Moapa Valley
Clark County, Clark County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Moapa Valley. Rich in Pueblo-type culture, and noted by the explorer Jedediah Smith in 1826, Moapa Valley is crossed by the Old Spanish Trail.In 1865, Brigham Young sent 75 families to settle the area, to grow cotton for the people of Utah, and to connect Utah with the Pacific Ocean via the Colorado River.Located near the junction of the Muddy and Virgin Rivers, and now under Lake Mead, the “cotton mission” was named St. Thomas for its leader, Thomas Smith. Mormons built a prosperous, self-contained agricultural industry in the valley, which included orchards, vineyards, cotton, grains, and vegetables.The December 1870 survey placed the valley in Nevada, which meant property owners owed back taxes to Nevada. The settlers, now including those in St. Joseph, (old) Overton, West Point, and Logandale, began leaving two months later. They abandoned the results of 7 years of labor, more than 18 miles of irrigation canal, and several hundred acres of cleared land.Other Mormons resettled the land in 1880. The area remains one of the most agriculturally productive in the state.
Erected by Southern Nevada Historical Society
The Story
Long a home to Puebloan farming peoples and noted by trapper Jedediah Smith in 1826, the Moapa Valley near the junction of the Muddy and Virgin Rivers drew Mormon settlers in 1865. Sent by Brigham Young to grow cotton and open a Colorado River route to the Pacific, they built the "cotton mission" of St. Thomas and raised orchards, vineyards, grain, and cotton. When an 1870 survey placed the valley in Nevada and saddled residents with back taxes, they abandoned years of labor and miles of canals. Others returned in 1880, and the valley remains among Nevada's most productive farmland.
Why it matters
The valley's story captures how boundary lines and taxes could unmake a frontier community overnight, and how irrigation turned desert into one of the state's agricultural heartlands.
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Related people
- · Jedediah Smith
- · Brigham Young
- · Thomas Smith
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Powell Of The Colorado
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