Beaver Dam is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) in

Mohave County Mohave County is in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is the fifth largest county in the United St ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States, that is located in the

Arizona Strip The Arizona Strip is the part of Arizona lying north of the Colorado River. Despite being larger in area than several U.S. states, the entire region has a population of fewer than 10,000 people. Consisting of northeastern Mohave County and n ...

region and was settled in 1863. It is located along

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...

approximately northeast of

Mesquite, Nevada Mesquite is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States adjacent to the Arizona state line and northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 20,471. The city is located in the Virgin River valle ...

. It is located in the 86432 ZIP Code. It had a population of 1,552 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,962 at the 2010 census. Beaver Dam and the neighboring communities of Littlefield,

Scenic Scenic may refer to: * Scenic design * Scenic painting * Scenic overlook * Scenic railroad (disambiguation) * Scenic route * Scenic, South Dakota, United States * Scenic (horse), a Thoroughbred racehorse Aviation *Airwave Scenic, an Austrian par ...

and Desert Springs have the distinction of being the only towns in Arizona along I-15. Owing to their location in the

, northwest of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

and west of the

Virgin River The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about long.Calculated with Google Maps and Google Earth It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the ...

, they are isolated by hundreds of miles from the rest of the state. Absent by plane or helicopter, travel to other towns within Arizona requires crossing through either

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, or routing through unpaved roads to the rest of Arizona's road network. The great Western author and essayist

Wallace Stegner Wallace Earle Stegner (February 18, 1909 – April 13, 1993) was an American novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and historian, often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book ...

reputedly said of the Arizona Strip that "it is connected geographically to Utah, politically to Arizona and neither one gives a damn."

History

Beaver_Dam_Lodge_in_the_foreground_with_Chief_Sleep_Easy_mountain_in_the_background

The site of Beaver Dam was located along the pack horse route of the Old Spanish Trail from 1828 and the later wagon route of the

Mormon Road Mormon Road, also known to the 49ers as the Southern Route, of the California Trail in the Western United States, was a seasonal wagon road pioneered by a Mormon party from Salt Lake City, Utah led by Jefferson Hunt, that followed the route of S ...

between

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

from 1847. Beaver Dam Wash and subsequently the town were named for a

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

dam that occupied and held back the waters on the wash when the first Mormon party under

Jefferson Hunt Jefferson Hunt (January 20, 1803 – May 11, 1879) was a U.S. western pioneer, soldier, and politician. He was a captain in the Mormon Battalion, brigadier general in the California State Militia, a California State Assemblyman, and a representa ...

established the wagon road through the area in 1847. The Mormon Road was used by Forty-niners in 1849 and Mormon colonists and other travelers from then on. Both routes passed southward from the

Beaver Dam Mountains The Beaver Dam Mountains are a long mountain range located mostly in extreme southwest Washington County, Utah, Washington County, Utah, west of St. George, Utah, St. George, with the south of the range extending into the Arizona Strip. The ran ...

to the

along the Beaver Dam Wash to where it met the river. From 1855, the road was a major wagon freighting road until the railroad arrived in Nevada in 1905. Beaver Dam was first settled by Mormon colonists in 1863.

Contemporary Beaver Dam

Beaver Dam is home to the three schools that make up the

Littlefield Unified School District Littlefield Unified School District is a PK-12 grade school district headquartered in Beaver Dam, Arizona. Littlefield Unified's District covers a large geographical area in Mohave County, located in the extreme northwest corner of the state. The ...

; Beaver Dam Elementary and Beaver Dam Jr./Sr. High School. Beaver Dam and neighboring Littlefield have the distinction of being the only towns in Arizona along I-15. Owing to its location northwest of

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often consider ...

and west of the

, Beaver Dam is essentially isolated from the rest of the state. Travel to other towns within Arizona requires crossing through either Nevada or

, or by traversing unpaved roads to

Arizona State Route 389 State Route 389, also known as SR 389, is a state highway in far northern Arizona serving the Arizona Strip. SR 389 stretches from the Utah border at Colorado City, southeast to Pipe Spring National Monument, and ends at U.S. Route 89A in Fr ...

(which is paved) — and even at that, is connected only to the rest of the Arizona Strip (the part of Arizona separated from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon), not to Arizona at large. The

Virgin River Gorge The Virgin River Gorge, located between St. George, Utah, and Beaver Dam, Arizona, is a long canyon that has been carved out by the Virgin River in northwest Arizona. The Virgin River rises on the Colorado Plateau and created the topography of b ...

is located just to the east of Beaver Dam. A post office is located in Beaver Dam on McKnight Boulevard. Fire Station No. 1 is located in Beaver Dam (No. 2 is located in Desert Springs, and No. 3 is located in Scenic). Beaver Dam has a large population of "snowbirds" (retirees from colder latitudes seeking temperate winter temperatures) during the winter months.

Demographics

Beaver Dam first appeared on the 1930 U.S. Census as District 30 of Mohave County (AKA Beaver Dam). It had 58 residents and was majority White population. With the combination of all 35 county districts into 3 in 1940, it did not formally appear again until 2010, when it was made a census-designated place (CDP). The city is made up of 74.2 percent White, 22.6 percent Hispanic, 0 percent Black.

Onscreen

Beaver Dam has been featured as a filming location for a few movies and television shows.

In films

* Scenes from the 1988 movie '' On Our Own'' were filmed at the Beaver Dam Station in downtown. * Scenes from the 2002 movie ''Crazy Horse'' were also filmed at the Beaver Dam Station. * Scenes from the 1996 movie ''Navajo Blues'' were filmed around the Beaver Dam area.

In television

* ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl ...

'' filmed a segment of their program in 1995 on Old Highway 91, between Beaver Dam and Mesquite (Season 8, episode 16). * Local news stations from

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, and national news stations

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather forecas ...

and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

have filed reports from Beaver Dam. Most of the reports were about the Beaver Dam Wash flooding and destroying homes and properties, but there have also been police chases, shootings and a fugitive man hunt making national headlines.

References

External links

Littlefield Unified School District No. 9
{{authority control Census-designated places in Mohave County, Arizona Populated places established in 1864 Census-designated places in Arizona Mormon Road