Beaver Dam is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

(CDP) in

Mohave County Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 counties in the state. 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 th ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, 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 ...

region and was settled on December 2, 1863. It is located along

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, Ca ...

approximately northeast of

Mesquite, Nevada Mesquite is a city located in the northeast corner of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada, United States adjacent to the Arizona state line and northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 in Nevada, Interstate 15. As of the 2020 United State ...

. It is located in the 86432 ZIP Code. It had a population of 1,552 as of the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 1,962 tabulated in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. 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 ...

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 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 mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

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 landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, 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, writer, environmentalist, and historian. He was often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award ...

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 or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

from 1847.

Beaver Dam Wash The Beaver Dam Wash is a seasonal stream near the southwestern Utah- Nevada border in the United States. At its southern end in northern Arizona, near the point where it empties into the Virgin River, the stream flows throughout the year. Part o ...

and subsequently the town were named for the many

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

dams 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 represent ...

established the wagon road through the area in 1847. ''Beaver Dams'' was the original name from 1863 to about 1947 when the Arizona Department of Highways (now ADOT) used the singular name of Beaver Dam on road signs and the new name has been used since. 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 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 comprise 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. ...

: 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 is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in northwestern Arizona, the 15th site to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyo ...

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 F ...

(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 carved out by the Virgin River in northwest Arizona.https://www.blm.gov/visit/virgin-river-canyon-recreation-area – Retrieved: May 31, 2024 The ...

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

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 series, 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, Kar ...

'' 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, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, and national news stations

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

and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

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.

Education

The CDP is in the

.
Text list
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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