St. Thomas, Nevada is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Clark County,

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 ...

, United States, near where the Muddy River flows into the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

. St. Thomas was purchased by the

US Federal Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

and abandoned as the waters of

Lake Mead Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. L ...

submerged the town in the 1930s. However, as the level of Lake Mead dropped in the 2000s, the ruins of the town resurfaced. It is now located within the

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 ...

History

The town was founded by members of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church), led by Thomas Smith in 1865. With a population of about 500 at its peak, St. Thomas became an established town of farms and businesses, and was at one point the county seat of Pah-Ute County. The frontier settlement is noted as the endpoint of explorer John Wesley Powell's first Colorado River expedition, the Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869. LDS Church members abandoned St. Thomas in February 1871, as a land survey shifted the state line of Nevada one degree longitude to the east, placing all of the LDS settlements known as the Muddy Mission in Nevada instead of Arizona or Utah. The state of Nevada then attempted to collect taxes for previous years payable only in gold from the residents. They chose to leave without paying in 1871. The LDS Church members moved to Utah, where many of them founded new towns in Long Valley (present day Glendale, Orderville, and

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

). When the LDS Church members left in 1871, others claimed their abandoned properties. One of the few to remain was Daniel Bonelli of St. Thomas, who farmed, mined and owned Bonelli's Ferry on the

at Junction City later Rioville. After being deserted by most of its first settlers, new LDS settlers came to the St. Thomas and other places in the area in the 1880s. The construction of

Hoover Dam The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado, Black Canyon of the Colorado River (U.S.), Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, d ...

and the resulting rise in the waters of the

forced the abandonment of the town, with the last resident, Hugh Lord, leaving June 11, 1938. The ruins of St. Thomas, which became visible after the water level in Lake Mead lowered, are protected by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

as a historic site. The cemetery was relocated to

Overton, Nevada Overton is a community that is part of the unincorporated town 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 s ...

where there is a St. Thomas interpretive center with a staff archaeologist doing on-going research into the history and settlement of the Muddy River.

In popular culture

'' Lords of St. Thomas'' (GWP, 2018), a novel by Jackson Ellis, tells the story of the last family to vacate the flooded town in 1938 following construction of the Boulder Dam. The book's protagonist, Henry Lord, is based on Hugh Lord. ''Muddy: Where Faith and Polygamy Collide'' (Deseret Book, 2019) by Dean Hughes tells the story of the early LDS pioneers in the settlement. The novel ''The Desert Between Us'', (University of Nevada Press, 2020) by Phyllis Barber tells the story of early LDS pioneers, polygamy, the U.S. government's decision to open a road to California, and camels.

'

References

External links

St. Thomas information - National Park Service
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas, Nevada Ghost towns in Clark County, Nevada History of the Mojave Desert region Populated places established in 1865 1938 disestablishments in Nevada 1865 establishments in Arizona Territory Lake Mead Former county seats in Arizona Ghost towns in Nevada Arizona Territory The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nevada

History

In popular culture

See also

References

External links