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Overton is a community that is part of the
unincorporated town 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 ...
of Moapa Valley in Clark County, Nevada. Overton is on the north end of Lake Mead. It is home to Perkins Field airport and Echo Bay Airport.


History

Overton was originally settled in 1869 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, led by
Helaman Pratt Helaman Pratt (31 May 1846 – 26 November 1909) was an early leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the U.S. states of Nevada and Utah and later in Mexico. Family Helaman was the son of Parley P. Pratt and Glasgow-born wif ...
. A regular
branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...
was organized there in 1883. In the 1880s, Overton was the location of the only store in the lower Moapa Valley and attracted people from neighboring localities who arrived in Overton to buy supplies. In the 1930s, the town of St. Thomas was submerged by water as Lake Mead was being filled, and the majority of its population relocated to Overton. After that, Overton developed as the main core of the business community in the lower Moapa Valley. It also hosted most of the social events in the area. In 1980, residents of Overton and the nearby town of Logandale approved a referendum on merging the two towns into the town of Moapa Valley. The Clark County Commission affirmed the vote, legally creating Moapa Valley on February 13, 1981.


Geography

Overton is located in Moapa Valley, northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The town features a landscape of mesas, foothills, and nearby Lake Mead. It is also the settlement closest to
Valley of Fire State Park Valley of Fire State Park is a public recreation and nature preservation area covering nearly located south of Overton, Nevada. The state park derives its name from red sandstone formations, the Aztec Sandstone, which formed from shifting s ...
.


Climate

Overton has a hot desert climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''BWh'').


Economy


Industry

Near Overton, there are deposits of magnesite,
kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral s ...
, and
gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywa ...
. Silica sand is also being produced.


Transportation

Nevada State Route 169 State Route 169 (SR 169) is a state highway in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It connects the northern reaches of Lake Mead National Recreation Area to Interstate 15 (I-15) via Moapa Valley and the communities of Overton and Logandale. It ...
connects Overton with
Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Canada ...
(exit 93) in the north and
Lake Mead National Recreation Area Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, Lake Mead NRA follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Gran ...
in the south. South of Overton, the highway into Valley of Fire state park (formerly a part of Nevada State Route 169, decommissioned in 2001) branches off west. Overton is located on the former St. Thomas branch of Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad which runs along the Moapa Valley, from north to south. The construction of the branch started in 1911 from Moapa station, which lies on the main line between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. By March 1912, the construction was completed. In 1919, the railway was made a double track. In 1938 and 1939, the final six-mile segment leading to St. Thomas, which was submerged under waters of Lake Mead, was abandoned. The branch currently extends to the town southern outskirts, serving the gypsum plant. There is no passenger service, but there is freight traffic.


Attractions

*
Double Negative A double negative is a construction occurring when two forms of grammatical negation are used in the same sentence. Multiple negation is the more general term referring to the occurrence of more than one negative in a clause. In some languages, d ...
is a work of art dug into the ground near Overton. *
Lost City Museum The Lost City Museum, formerly known as the Boulder Dam Park Museum, is located in Overton, Nevada and is one of seven managed by the Nevada Division of Museums and History, an agency of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. Hist ...
, houses artifacts from
Pueblo Grande de Nevada Pueblo Grande de Nevada, (26 CK 2148), is a complex of villages located near Overton, Nevada, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Native American history The site, also known as ''Nevada's "Lost City"'', was founded by Bask ...
. In particular, a pueblo dwelling has been reconstructed in the inner yard of the museum. * Overton Wildlife Management Area is located south of Overton and adjacent to Lake Mead National Recreation Area. *Overton has four entries in the National Register of Historic Places. :* Boulder Dam Park Museum (listed in 1996); :* LDS Moapa Stake Office Building (listed in 2002); :* Overton Gymnasium (listed in 1992); :* St. Thomas Memorial Cemetery (listed in 2005). Two more entries are located in the vicinity of Overton. These are the wreck of Boeing B-29 Serial No. 45-21847 submerged in Lake Mead and
Pueblo Grande de Nevada Pueblo Grande de Nevada, (26 CK 2148), is a complex of villages located near Overton, Nevada, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Native American history The site, also known as ''Nevada's "Lost City"'', was founded by Bask ...
.


Notable people

* Archie Butler (actor), an actor, stunt man, and crewman in numerous films and television shows, died here February 4, 1977, aged 65 * Betty Willis, visual artist and graphic designer, best known for designing the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign , born in Overton, Nevada


In popular culture

The novel ''
Lords of St. Thomas ''Lords of St. Thomas'' is a 2018 historical novel by American writer Jackson Ellis. The novel won the inaugural Howard Frank Mosher Book Prize in 2017, selected by Howard Frank Mosher himself shortly before his death in January 2017. Setting ...
'' (GWP, 2018) by
Jackson Ellis Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...
tells the story of the last family to vacate nearby St. Thomas, Nevada in 1938 following construction of the
Boulder Dam #REDIRECT Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression a ...
. The book is set partly in Overton, and is where the Lord family relocates to after the flooding of St. Thomas.Robison, Vernon
New Historical Novel Tells Story Of Evacuation Of St. Thomas
'


References

{{Authority control Populated places in Clark County, Nevada Populated places established in 1869 Unincorporated towns in Nevada 1869 establishments in Nevada