The American Town That Refuses to Stay Buried

In 1865, Mormon pioneers built a town where the Muddy River meets the Colorado. They called it St. Thomas. It had farms, a hotel, a railroad spur, and an ice cream parlour in the middle of the Mojave Desert. It was erased twice. The first time, a survey crew redrew the state line and Nevada demanded years of back taxes — payable only in gold. The settlers voted on it, and the majority voted to leave. In 1871 they walked out and left every house standing. The second time was Hoover Dam. The town went under roughly sixty feet of Lake Mead, and the last resident rowed away from his own front door on 11 June 1938. But St. Thomas keeps coming back. Every time the lake drops, the foundations surface. It has done it at least four times — and it has been sitting out in the open air since around 2012. The reason it’s visible right now is the part of this story that should bother you. 📌 If you’d been at that vote in 1871, would you have left over the tax bill or stayed and fought it? Tell me in the comments. 🔔 Subscribe to The Lost Archives.