Moapa River
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The Muddy River, formerly known as the Moapa River, is a short river located in
Clark County Clark County may refer to: *Clark County, Arkansas *Clark County, Idaho *Clark County, Illinois *Clark County, Indiana *Clark County, Kansas *Clark County, Kentucky *Clark County, Missouri *Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas *Clark County, ...
, in southern
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
, United States. It is in the
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
, approximately north of
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
.


Geography

The Muddy River is approximately long. It begins as a series of thermal springs in the
Moapa Valley Moapa Valley is an unincorporated town in Clark County, Nevada, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 6,924. The valley in which the community lies, also named Moapa Valley, is about long and lies roughly northwest to sou ...
before continuing on its course to
Lake Mead Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. L ...
, where it drains into the northern arm of the lake near
Overton, Nevada Overton is a community that is part of the unincorporated town of Moapa Valley in Clark County, Nevada. Overton is on the north end of Lake Mead. It is home to Perkins Field airport and Echo Bay Airport. History Overton was originally s ...
. Before the
Hoover Dam The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado, Black Canyon of the Colorado River (U.S.), Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, d ...
's construction, the Muddy River flowed into the
Virgin River The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about long.Calculated with Google Maps and Google Earth It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the ...
. Near the town of Glendale the Muddy River collects the flow from the
Meadow Valley Wash The Meadow Valley Wash is a southern List of Nevada rivers, Nevada stream draining the Meadow Watershed that is bordered on three sides by the Great Basin Divide. The wash's Lincoln County, Nevada, Lincoln County head point is in the Wilson Cree ...
, forming the principal drainage system for southeastern Nevada.


Moapa National Wildlife Refuge

The Moapa Valley area is home to a wide variety of rare and endangered species, including fish, invertebrates, birds, and plants. Three endangered fish inhabit the area: the Moapa dace (''Moapa coriacea''), the
Virgin River chub The Virgin chub or the Virgin River chub (''Gila seminuda'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, chubs, Eurasian minnows and related species. This is a medium-sized, silvery mi ...
(''
Gila seminuda The Virgin chub or the Virgin River chub (''Gila seminuda'') is a species of freshwater Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, chubs, Phoxinus, Eurasian minnows and related ...
''), and the
White River springfish The White River springfish (''Crenichthys baileyi'') is a species of fish in the family Goodeidae, the splitfins. It is a rare species of the Great Basin of western United States, where it is endemic to isolated warm springs in the White River d ...
(''Crenichthys baileyi moapae''). These species can be found throughout the various springs, called the Muddy Springs, that feed the Muddy River. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has created the Moapa National Wildlife Refuge at the
Warm Springs Natural Area The Warm Springs Natural Area, also known as the Warm Springs Ranch, is located near the Moapa Indian Reservation in Clark County, Nevada, at an elevation of . The area is owned by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA). The area is a natu ...
, as part of the
Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex The Desert National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, located north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in northwestern Clark and southwestern Lincoln counties, with much of its land area ...
. In another effort to help protect and preserve the fragile habitats in the Muddy Springs area, the
Southern Nevada Water Authority The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) is a government agency that was founded in 1991 to manage Southern Nevada's water needs on a regional basis in Clark County. SNWA provides wholesale water treatment and delivery for the greater Las Vegas ...
(SNWA) and various environmental associations have organized an effort to conserve these species.


History

The area was part of the Native American
Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...
peoples homeland for centuries, with the Mojave to the south. "Moapa" is a
Southern Paiute language Colorado River Numic (also called Ute , Southern Paiute , Ute–Southern Paiute, or Ute-Chemehuevi ), of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, is a dialect chain that stretches from southeastern California to Colorado. Individ ...
word meaning "muddy"; although "Moapa River" was formerly the official name, local usage tended to translate the name, and it was made official in 1960. The Old Spanish Trail originally followed the Virgin River all the way to the
Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
and followed it westward. In 1844, the expedition of
John C. Frémont Major general (United States), Major-General John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was a United States Army officer, explorer, and politician. He was a United States senator from California and was the first History of the Repub ...
discovered a cutoff route that avoided the Colorado River, following a route between Resting Springs in California, and the Virgin River Valley that passed through
Las Vegas Springs The Las Vegas Springs or Big Springs is the site of a natural oasis, known traditionally as a cienega. For more than 15,000 years, springs broke through the desert floor, creating grassy meadows (called ''las vegas'' by Spanish New-Mexican explo ...
and crossed the Muddy River near modern Glendale. Mormon pioneers blazed a wagon road from
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
to Los Angeles along this pack trail in 1847, followed by Forty-niners attempting to avoid the winter snows of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
, and wagon trains of Mormon colonists on their way to settle in
San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...
in 1852. By 1855 it had become a cold season freight route between Utah and
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
that remained in use in Southern Nevada into the 20th century.
Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
settlers established several
settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...
s in the Muddy River area in 1864, including the town of St. Thomas, which by 1938 was submerged under Lake Mead until recently. Some of the towns ruins can be still seen during low water levels. Some Paiutes fought to protect and reclaim their homeland. For a variety of reasons, including the harsh climate, unpredictable periods of drought, and a tax dispute with the State of Nevada, the Mormons abandoned the area in 1871. Many of the LDS people returned to the area in the 1880s and it currently has a substantial LDS population


See also

*
Mormon Corridor The Mormon corridor are the areas of western North America that were settled between 1850 and approximately 1890 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), who are commonly called "Mormons". In academic literatu ...
* Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex


References

{{authority control Rivers of Nevada Mojave Desert Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex Rivers of Clark County, Nevada Old Spanish Trail (trade route)