In 1904, the Salton Sink was merely a dry lake bed. But in 1905, it became a huge inland sea almost overnight when the Colorado River was accidentally diverted into the basin in a botched diversion project for the Imperial Canal.

Although it became a booming vacation destination during the 1950s, today, the Salton Sea area is a ghostly place. Exploring it now can feel like visiting the set of a horror movie that takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It is a very interesting place to visit, the water can be smelly, but it’s not toxic at all, so do not worry about that.

How the Sea Came to Be

At the turn of the last century, concerns over the environment didn’t really exist. Development was paramount. That’s why people saw the accidental formation of the sea as an opportunity to turn the area into a tourist hot spot.

In 1927, budding entrepreneur Gus Eilers opened a new resort and started boat races. That inspired other young men to try to make their fortunes from the Salton Sea.

During the 1950s and ’60s, the Salton Sea really started to boom as thousands of boaters, water skiers, and vacationers flocked to the area. The appeal of the sea even attracted celebrities, including Frank Sinatra and The Beach Boys. The sea was stocked with fish from the Gulf of California, so that attracted people who liked to fish, and bird populations began to migrate there, too.

An Aberration Created by Humans, Destroyed by Nature

Beginning in the 1960s, still at the height of its popularity, the sea went through dramatic changes. Unlike natural bodies of water, the Salton Sea has no outlet, which is why its water level is static. The water lost by evaporation is replaced in roughly equal quantity by irrigation runoff from local farms. This runoff contains large amounts of salt and nutrients from fertilizer (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus), so the salinity and nutrient levels rise every year.

The extra nutrients from the fertilizer creates algal blooms, which smell horrible, especially in hot weather. When these die, the algae sinks to the bottom. Bacteria then eat the algae, creating hydrogen sulfide gas that depletes oxygen from the water.

Because the gas restricts the oxygen that’s necessary to breathe, thousands of fish began to die during the 1980s. The birds that frequently migrate to the Salton Sea eat the rotting fish and become sick, sometimes dying from botulism poisoning. The sand on the beach is actually composed of fish and bird bones.

Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse, two large tropical storms in 1976 and 1977 caused the water in the Salton Sea to rise. Homes and buildings were flooded, and the damage was irreversible. On top of the dead animals and putrid stench, the flooding influenced a mass exodus of residents.

Today, the lake continues to shrink as there are no freshwater inputs and people avoid going in the salty often algal filled water at all. While it appears un-appetizing, the truth is the water is not polluted with anything harmful to humans. In fact, if you removed the high levels of salt and nutrients, it would actually meet federal standards for safe drinking water.

This post was written by Livia Hyams, a Mobile Ranger intern at the time of writing, and Julia Gaudinski.

Salton Sea: Bizarre in Every Way. https://t.co/yo9mTZ5Ze4 #saltonsea @Visitsaltonsea @SaltonSeaMedia @SaltonSeaWalk pic.twitter.com/wQpNyxR3zZ

— Mobile Ranger (@Mobile_Ranger) May 10, 2016