St. Thomas, Clark County, Nevada Genealogy

In 1865 approximately 45 individuals settled the Muddy Mission, located in what is now southern Nevada. It was on the southwest side of the Muddy River and 1 ½ miles from the Virgin River. Brigham Young, ever colonizing, sent the Mormon pioneers there where they established four or five settlements. St. Thomas was one of them. The town was laid out in an organized fashion, with 85 city lots of 1 acre each, 85 vineyard lots of 2 ½ acres each, and 85 farm lots, 5 acres each. They were under the leadership of the St. George, Utah Stake. A land survey by Nevada in 1870 shifted the state line of Nevada one degree longitude to the east, placing all of the settlements in the Muddy Mission in Nevada instead of Utah (or Arizona.) then the state of Nevada attempted to collect taxes from the Mormons, and would only accept payment in gold. Rather than pay, they abandoned St. Thomas at the “release” of Brigham Young, who sent a letter to the mission dated December 21, 1870. The community petitioned the state of Nevada for relief from the gold tax, but to no avail, and in 1871 they left. When the Mormons left, others claimed their abandoned properties, and St. Thomas grew once again. It flourished for a while, and at the peak of its existence, there were close to 500. When Hoover Dam was built, once again St. Thomas was doomed. As the rising waters of the Colorado River began filling all the valleys and canyons, it created Lake Mead. The people of St. Thomas sold what they could, tore down their houses, moved the cemetery (now located on a hill just south of Overton, Nevada) and left. June 11, 1938 the last resident rowed away from his former home. Information taken from St. Thomas LDS Ward Records, Microfilm # 14924, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; Wikipedia on St. Thomas, Nevada.