A brief Timeline
One of the first settlements downstream from St. George was a place the early Spanish Explorers called “Cottonwood.” It was located at the junction of the Beaver Dam Creek and the Virgin River, just a few miles downstream from the Virgin River Gorge – about 11 miles upstream from present-day Mesquite.
In 1864, after the creation of Arizona Territory, Henry Miller and others established the settlement of Millersburg, located on the site of Cottonwood. Later that same year, the settlement was abandoned due to the unrest of the Native Americans north of the settlement in the Clover Valley area.
In January 1865, some settlers returned to Millersburg. Among the new group of settlers were James McMellan and Daniel Bonelli and their families. In 1867 a flood came down the Beaver Dam Wash and washed nearly all the fields and homes of Millersburg into the Virgin River. Daniel Bonelli and his family then moved to St. Thomas and the Muddy Mission.
In early 1878, about a year after the settlement of Bunkerville, three families moved into Littlefield, Arizona Territory: John T. Graff, Christian Stucki, and Henry Frehner. John Alger moved in shortly after these families and was appointed Presiding Elder of the Beaver Dam/Littlefield settlements.
From 1878 to 1901, the Beaver Dam/Littlefield settlements were connected to the Bunkerville Ward of the St. George Stake. When the new Mesquite Ward was organized in 1901, the Beaver Dam/Littlefield Branch of the Bunkerville Ward was changed to being a Branch of the new Mesquite Ward.
During this period, the families living in the Beaver Dam/Littlefield area were Reber, Frehner, Leavitt, Jones, Peterson, Iverson, Stucki and McKnight. Through the years there were marriages among these families which increased the population of both Littlefield and Beaver Dam.
Beaver Dam/Littlefield were always perceived as part of Virgin Valley. Their school only went to the 8th grade and high school students were transported to the Virgin Valley High School in Bunkerville, and later in Mesquite. School activities, Church activities and civic activities drew people from all three Virgin Valley Communities together.
Beaver Dam/Littlefield became noted for their truck farms. They grew grapes, melons, radishes, and onions. Through their own Co-Op, they sold produce all over the southwest. As modern refrigerated rail cars and trucks became more popular, the small producers could no longer compete in the market and the truck farming ended.