Obeying a call

By the 1870s most of the Cotton Mission efforts had sputtered to a halt. The settlements on the Muddy had been abandoned in 1871 and settlers in St. George focused on other industries. But in the Spring of 1879 Erastus Snow issued a call to several families living in the Pine Valley Mountains north of St. George and in Panaca, Nevada, to prepare to move to Mesquite Flats to grow cotton. 

The plans made by the company of settlers were very good. They prepared wagons loaded with lumber to build homes, farming equipment, seeds and they brought their own food supplies to last until their garden crops came in. They sent a construction crew of mostly men and older boys to travel ahead of the main company and prepare a town site. The first group of men who came to Mesquite were:

In 1882, Mesquite’s burgeoning community faced its greatest challenge. Just as the town celebrated its growth, with 15 families and over 200 acres of farmland, a devastating flood, spurred by a massive thunderstorm, ravaged the area. The deluge destroyed Mesquite’s irrigation canals, crucial for their grapevines, fruit trees, gardens, and cotton, and obliterated the infrastructure that supported their dreams. 

In February 1880 the families assembled with Church leaders on the northeast bank of the Virgin River. William Branch Jr. was sustained as bishop of the new community and settlers received specific assignments related to the cotton industry. One of their first priorities was to dig a seven-mile canal to divert water from the Virgin River to their fields. Their first crop was successful. By 1881, Mesquite even boasted several wood frame homes. The town grew informally, with a wagon road winding through the settlement to what is known today as Town Wash. Mesquite’s first homes were located just east of Town Wash and were set back from the sandy road on fenced lots.

A DEVASTATING Flood

In 1882, Mesquite’s burgeoning community faced its greatest challenge. Just as the town celebrated its growth, with 15 families and over 200 acres of farmland, a devastating flood, spurred by a massive thunderstorm, ravaged the area. The deluge destroyed Mesquite’s dam and irrigation canals, crucial for their grapevines, fruit trees, gardens, and cotton, and obliterated the infrastructure that supported their dreams. 

hanging on to the dream of mesquite

From roaring floods to extreme heat, the weather changed in one day. To their dismay, the farmers found that not only were their irrigation canals washed away, but the floods had also deposited large amounts of mud and rocks in the remaining canals. Within days, the crops beganto fade. Week after week the men worked. The heat brought with it sickness. Malaria was the most damaging. Nearly every man in Mesquite was down with chills and fevers. They tried but just couldn’t work. 

Bunkerville had restored their canal, but they were also struggling with Malaria. With this weakness, they were only able to water their crops once before another flood destroyed their dam and canal again. Their crops died for lack of water. The men in Bunkerville began preparing their fields for their fall crops, hoping to gain some advantage at harvest time.

The people of Mesquite began to leave. By early spring of 1883, only 46 people remained, many of them children. By December 1883, there were so few people that Mesquite Ward was discontinued and became the Mesquite Branch of the Bunkerville Ward.

Trying as hard as they could to save the Mesquite community, the Bunkerville Ward asked Dudley Leavitt to move over to Mesquite with his many sons and try to salvage the canal. On April 17, 1887, Dudley Leavitt Sr was made Branch President of the old Mesquite Ward.

Christopher Lister Leavitt, one of Dudley’s sons was put in charge of rebuilding the Mesquite Dam. He, along with the remaining men of Mesquite, worked six weeks salvaging the dam by constructing three-sided “Pig Pens” out of cottonwood poles and loading them with huge rocks. The “Pig Pen” dam went completely across the river at the dam site.

All this work was unsuccessful. Malaria struck the men of Mesquite again. Dudley Leavitt Sr became ill, and one of his wives took him to Gunlock, Utah to escape the heat. When Dudley left, so did the other people of Mesquite. When Dudley returned to Mesquite, he gathered his boys and once again tried to salvage the irrigation system. Soon, another flood came down the river, washed the dam away and destroyed over a mile of Mesquite’s irrigation canal.

Mesquite Sunset

In 1891, despite their efforts to rebuild and sustain the community, the dream of rebuilding Mesquite was over. Apostle Snow’s permission to abandon the mission led to a significant population decline, with Mesquite Ward being downgraded to a branch. Most original settlers returned to their former homes, apart from a few families who moved over to Bunkerville and a family or two who moved to St. Thomas. Efforts to revive the community, including Dudley Leavitt Sr.’s leadership in canal repair, were ultimately defeated by recurring floods and malaria, leading to Mesquite’s temporary abandonment until a renewal attempt in 1894.

Leavittville

Dudley Leavitt Sr moved to the Leavitt Ranch, on the north side of the Virgin River, about halfway between Mesquite and Littlefield. Over the next few years, the Leavitt Ranch became known as Leavittville because Dudley Leavitt Sr lived there with three of his wives and families. The Leavitt families lived at Leavittvillefrom 1891 until 1905, when Dudley and his wife Thirza moved back to Bunkerville.