Volunteers helped Beezy Tobiasson last week to unload the large shipment of the final two volumes of her three volume work Muddy Valley Reflections. The books will be on sale at Old Logandale School July 25-27. Photo by Whitney Donohue.

By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Local historian Beezy Tobiasson finally received shipment last week of the last two volumes of her prodigious Moapa Valley history, Muddy Valley Reflections. A group of Tobiasson’s family and friends gathered on Tuesday evening, July 12, at the Old Logandale School to unload a trailer load of 3,000 books, packed in 500 boxes, hot off the press.

All of these books are now being processed and are awaiting next week’s official release date. Tobiasson plans to open the doors to the Old Logandale School next week for people to come and purchase the books. Most of these copies were pre-sold long ago and are reserved for their owners. But a limited number will be available to the general public for purchase.

These two volumes, as well as the collection’s first volume which was released last September, represent the close of over 40 years of Tobiasson’s efforts in collecting source materials, newspaper clippings, diaries, recollections and family documents chronicling the history of the Moapa Valley. In addition to that, Beezy has spent nearly a decade in compiling all of those materials into these books and seeing that they were printed.

Tobiasson credits her mother with planting the idea in her head to compile a comprehensive local history.

“Back then my mom told me, ‘You know, Ginny, I think you should write the history of the Valley’,” Tobiasson said. “She encouraged me to start collecting newspaper clippings and photos and stories and whatever bits of history I could get my hands on. And I did it.”

Tobiasson said that she started with the idea of writing a 250 page single volume on the history of St. Thomas. What she ended up with was three volumes with nearly 700 pages each.

As she proceeded with the mammoth project, Tobiasson said that she collected so much additional information that the project continued to expand.

“People kept telling me that I needed to stop; that the project was getting too big trying to cover too much,” she said. “But everything was so interesting and I just felt like it needed to be in there. What would I cut?”

Where Volume One of the collection dealt extensively with the Native American and pioneer roots of the valley, Volumes 2 and 3 link that history to the present.

The last two volumes are presented as a series of family histories and listed in alphabetical order. Volume 2 covers from the Adairs to the Leitheads. Volume 3 deals with Lewis through Yamashita.

“I wanted to focus on the old families that were here from the early days,” Tobiasson said. “Many of their descendants are still here. Others are not here anymore.”

Beezy has scoured the country seeking old-timers and descendants to capture their recollections, their stories and their photos.

The books have hundreds of family photos. Some are old images from pioneer times showing the roots of the community’s oldest families. But nearby, often on the facing pages, are modern photographs depicting the current descendants of these pioneers. It is a fascinating juxtaposition.

The three volume set brings together a treasure trove of historical documents and source materials into a single collection; a huge undertaking to say the least.

“It will be such a relief to have this all done and out next week,” said Tobiasson. “As soon as it’s done, I plan on going away and taking a fishing trip for a while.”

Those interested in purchasing Tobiasson’s books may come to the Old Logandale School on July 25-27 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to pick up their copies. Those who have pre-prepurchased their books will have copies awaiting them. Additional copies will be available, while supplies last, if no pre-purchase was made. About 96 copies of Volume 1 are also available for purchase.

“This will be it,” Tobiasson said. “Once they are all gone, there won’t be anymore. I’ll be done!”

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