Lost Vegas: The City of St. Thomas Cursed by Hoover
The discovery of human remains after Lake Mead receded has rightly made headlines. But these aren't the only secrets the country's largest reservoir is being forced to abandon due to climate change.
Located at the northern end of what is now Lake Mead National Recreation Area, about 60 miles east of Las Vegas, St. Thomas was once the most populous city in southern Nevada. That was before the U.S. government deliberately sank it to fill Lake Mead.
die in water
St. Thomas Church was founded in 1865 by Mormon missionaries who were sent by their leader Brigham Young to establish settlements along the Madee River in Utah Territory (now Arizona).
The settlers chose a site with fertile farmland - near Muddy Overton Bay, which joins the Virgin River and feeds the Colorado River. They built irrigation systems to grow vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and cotton. (They eventually planned to create a supply route along the Colorado River to ship cotton back to Utah.)
The leader of the settlement, Thomas Sarson Smith, immodestly named the settlement after himself. Born in 1818, Smith moved to Utah from his native New York state in 1848, four years after being baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Many historical accounts blame missionaries for accidentally settling in Nevada Territory instead of Utah Territory. However, in 1866 Congress redrawn the western boundaries of Utah Territory, making all Madee River settlements part of the relatively new state of Nevada.
Missionaries did not know this until a boundary survey in 1870 revealed that St. Thomas was located in Nevada. Almost immediately, the state slapped all residents with five years of back taxes and fines.
In February 1871, with Young's permission, the settlers abandoned their town and, like the Mormons who originally settled Las Vegas, moved hastily back to Utah.
Only one man and his family remained. Daniel Bonelli operated a wealthy Colorado River ferry from Junction City, Nevada (later Rioville), connecting the mining towns of Nevada and Arizona. He also owned and operated the Virgin River Salt Company.
New settlers on the block
In the 1880s, a new wave of settlers arrived, growing their own crops and rebuilding St. Thomas into what historian James H. McClintock described in his 1921 notes on the settlement. Said "a beautiful village".
According to McClintock, residents in the town live in 85 houses, most of which sit on several acres with yards covered in rose bushes. Their streets are lined with shady poplar trees.
St. Thomas is not a busy city, but at times it is home to over 500 people. It had its own school, post office, church, pool hall, auto repair shop, not one but "two" grocery stores, and an ice cream shop, Hannig's, with its own soda fountain.
In 1911, St. Thomas was deemed worthy of its own rail connection - from the Moapa Station of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad.
Once operational, refrigerated trucks filled with goods, including food and welcome ice, arrived regularly, immediately reducing the need for local subsistence farming.
On the return trip, the train cars were loaded with mined copper, silver, gold and salt, which residents often bartered for goods.
St. Thomas even has a beautiful 14-room hotel called the Gentry. Calvin Coolidge slept there - when he was president!
And then, just like that, St. Thomas disappeared.
flood is coming
In 1928, Coolidge himself ordered the city to be flooded and implemented the Boulder Canyon Plan.
Was there anything he "really" disliked about his stay at St. Thomas?
No. Colorado needed a huge dam to control flooded areas, and the added benefit of providing a reliable supply of cheap water and hydropower to the growing Southwest made it seem impossible that Hoover Dam would not be built.
The jobs created by dam construction continue the mission begun by the railroad in 1905, slowly transforming sleepy Las Vegas, population 5,000, into one of the largest cities in the Southwest.
The U.S. government seized all land in St. Thomas as eminent domain and paid residents minimal eviction costs. The flood process began in 1935. Within five years, St. Thomas was submerged under 15 meters of water.
At least the government has the compassion to relocate St. Thomas Cemetery as part of its plans. Today it is located in Overton, where the Lost City Museum now employs an archaeologist to study the history of St. Thomas and other Mud River settlements.
Some St. Thomas residents decided to tear down their homes and move to Overton and other nearby towns. Others were less cooperative.
Such is the case with Hugh Lord, an auto repair shop owner who is believed to be the last St. Thomas native to leave the country. Lord reportedly refused to believe that the new lake that was forming would ever reach his home. When the time finally came on June 11, 1938, he rowed away from home in a boat filled with his most prized possessions.
According to author Aaron McArthur's 2013 book "St. Thomas, Nevada: A History Uncovered," Lord set fire to his house before rowing away, but this dramatic detail is not corroborated by most original records .
How to find it
St. Thomas has reappeared during several droughts over the decades, most notably in 1945, 1965 and 2012. In those years, gatherings attended by former city residents were held.
Today, more than 60 percent of Lake Mead has disappeared, and St. Thomas is finally back—even though its buildings spent 80 years underwater and have been reduced to scattered piles of foundations and staircases leading to nowhere. Today, instead of flocking to the city, tourists flock to the water. You'll hike through the ruins on a 2.5-mile loop trail.
The St. Thomas site is a historic site protected by the National Park Service and is best accessed by high-speed four-wheel-drive vehicle.
A bumpy ride along the dirt road off Highway 169 eventually leads to the parking lot. From there follow the signs.
Lost Vegas" is an occasional series recalling the forgotten history of Las Vegas.Click here to read other entries in the series. Did you think you knew one that has been lost to history? Las Vegas Stories? Email [email protected].
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