St. Thomas (Nevada)

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St. Thomas is a ghost town in Clark County , Nevada . Today it is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area .

A raft next to a flooded building in June 1938

history

St. Thomas was founded in 1865 by Mormon settlers . When a land survey took place in February 1871 and as a result the Nevada border was moved eastwards, the settlement was in the state of Nevada , which demanded tax payments from the settlers for the past few years in the form of gold. The Mormons left the city without paying in 1871 and founded new cities in the US state of Utah .

After most of the settlers left the area, St. Thomas was repopulated by Mormons in the 1880s.

With the construction of the Hoover Dam and the resulting rise in water levels in the Colorado River , residents were forced to give up the city. The last resident left the city on June 11, 1938.

The ruins of St. Thomas came to light after the water level in Lake Mead lowered.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James H. McClintock: Mormon Settlement in Arizona; a Record of Peaceful Conquest of the Desert . 1921 ( google.de [accessed on July 3, 2017]).
  2. ^ St. Thomas - Lake Mead National Recreation Area (US National Park Service). Retrieved July 3, 2017 .

Coordinates: 36 ° 28 ′  N , 114 ° 22 ′  W