Diversion Point

Bishop William E. Abbott and his second counselor, James E. Hughes, turned out to be the two perfect men to foster the Mesquite’s focus change from farming to business.

Travel along the “California Trail” or the “Old Mormon Trail”, between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles was already established. The problem was, the trail bypassed Mesquite. The “Old Mormon Trail” left St. George and followed along Santa Clara Creek to the Shivwit Indian Reservation settlement, then turned west over the mountain and then south down the Utah Slope. At the Utah/Arizona border, the trail forked. One trail continued south to Beaver Dam/Littlefield and down the river to Mesquite. The other fork went west to Beaver Dam Wash and over the Mesas to the Muddy River near where Glendale, Nevada now stands. Then, the trail followed the California Wash to Crystal, Nevada and then followed the railroad to Las Vegas.

This fork in the trail was known as “The Millersburg Cutoff”. (Beaver Dam, Arizona was first known as Millersburg.) The California Trail cut off all the communities of Beaver Dam, Littlefield, Arizona and Mesquite, Bunkerville, St. Thomas, Overton and Logandale, Nevada. It had two main drawbacks.

1. Lack of water along the trail between Beaver Dam Creek and the Muddy River.

2. The extremely steep and difficult climb out of Beaver Dam Wash.

William E. Abbott and James E. Hughes foresaw the solution to this problem:  Build a road between the cutoff at the Arizona line and Beaver Dam and then build a road north of the river to Mesquite, totaling 12-15 miles of new road. This needed to be accomplished before the California Trail became more firmly established.e.

Avoiding River Crossings

Bishop Abbott’s main concern dealing with roads was that a more suitable road had to be constructed between Mesquite and the Utah/Arizona line, just above Beaver Dam. At this time, the road out of Mesquite followed the Mesquite Irrigation canal to the Mesquite Irrigation Dam, about three miles above town. The road then went into the river and traveled along the riverbed to Littlefield, Arizona. Wagons had to cross the river up to 30 times along this route.

Abbot proposed to take the road from Mesquite Dam and turn north along the gravel hills, constructing a dugway over the hills to Sand Hollow Wash. This wash was a big problem. It was the main wash draining the northern mountains to the Virgin River. To cross this wash, it would require traveling a long loop from the top of one side of the wash to the other along a slope gentle enough for horses to be able to pull wagons loaded with goods. From this point, the road would follow the easiest terrain to the flat, north of Dudley Leavitt Sr’s ranch at Leavittville, then across the flat into Littlefield. Once in Littlefield, the road was established to the Utah/Arizona State line and would only need improvements.

The constant persuasions of Bishop Abbott and James E. Hughes were needed to gain the volunteer help of the citizens of Mesquite. Most of the construction work was completed in the winter months as the farmers were too busy with their farms during the spring, summer and fall months. However, within just a few years, a favorable road was completed. As automobile traffic increased, the travelers followed the new road into Mesquite where they could find gasoline, oil, tires, and auto repairs. There were also a few cabins for rent and a café for meals.