21.   The first day was devoted to constructing a wooden ramp so as to get a front-end loader down onto the lake bed.

22.   The lake bed split open in wide, dry cracks.

23.   The Johnstown Flood National Memorial in St. Michael, Pa., includes the remains of the dam and portions of the lake bed.

24.   The original basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe still stands in the former lake bed outside Mexico City.

25.   The second day was devoted to extracting the front-end loader from the mud of the lake bed in which it had become deeply mired.

26.   The two vehicles would be sent to widely separated and diverse landing sites, probably a dry lake bed or apparent flood channel.

27.   They revealed impact craters created millions of years ago and dry lake beds where water once flowed.

28.   They also fear that the briny water just below two huge dry lake beds in the area might sink, loosening the surface dust.

29.   When officials here rejected that, the city appealed to the state Air Resources Board, which has the final say because the state owns the lake bed.

30.   Physical evidence included a stockpile of rust-covered guns recovered from a drained lake bed.