the bottom of Lake Travis.”
When Mansfield Dam was completed in 1941 to create Lake Travis and contain floodwaters, the now-lake bed was not cleared away, leaving many hazards on the lake bottom, Wade said.
As the lake hit drought-level lows in 2000 and again in 2007, many historical treasures revealed themselves in Lake Travis, and as the lake starts to dip below those levels more and more things are peeking out of the water this summer, according to Lower Colorado River Authority archaeologist Dan Prikryl. Prikryl and others focused on Lake Travis in 2000 and 2007, so this year they are focused on other areas like Lake Buchanan, but they ‘have an eye on Lake Travis’ in case it recedes even more beyond its current levels, which is likely (current level: 637.67 feet above mean sea level on July 27, July avg.: 668.96). According to the LCRA, inflow to the Highland Lakes remains near the lowest on record.
“We starting to see an Indian campsite that has buffalo bones and broken pieces of Indian pottery; that’s one of the most exciting discoveries we’ve had,” Prikryl said. “It probably dates between 1200 AD and 1500 AD, and they were probably exposed in 2000 but in areas we didn’t have time to get back then.”
More attention came to what lies under the lake when officials earlier in July pulled a 1984 Nissan 300 ZX from the lake that had been reported stolen in 1988, and another car, a 1978 Monte Carlo reported stolen in 1984, was pulled from the waters near Pace Bend Park last week along with a Kawasaki motorcycle reported stolen in June. The vehicles were pulled out for environmental and hazard purposes, Wade said, but even though the Monte Carlo was in view weeks ago crews waited until more of it was above water so divers were not needed to help remove it.
While it might seem that lower water levels would make it easier to search under the lake for cars, artifacts, or even missing persons, the opposite is the case in actuality.
There are likely more vehicles down in the lake as a result of dumping or accidental parking brake release in the 1980s and 90s, before proper barriers were put in place to prevent the practice in the 90s. According to Wade, over the past 12 years there have been five drowning victims or missing persons as result of boat accidents that have not been recovered from Lake Travis.
“There are no plans at this point to dive,” he said. “It is dangerous for divers to go in, especially in areas looking for bodies. It’s pretty treacherous because of the uneven bottom. Diving in dark water or less-than clear water is like jumping into a haystack and trying to find a needle. It’ll be up to the dive team if they develop new information or can narrow a search out there.”
The two cars were reported stolen in the City of Austin, and the Nissan still had the keys in the ignition when it was pulled from the lake, but the statute of limitations on pursuing charges related to those vehicles has expired, according to Austin Police Department Auto Theft Interdiction Unit Detective Jeff Seaholm.
The motorcycle, which was found near Kid’s Cliff in Pace Bend Park, is in the sheriff’s office possession, and an investigation is ongoing, Wade said. He added that differing charges could be pursued in cases of statute limitations, and that “it goes to show you Mother Nature will expose things people don’t necessarily think will be exposed. We’ll find it eventually and definitely file charges to make sure people don’t ever do that again.
“The motorcycle was down where people dive and all that, it’s kinda scary when you think about might be down there,” Wade said. “The biggest thing is it’s a cliff with rocks jutting out, and it’s not a real good safe place for people to be jumping.”
While items of historical significance could reveal themselves in the coming weeks, Prikryl and the LCRA are always weary of looters ransacking sites. Prikryl has a antiquity permit through the Texas Historical Commission (THC), and anyone without a permit removing things from a site is in violation of state law — a message the LCRA and THC are always trying to get out to the public.
Rumors still float around of missing diamond rings and old boats sunk at the bottom, but Wade was unaware of any rewards being offered for recovered items at this time.
Nothing extremely bizarre has popped up this summer, yet, but the lowering levels have left one ironic item easy to see in the water.
“There’s actually a kind of funny thing down there we can see now, a sign down there that says, ‘no dumping.’” It’s a road sign someone had taken and thrown in the lake long ago,” Wade said.