St. Thomas, the Town Lake Mead Drowned

The account

Mormon settlers built St. Thomas where the Muddy River met the Colorado in 1865, farms, shops, five hundred souls. Then Hoover Dam rose and the water came for it; the last resident rowed away in June 1938 as the lake closed over his roof. But the drought keeps giving it back. Since 2002 the foundations, the school steps, and the old ice-cream parlour have stood in the sun again, a town that surfaces and drowns with the level of the lake.

Leads, where the trail points now

• Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on Overton Arm, Lake Mead, Nevada.
• What you are chasing is A whole Mormon pioneer town, lost and found with the water line. Work the documented record of St. Thomas, the Town Lake Mead Drowned back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
• Within Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NPS), walk the ruins, take nothing; it's a protected site.