By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
A small army of volunteers descended on the St. Thomas Cove area of Lake Mead last week to make preparations for the St. Thomas Alive historical event planned for this weekend. The National Park Service had issued permits for crews to cut a road from the bluffs overlooking the area, through thick stands of tamarisk, down to the old town site. The road will allow access to the area on Saturday during the event being organized by the LDS Logandale Stake.
The project was completed over a three day period and totalled more than 240 volunteer hours. All the heavy equipment as well as fuel for the project was donated by local contractors, said Logandale Stake Young Men’s President Lindsey Dalley.
“This whole thing would be dead in the water without all of the volunteer time that has gone into it,” Dalley said. “To hire a contractor to do that job would have cost us more than $50,000. We never could have done it without these folks catching the vision and stepping in to help out.”
The equipment was donated by HyRock Construction, Eagle View Construction, Meadow Valley Construction, the Moapa Valley Water District and Legacy Rock. Volunteer equipment operators included Mike Terrill, Mike Marshall, Ken Hoover, Melbourne Perkins, Jacob Jensen, Derek Leavitt, Brian Finlayson, Jody Marshall, Allen Terrill, Scott Whipple and Kylee Bradshaw.
Allen Terrill who supervised much of the project said that it ran smoothly.
“It was a struggle in the beginning trying to figure out just what to do,” Terrill said. “The Park Service had put a few restrictions on what we could do. But once we got underway, it went with amazing efficiency.”
The St. Thomas Alive event will begin on Saturday, March 3 at 10:00 a.m. Community members are encouraged to visit the ruins and see what pioneer life in St. Thomas was like. Only four wheel drive vehicles will be allowed to travel down to the site. Other than a few porta-potties, there will be no services at the event. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own water, food, shade and anything else they might need.
