Miracle in the Desert: The Rise and Fall of the Salton Sea - Documentary

The Salton Sea is an unfolding environmental disaster of extraordinary magnitude. As the largest lake in California begins to dry, millions of lives are in danger as clouds of toxic dust, massive fish kills and the destruction of an entire ecosystem threatens the health of millions of underrepresented minorities in Southern California, many of who have no voice or little representation in the state legislature. If the state of California does not act quickly, it will be the worst environmental disaster of a generation and cause up to 70 billion dollars in health and other related damages to the area and its residents.

[RadioReprised]

My family started camping at Bombay Beach in '36 and we built our house there in '53. We used it as a vacation property to Ski, fish, swim, dune buggy and ride Motorcycles. Then we moved there full time and ran a business in '73. Kathleen in '76 was a disaster for everyone and two blocks of town went under water. We asked for help from the County but were told to abandon the town. We built our own dike and walled off the flooded area and used our own money and equipment only to have the Army Corp of engineers condemn it as ''poorly built''. Ha!....so poorly built it STILL stands today and never leaked or was breached! The county still treats us as pariah while they take our tax money and we get NOTHING! The rise in water level was the real end of the dream as the State Park campgrounds were flooded and the visitors stopped coming on the big holiday weekends which destroyed us all economically. The Irrigation district let the farms dump the excess water and salt into the Sea and didn't care what it did to us. All these talks and plans are just money changing hands with Politicians profiting with no real desire to fix it. After 70 years we gave up and walked away. I will never get to pass it on to my Kid but I will always have the memories of the best times of my life in Bombay Beach and I wouldn't trade the hardships of living in the middle of nowhere for City life! Other than the 3 hours a day on a school bus, it was a fantastic place to grow up!

[lethalethixstudios]

This was a very well produced documentary. No hidden agendas, just facts.

[Ekam-Sat]

My uncle, Albert Frey, was an architect who believed in the transformative power of design. In the late 1950s, he was selected to design the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club on the Salton Sea, an ambitious project that was part of a $2 million development along the northeastern shore. The vision was bold: to turn the Salton Sea into California's largest marina, a glamorous retreat with boating, luxury, and leisure. When the club opened in 1959, it was a shining example of Frey’s signature modernist style—sleek, angular lines, big windows, and open spaces designed to harmonize with the desert. I can still picture the pride in his eyes when he spoke about it. He truly believed this was the beginning of something extraordinary. Unfortunately, the Salton Sea had different plans. Within just a few years, the water levels began to drop, and the salt content in the lake soared. Fish died in droves, the air became thick with the stench of decay, and the grand vision began to crumble. The marina, once brimming with potential, quickly fell into disrepair.

Despite the growing environmental challenges, my uncle didn’t give up on the idea. In the early '60s, he invested in twelve plots of land along the shore, convinced that the area would recover and eventually thrive. He always said, “The desert has a way of bouncing back.” He wasn’t just an architect; he was a dreamer, always looking at the long-term picture. But as the years passed, the Salton Sea’s problems worsened. Water levels continued to drop, and the exposed lakebed became a source of toxic dust storms. The promise of a booming resort community never materialized. The yacht club closed in the '70s, and the area turned into a ghost town. My uncle’s investment, once seen as a shrewd move, ended up being a financial sinkhole. His twelve plots of land, once full of promise, became abandoned lots, their value plummeting. It was a tough lesson for him, one I don’t think he ever fully shook off.

Looking back, I can’t help but feel a deep sense of empathy for my uncle. He was so invested in the dream of the Salton Sea, not just as an architect, but as someone who believed in the possibility of reinvention. The North Shore Beach and Yacht Club, even in its dilapidated state, was a testament to his creativity and vision. I remember him speaking about it in the years that followed, with a mix of pride and regret. He never spoke ill of the project—he would say, “Not every idea can be ahead of its time, ” with a quiet shrug, as if accepting the inevitability of failure. But even in that acceptance, there was something incredibly human about him. He had dared to dream big, and even though the Salton Sea didn’t turn into the paradise he had envisioned, he never lost his love for bold ideas. It was a painful reminder that even the brightest dreams can be undone by circumstances beyond our control, but it didn’t stop him from dreaming anyway.

[johnchedsey]

This is one of the better documentaries I've seen on the Salton Sea, particularly in its accidental creation in the early 1900s. The lake is one of many symptoms of the megadrought of the region and the overtaxed Colorado River system. Given the lake was engineered into existence (albeit accidentally), I do wonder if more engineering of a solution will have further unintended consequences. The sea to sea canal system does seem to have the most merit.

I've visited the area and it is indeed fascinating and weird. And I do hope they can find a solution for the people in the region.

[oscarbravo]

Between the Owens River Valley ecological disaster and the Salton Sea, it looks like CA has spent the better part of 100 years destroying its environment.

[mackpines]

What a fantastic documentary!
Never get tired of learning history.
I do hope the sea will be saved.
Would love to go back in time to the 60s when the sea was a fun and happening place.
Thank you so much for posting this!

[ducksauce]

Amazing video. Sad that only 10k people have seen this.

[bigbizz]

What a gigantic clusterfuck. 1 right after the other. I've heard so many different stories about the Salton Sea from many different documentaries and not one of them explained it quite like this one.

[phillipschlegel]

This is absolutely a wonderful video that there's people that still care

[MikeDunn]

An amazing documentary about a southern california tragedy. It is unbelievable that a state monument as large as the Salton Sea has gotten so little assistance and attention.

[briananthony]

Just flew over the Salton Sea today on my way to SD from Boston. An amazing sight from the sky.

[stymie]

The Salton Sea is a fascinating place. I hope you're successful restoring it.

[phillipschlegel]

And I feel their pain I was there as a little kid I don't forget such a beautiful place

[MrPerfesser]

Brilliantly done with the proper sense of urgency. Couldn't help but notice that the stock footage at 45:02 supposedly of Eisenhower Medical Center is actually of DC EMS and MPD units at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Taylor Streets NW in Washington DC. Since I live in DC, that kinda stuck out. But thank you for an outstanding documentary.

[maxmegamax]

Incredibly well made and interesting documentary, I learned a lot from this!

I found this because I was learning some history about the Colorado river and I was looking around on google maps and I wondered where all the water went, I learned about the canals and how the river have changed course, then I searched for the salton sea and found this documentary, very interesting!

[colorsrrealduh]

As I read comments about the Salton Sea, I notice a lot of people saying “let mother nature reclaim it, it was man made and a mistake, let it become a desert again.” I don’t think that is any reason to sit back and let this happen. It doesn’t matter at this point how the lake was made, natural, on accident, man-made, it’s there now. And it’s now our problem. We can’t just let Mother Nature “fix” it. The creation of the sea 100 years ago was a disaster, but letting it dry up will only be another disaster. There’s no way to just “go back.” We need to be realistic and think about here, and now, and the problems now and the problems that will occur in the future should we let the sea continue to dry up

[Mobxcag]

Here in Calexico we have an avenue and an elementary school named after Rockwood. That's so cool!

[applegatearts]

This is a great video! It hit home. I grew up in San Diego and spent a lot of time in the desert and Salton Sea was always there. My grand father took me fishing there as a child several times in the 1960’s.

This is a tough one though. Being a biologist, technically speaking, restoring it would turning it back to desert. It’s natural state. It seems unsustainable keeping it a man made lake. But, with all the loss of wetland habitat in the Central Valley, salton sea could be a valuable stopover for migratory birds on the western flyway. Which is very important. Maybe looking at it from this angle would help.

Ii wish all the luck to the people who live there. It is a magical place.

[rosaspanjol]

Very fascinating documentary 👍, ..thank you 🙏I learned a lot.

[SaltonSeaCowgirl]

Great videos, I love to see the sea how it once was 😢