St. Thomas, NV & Arrow Canyon, NV (3/23 & 3/24/2018)

Within Lake Mead NRA lie the remains of a town first settled by the Mormons in 1865.  They were part of Brigham Young's plan to populate the entire Utah Territory.  Known as the "Muddy Mission" because they built their town next to the Muddy River, they called it St. Thomas.  Just like the Indians before them, they needed to be close to a water source, as well as salt that was also nearby.  The town thrived until 1871, when a new survey determined it was actually in Nevada, and their "new" state wanted back taxes.  Since they had paid taxes to Utah, they decided to abandon the town and move rather than pay Nevada.  One family stayed and operated a ferry as part of the Arrowhead Trail between Los Angeles and Salt lake City.

About ten years later, people started returning to St. Tomas and once again built a thriving town.  The population grew to about 500.  In the early 1930s, construction of Hoover Dam (then called Boulder Dam) was authorized by Congress.  Funding for the project included the purchase of St. Thomas and relocation costs for the residents.  Some of the residents moved to nearby Overton, and the entire cemetery was moved there.

By 1938, Lake Mead began to rise over the abandoned town and eventually covered it by more than 60 feet of water.  As the lake level changed in the following years, St. Thomas would re-appear, then disappear again.  Since 2003, the town has been on dry lake bed, allowing people to visit and vegetation to grow. 

In my Overton campground, I met a very nice couple from Alberta (Ernie and Susan) who also have a Jeep.  We decided to visit St. Thomas together.  This can be done via a short gravel road followed by a hike of 2.5 miles.  It was a very interesting experience walking among the foundations of what was a lively town at one time.  Wood was scarce, so the buildings were largely cement and stone.

 Each building had a large underground cistern for storing water.  We assumed they diverted water from the river, since the Mormons were always good at irrigation.

 There were automobiles in St. Thomas, and two auto mechanics with service pits built into the floor.  The pits, of course have been filled with sand.

In some cases, the cistern was built within the main structure.  The cistern was covered by a concrete slab, while the overall floor was made of stones, integrated into the foundation.

 This was a favorite building of all the residents, the ice cream shop.

 Not sure if this building was everyone's favorite, the school.

 People have gathered artifacts, mostly glass, and place them in central locations.  I thought I recognized one as a Bud Light bottle. 

 This cistern collapsed and filled with sand.

The next day, I made a trip some forty miles west to visit Arrow Canyon, said to be a site for Indian rock art.  With very little information, I set out to find the art.  On the way, I visited Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge, where the endangered Moapa Dace is protected.  This is a tiny fish found nowhere else in the world.  I also stopped at Warm Springs Natural Area.  Neither preserve had the birds I was after, so I moved on and turned onto a gravel road I hoped would lead to Arrow Canyon.

Stopping at a small campsite, I met Brook and Mike, a nice young couple who had spent the night there.  They confirmed I was on the right track and told me I should turn left at a sign down the road.  They were there looking for petroglyphs, also.

Arrow Canyon cliffs are mainly limestone, much different than those near Overton, which are mostly sandstone.

I found the canyon has a narrow section where a dam was built many years ago.  It's obvious that a lot of sand has blown into the canyon, accumulating in dunes or next to the dam.  I'm told the dam is thirty feet high, but much of it is covered on this side.

The canyon floor has thick vegetation, much of it the invasive tamarisk tree.  There is also cat's claw acacia, which left my arms and legs a bloody mess when I hiked across the canyon. 

I found a rock art site and met another nice couple, Brenda and Skip, who are volunteer stewards of the canyon's rock art.  They inventory the art panels and report signs of vandalism.  There were both petroglyphs and pictographs here.  The petroglyphs include lots of "shield men", where the shield hides the body of the man.  They are shields with feet, so to speak.

Brenda pointed out to me small holes drilled into the rock, called "cupules".  She thought they had been used in grinding seeds, like the larger metates found in many Indian ruins.  However, they are really too small for that purpose, and I have since read that archeologists consider them to be a form of art.

Mike told me there are many more petroglyphs on the other side of the dam, but he couldn't tell me how to get there.  I found the road to Lower Arrow Canyon on a map, but never took time to go there.