Founded by Mormon settlers led by Thomas Smith in 1865, St. Thomas became a town of established farms and businesses. Unfortunately in 1871 after a land survey shifted the state line of Nevada one degree longitude to the east, and the state therefore attempted to collect past taxes from the landowners, the settlement was abandoned. The Mormons moved to Utah, where many of them founded new town in Long Valley or present day Glendale, Orderville and Mount Carmel.

Others claimed their abandoned properties, however when the Hoover Dam was built resulting in the rise of the Colorado River the town was flooded in 1938. Since then, the waters of Lake Mead have receded. The foundations of several buildings, once underwater, are slowly revealing themselves. The National Park Service protects the area as a historical site, and the hike down is about 2-1/2 miles. It is strange to think that the trail upon which you are walking was once underwater, but the seashells found everywhere remind you (I have read that scuba divers frequented the area when it was about 60 feet underwater not too long ago).

There is little information about the foundations. Some are recognizable through old photos, and a former resident who was born and raised in the town has provided a hand drawn map to scholars at UNLV (she left with her family at 14, due to the flooding). Other than that, there is little available information. Definitely an odd thing to find an hour outside of Las Vegas.