The watery grave that swallowed whole an entire town 80 years ago had vanished, that was, until
20 years ago when Lake Mead began to recede and reveal this once lost city of St Thomas Nevada.
"Hi I'm Mike and this is Mike's Road Trip." "Get off the road right..." Where there was
once 70 feet of water are now clear skies and a faint Breeze. What remains of St Thomas
now soaks in the sunshine about 60 miles Northeast of the dam that damned the town.
For a long time the only way to see St Thomas was to go scuba diving. Established in 1865
as a Mormon settlement near what is now Overton, at the behest of Brigham Young,
St Thomas fell victim to the Hoover Dam and its formation of Lake Mead. The town was abandoned
before Lake Mead washed over in 1938, in what would become a ghost town like none other.
The St. Thomas ghost town is close to Las Vegas and accessible via a short Hiking Trail east of
Valley of Fire state park. It lies within the Lake Mead National recreational area,
affording it a concerted preservation effort. The Park Service maintains the site and allows
visitors to learn and interpret its history for themselves plaques along the trail through the
ghost town provide context to the rubble and Foundations where people once lived and worked.
In one segment of the trail visitors can see the remnants of the schoolhouse, general store
and 14-room hotel once visited by dignitaries such as President Calvin Coolidge. Ironically,
it was Coolidge who signed the Boulder Dam Act of 1928 which sealed the fate of St Thomas.
Most residents had abandoned ship by 1932, others were more obstinate and refused to believe their
homes would be flooded out. One of the very last residents of the forsaken settlement a man
who operated a garage in town he woke up in the morning of June 11 1938 to water swirling around
his bed. He gathered his things stepped out onto a boat set his house on fire and paddled away,
watching his soon-to-be waterlogged home go up in smoke. The waters of Lake Mead soon
spilled into the streets of the ghost town and spelled the end of St Thomas.
The town has since emerged and now Lake Mead is nowhere to be found.
St Thomas resurfaced in 2002 and it's unclear if it will submerge again.
[Music] Left behind are Adobe walls foundations, cisterns and an endless supply of shells caked
into the silt and sand. While you need to use your imagination when you visit St Thomas,
it's a fascinating and peaceful place to peruse the puzzle of concrete foundations.
When I was there I had the place to myself.
[Music] If you have any questions about visiting the ghost town of St Thomas Nevada,
leave a comment below. Hey and if you enjoyed this video, please hit that like button and
don't forget to subscribe for more road trip travel videos. So until next time,
we'll see on the road... MikesRoadTrip.com [Music]