Saint Thomas

A farming town at the Muddy and Virgin rivers

St. Thomas sits in the northern part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, near the Overton Arm. The National Park Service says Mormon settlers founded the town in 1865, believing they were in Utah or Arizona Territory. The site is at the meeting of the Muddy and Virgin rivers. HistoryNet says the town was named for Thomas S. Smith, who led the first settlers. It also notes that Basketmakers, Ancestral Puebloans and Paiutes lived in the valley earlier.

The sources agree that the first settlement ended over taxes, but differ on the details. The Park Service says Nevada officials demanded five years of back taxes, and the settlers voted to leave, burning their homes. All but the Bonelli family moved to Salt Lake City. Nevada Magazine says the unpaid bill was three years of property taxes and dates the departure to 1871.

New settlers arrived in the 1880s, according to the Park Service, and found the soil good for farming. The town peaked at about 500 people. It had a school, a post office, stores, a church and a soda fountain. Nevada Magazine adds a hotel and an ice cream parlor, and both it and the Park Service say there was no electricity or running water.

Hoover Dam and the lake

The Park Service says President Calvin Coolidge signed the bill authorizing Boulder (Hoover) Dam in 1928, and Lake Mead began filling in 1935. Residents were relocated with promised compensation. Hugh Lord was among the last residents to leave. One Park Service page says he paddled away from his home in 1938 as the water reached his front door; another gives the date as June 11, 1938 and says he rowed and was the last citizen to leave. The Park Service says the town was sixty feet underwater at the lake’s high-water mark.

The Park Service says the town has emerged several times since 1938 and that former residents held reunions at the site in 1945, 1963 and 2012. Nevada Magazine says it re-emerged in 2002 as drought lowered the lake. Drought has left remnants exposed, the Park Service says, and the lake level has fluctuated, so what shows can change.

What remains

Most buildings survive only as foundations. HistoryNet lists cement foundations, chimneys and a schoolhouse foundation. Nevada Magazine mentions water cisterns, large tree stumps, steps leading up to rubble, and scattered seashells. It says interpretive signs along the walking loop describe the residents and their history.

Visiting today

A dirt trail leads from the parking area to the town site, and visitors can walk the exposed roads and trails. Nevada Magazine describes a 2.5-mile walking loop and recommends cooler months, since summers are extremely hot.

The access road is roughly three miles of dirt. The Park Service calls it sometimes bumpy and says most vehicles can manage it, with caution for low-clearance vehicles. HistoryNet says the townsite is readily accessible by high-clearance four-wheel drive and describes a road of roughly three miles off Highway 169. Because the sources disagree and road conditions change, check with the park before going. The visitor information line is 702-293-8990.

The Park Service asks visitors not to climb on the foundations and not to disturb any artifacts. Leave everything where it is, and report vandalism, theft of historic artifacts or off-road vehicle use to rangers at 702-293-8998.