Nevada Historical Marker #36
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.
N Moapa Valley Blvd, Moapa Valley, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #139
Old Spanish Trail (The Journey Of The Dead Man). Early Spanish traders named the fifty-five dry miles separating Las Vegas and the Muddy River the Journada Del Muerto (Journey of The Dead Man). This longest stretch without water along the Old Spanish Trail was littered with the skeletons of animals and parts of wagons abandoned along the sandy desert. Most experienced travelers made the trip at night.John C. Frémont crossed the Journada in 1844 and commented: “We ate the barrel cactus and moistened our mouths with the acid of the sour dock. Hourly expecting to find water, we continued to press on to midnight, when after a hard and uninterrupted march of 16 hours, our wild mules began running ahead; and in a mile or two we came to a bold running stream (the Muddy River).”
, Moapa Valley, NV, United States