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Rediscovering the 'drowned towns' of the west

The little town of Robinette was flourishing, nestled in eastern Oregon by the Snake River, with a school, a hotel and even a train depot.

Then one day in 1957, the town was gone, wiped off the map and drowned under the reservoir created when Brownlee Dam was built.

Robinette is known as a "drowned town" and it's not alone; there are a lot more of these submerged towns around the west.

Enter Bob Reinhardt. He’s an associate professor in the department of history and the school of the environment at Boise State, and he’s the project director of “The Atlas of Drowned Towns."

We had Bob on Idaho Matters several years ago to talk about his Drowned Towns project, and he joined us again for an update.

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As Senior Producer of our live daily talk show Idaho Matters, I’m able to indulge my love of storytelling and share all kinds of information (I was probably a Town Crier in a past life). My career has allowed me to learn something new everyday and to share that knowledge with all my friends on the radio.

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