The town of American Falls, Idaho, is not located today where it was founded. Referred to at times as "America's Pompeii," American Falls' original town site now lies buried, not underneath volcanic ash, but underneath the waters of a manmade reservoir resulting from a dam. Many other homes were flooded as a result of this project approved by the Department of Interior, including my great grandparents' (Herman and Minerva Kohlhepp Teichert) cabin at the Snake River bottoms. Minerva wrote of the flooded area in her short book, Drowned Memories.
The idea for the dam had been discussed, but was formally proposed in 1919, the year Fred died. It was approved in 1920, and over 6 years plans were put in place and executed for the compensation of businesses (OSL, electric), raising of the railroad bridge, and the relocation of residences from the old town site to nearby higher altitude land. It cost the government $2.85 million to execute this migration and compensation project. If we account for inflation, that's $40,993,098.50 in 2019. Not a cheap endeavor.
The migration chiefly happened between 1925 to 1926, and involved homes being transported on steam powered engines, while some smaller structures were transported by horse teams. Imagine church buildings, large agricultural buildings, and so on, being carted away on wheels to new locations. That's what happened. Of course, not every structure could be (or was practical) to move. Some were demolished, others left simply to be flooded by the reservoir. The drowned town site, while typically submerged, is sometimes visible when the water levels of the reservoir recede. They can be seen in some videos, like the one below.
Given the relocation of the town in its young age, it is hard to document and imagine American Falls in its original town site. Yes, there are some pictures, but they do not exist aplenty. The records I've come to appreciate the most are the Sanborn fire insurance maps that were conducted in 1907 and 1911 respectively. The 1911 maps, in particular, give a fair layout of the town, with the railroad bisecting old American Falls:
The task I took upon myself was to determine if I could locate the Kohlhepp's commercial building, where they leased space, Fred worked for a while as a real estate agent, and where the second hand store was located. I believe the answer, surprisingly, is yes. There are enough documents giving the location of the Kohlhepp building relative to other businesses and buildings that its location can be fairly affixed. Here's the general section of town (section 4 in the Index above) to which the Sanborn fire insurance maps cover where Fred's building resided:
I'm actually quite lucky that it existed in a region that was indeed covered. Several key data elements helped me zero in on the location:
(a) Several ads mentioning it was off of Railroad Avenue:
(b): Several ads mentioning it was south of the railroad depot by 1.5 blocks:
(c): An article noting that it was adjacent to 1 lodging house (only 2 feet away), very close to another lodging house (with a vacant lot separating the buildings), and near the Cottage Hotel:
(d) The Cottage Hotel had burnt down in May 1911, just six months prior to the 1911 Sanborn fire insurance maps being made, suggesting that some indicator of burnt down structures should exist.
(e) The Cottage Hotel was off of Chestnut Avenue:
(f) A meat market was near the Cottage Hotel:
I was able to account for all of these facts. So here is a detailed shot of the Kohlhepp building with the surrounding businesses that I identified (notice the vacant lot in between the Iowa Rooming House and the Kohlhepp building too), which was indeed 1.5 blocks south of the railroad depot:
If you go back to the 1907 Sanborn fire insurance maps, you can see the Cottage Hotel was still around then as would be expected. You can also see a restaurant that had been in business before shutting down in the 1911 vacant spot next to the Kohlhepp building.
It's fun to locate my ancestors' building in this map of the drowned town. I am curious if the building was relocated or left to be flooded when the American Falls dam was built. If left to be submerged, could its foundation be found amongst those that appear when the water recedes? See this fun video of the exposed old town site:
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