Shaker Plant Lake Travis Dive Trip

[scubashawn123]

See the video:






Special Thanks
LCRA Archives
Lake Travis Scuba
Jeff Eichelberger researcher and diver
Dive Team members: Robert, Mack, Brad, and Mary

Music by Local Artist Paul Huehlefeld

 

[travisdude]

Thanks, I enjoyed watching your video. It's been years sense I dove the plant. It was when the lake was full and only got a little deeper than the "diving board". (if it is still there?)

 

[scubashawn123]

I forgot to mention that Brad "DOC" Watson became an official Texas Swamp Diver on the excursion yesterday.

Congratulations Brad


Lake Travis living up to its form, "great viz is over-rated" slogan.

No video from Starnes Island with less than 2 foot of visibility for the most part.

 

[PeppermintPaddi]

Shaker Plant was a great dive. Maybe the most interesting I've had in Travis. Pretty neat to have dive boat service on the Lake. Evidently there will soon be 5 gallons of hot water to pre-warm divers' wet suits as the lake cools off.

Robert jumped in and shot a SMB from the top of the pipe. Those of us who didn't have to mind the cameras went looking for stuff in the photos. There are some big timbers (2"x12"x?), but didn't see anything hanging over to make a diving board. Found a geocache, coils of rope, tangled rebar, tangled cable, cement footings, cement retaining walls, nice deep overhangs, a big ball of nails all rusted together, a a 5'x6" metal strip with lots of holes (a sieve?), all between 20 and 50 ffw with the lake at 630 ft.

And more congrats to Brad.

 

[driftwood]

Thanks Shawn, great footage given the vis you had to work with. One thing that folks have to realize is that you see a lot more than what shows up on film. We have enough information to start making some deeper dives down to the 540' elevation range to have a reasonable chance of locating things we see in the archive photos like the concrete tunnels and the loading station for the tramline.

 

[travisdude]

There are some big timbers (2"x12"x?), but didn't see anything hanging over to make a diving board.

I guess I was at the screening pant?? The people I dove with back then just called it the rock crushing plant. I assume it was the same.
It wasn't "a" diving board, just looked like one. It was a 2x12 that stuck straight off the cliff and looked like a diving board. Somebody tell me I'm not crazy.:crazyeye:

 

[PeppermintPaddi]

I wouldn't dare tell you that you weren't crazy. We certainly didn't cover the entire area either. There were 2x12's around, just didn't see one sticking over the wall.

LTS is running another boat trip out there Mon.

 

[driftwood]

I guess I was at the screening pant?? The people I dove with back then just called it the rock crushing plant. I assume it was the same.
It wasn't "a" diving board, just looked like one. It was a 2x12 that stuck straight off the cliff and looked like a diving board. Somebody tell me I'm not crazy.:crazyeye:

The Shaker Plant is a huge dive site. It is better than a 1/4 mile long and varies from 530' to around 610' in elevation. The site we are calling the Shaker Plant includes the complete quarry operation for the dam's construction. That means the quarry, rock crushers, cleaning/sorting towers, conveyor belts to transport the aggregate and the loading station that transferred the material to the concrete plant. Most of the plant was constructed of wood with concrete footings.

 

[scubashawn123]

The Shaker Plant is a huge dive site. It is better than a 1/4 mile long and varies from 530' to around 610' in elevation. The site we are calling the Shaker Plant includes the complete quarry operation for the dam's construction. That means the quarry, rock crushers, cleaning/sorting towers, conveyor belts to transport the aggregate and the loading station that transferred the material to the concrete plant. Most of the plant was constructed of wood with concrete footings.

Jeff,

How did your last meeting go with LCRA archivists? Is everything pretty well ready to go on NOvember 4th?

I am so looking forward to understanding the 1/4 mile area. My last time diving was a pretty small area, Robert blew a SMB from the pipe to the mooring line on the cement monoliths. I did not realize that I needed to expand my search area by that much distance.

 

[driftwood]

Hi Shawn,

I met with LCRA on Thursday for 1 1/2 hours to work on details and logistics. Everything is on track, ahead of schedule, and there is a good plan in place detailing what needs to happen in the next three weeks. I got a very good scan of a topo map of the site that is accurate to within 1/2" in elevation. The same one Mack has at Oakhill but without being marked up torn and with tape stains.

You were diving right along the wall at 600', that area is only 500-600' long. Some of the real interesting stuff that I have seen in photos is at the base of the cliff. I have reached the conclusion that there are two concrete tunnels that I have not heard anyone finding. They may be buried in silt, Brown and Root might have removed/demolished them (unlikely) or no one has been looking for them.