church & State

Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young started organizing cities and towns much like the church did years before under the leadership of Joseph Smith. This time without the laws and the constitution of the United States, the church became not only the religious structure, but also the social and economic structure of cities and towns. Later as the United States became more and more influential in governing the people throughout the Great Basin, these models evolved into the separation of church and state. To learn more about the history of the leadership positions and organizing of the church in the Virgin River Basin, visit the link below.

Language

Language is ever evolving, as time marches on, words and phrases are eliminated or changed. Sometimes meanings will completely reverse with the use of the same phrase. Writing is also something that has evolved as more and more people learned to write in the middle to late nineteenth century. Spellings of names and words became more consistent as the western United States grew in population. Education became an increasingly high priority for those in the Virgin Valley Basin.

Entertainment

The settlers of Virgin Valley had many hobbies and cultural activities to keep them entertained during leisure time. In the Virgin Valley, baseball was a favorite for men and a baseball game was organized every Saturday afternoon. To make it feel more like an event, women would prepare picnic lunches and everyone enjoyed watching the game. 

Everyone came to the dances, which were considered big entertainment. Babies were placed in blankets and their brothers and sisters would watch over them while their parents and older brothers and sisters danced the night away. The orchestra wasn’t much. Usually, a fiddle and a piano but it didn’t seem to affect the mood of the crowd. 

Later, when the schools were opened for high school students, the drama classes were a favorite. Students and parents played roles of famous operas, plays and debates. The entire town would come to the performances. 

Movies became popular with the help of gasoline generators and white sheets hanging from the wall. Many a story is told today of the old timers talking to the actors in the movie warning them of the robbers or Indians sneaking up on the movie hero.

Track and field, horse racing and rodeo events also gathered spectators and brought communities together.

The Lost City

In 1923, John and Faye Perkins of Moapa Valley were successful in arousing sufficient interest of a long-abandoned Pueblo style village southeast of the Virgin River in the Moapa Valley. Nevada Governor James Scrugham desired to develop such sites for tourism in Southern Nevada. In hopes of attracting more people to move into the area, Mark Raymond Harrington was the chosen archaeologist to excavate at the site in 1924. Under the leadership of Governor Scrugham, the Lost City Museum was constructed in Overton, Nevada.

A tremendous amount of money was spent to make this dedication of the Pueblo Grande de Nevada a success. He convinced the Union Pacific Railroad to provide a special trains for spectators to come to Overton, Nevada. He arranged for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to sing at the event. To add entertainment for spectators, he hired Zuni Indians from Northern New Mexico to construct authentic Indian wikiups around the museum and to provide dances. For an entire week, the world came to Overton to visit El Pueblo Grande de Nevada. This historical site is a tourist destination today.

The “V”

On the southern slope of Flat Top Mesa north of Bunkerville you will see a large block “V”. This V was created and constructed by the Virgin Valley High School Class of 1929. Virgin Valley High School has gone through several name changes. Originally it was called Bunkerville Academy, but due to the high school housing many communities outside of Bunkerville the name was changed to Virgin High School. Upon the creation of Educational District # 1, the name was changed to Virgin Valley High School. Both Virgin Valley High School and Moapa Valley High School placed their moniker of V and M on the mesa slopes overlooking their schools. There was a long-lasting tradition of celebrations around these two letters in the desert. School was dismissed for whitewashing the symbol. 

When Clark County School District took control of the valley schools in 1957, the whitewashing of the V and M were restricted due to liability issues. However, individual students from both campuses refused to obey and the symbols were given their annual whitewash. Finally, pressure became so great that the tradition was stopped. The last whitewash of the V was in 2013.

border disputes

Nevada became a state on October 31, 1864, rushed into the Union during the Civil War for its mineral wealth and Free State status. Its borders were poorly defined, causing disputes between neighboring state governments. Lincoln County, then Nevada’s southernmost county, originally included present-day Clark County which did not exist at the time. Though Arizona and Utah also claimed the area, Congress eventually awarded it to Nevada as part of Lincoln County. All official business had to go through the distant courthouse in Pioche, posing challenges for the growing southern communities.

As Southern Lincoln County grew and the northern counties declined, calls for local governance led to the creation of Clark County in 1909, named after railroad magnate William A. Clark. Conflict soon followed. Lincoln County, burdened by debt from building a new courthouse, demanded that Clark County cover part of the costs. A courthouse fire destroyed key records before they could be transferred, complicating land disputes in areas like Moapa and Virgin Valley.

Clark County’s early years were also marked by tensions over school funding, especially between Las Vegas and the rural valley communities. These conflicts added to the challenges of forming a stable, independent local government.

basketball politics

As tensions grew between Clark County officials and the valley schools over funding, the situation took a surprising turn; through basketball. Las Vegas High School established the Babcock Cup, a silver trophy awarded to the county’s best basketball team. Virgin High School won the cup in 1913, 1914, 1915 and clinched it permanently in 1916 after defeating Las Vegas High School. The Virgin High basketball victories became a symbol of the valley’s determination to maintain local control over their schools, despite the political and financial challenges from Las Vegas.

Plural Marriage

In the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, God commanded a limited number of men and women to practice plural marriage. This practice was formally ended in the U.S. in 1890, with a second emphasis in 1904 prohibiting it throughout the Church worldwide. Any new plural marriages performed after 1904 in the U.S. were against Church teachings.

Plural marriage began quietly in Nauvoo, Illinois and was publicly declared in 1852 in Salt Lake City. This practice was a challenging command for both men and women, but was followed by members of the church who believed the practice to be a directive from God. Individuals couldn’t participate in plural marriage without the authorization from a member of the first presidency or quorum of the twelve apostles.

Despite the hardships some experienced, the faithfulness of those who practiced plural marriage continues to benefit the Church in innumerable ways. Through the lineage of these 19th-century Saints have come many Latter-day Saints who have been faithful to their gospel covenants as righteous mothers and fathers, loyal disciples of Jesus Christ and devoted Church members, leaders, and missionaries.

The CCC

During the Great Depression, while much of the U.S. struggled, life in Virgin Valley saw little change. Already accustomed to hardship, residents continued their way of life. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to provide jobs for young men during the economic crisis. The CCC helped Virgin Valley by constructing flood defenses, improving irrigation systems and building trails and roads in the Bunkerville Mountains

Atomic Bomb

In 1951, life in Virgin Valley changed forever. Though its residents were unaware at first, just 90 miles away, the U.S. government began testing atomic bombs in the Nevada desert. Between 1951 and 1992, 1,021 nuclear tests were conducted—100 of them atmospheric, releasing radioactive dust into the sky. Today, many long-time residents still suffer from unexplained health issues and the long-term effects of the atomic tests remain largely unknown.

Japanese Internment

Between World War I and World War II, the cultivation of row crops was surging in Moapa Valley. Several Japanese families moved into the valley and joined the cultivation of row crops such as melons, onions, radishes, tomatoes, and their farms became very productive and successful. However, when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the United States entered the war, the government declared that all Japanese families were to be taken from their homes and businesses and sent to internment camps. 

Clark County, Nevada, came under Marshall Law and the Commander of Nellis Air Force Base oversaw all government mandates. He sent word to the people of Moapa Valley that  Japanese families were to be sent to internment camps. The people of Moapa Valley objected to this demand and the disagreement became quite intense. The Commander came to the valley to meet with the people and let them know they had no say in this matter. But, again, the people would not agree and would not back down. 

Not wanting to cause further trouble, the Commander asked what should be done? The people told him, “We know these people and we will be responsible for their actions.” After a long meeting, the Commander went back to Las Vegas and the Japanese families remained in Moapa Valley. Their farms provided staples for the people of Southern Nevada during very difficult times.

Mills & Swimming hole

In 1879, Bunkerville settlers built the valley’s first grist mill. The mill, located along the irrigation canal, was powered by a waterfall. The flour separating silks never worked well on this mill and the flour was more like bran. Equipment was added to this mill to enable it to operate a cotton gin and a molasses mill. 

A more modern mill, a two-story adobe structure, was constructed in Bunkerville when the settlers moved to the Bunkerville townsite from Settler’s Point, supplying flour for the valley. This mill was powered by a water wheel using water from the irrigation canal. 

The flour mill was purchased by Warren Hardy and converted to an ice plant, supplying the valley with ice.  

In 1916, the Peacock Flour Mill in Mesquite became the valley’s primary mill. It was owned and operated by Alfred Tobler and George Bowler.  The mill produced flour that was distributed widely. However, because of the demand for bleached flour after World War I, the mill could not afford the refitting costs, causing the era of local flour production to end. The mill burned down in 1930.  

The waterfall above the Bunkerville flour mill eroded the sides of the irrigation canal and formed a water hole about 75 feet across and 100 feet long. The waterfall was about 10 feet high and provided a superb pool with a large bubble where the waterfall fell and a circulation current that pushed children away from the falls back to the shore. Many children learned to swim at The Falls.