Lake Mead National Recreation Area

"The Boulder Dam Project created Lake Mead. Completed in 1935, the dam blocked the Colorado River as the river turned southward here into Black Canyon. The backed-up waters formed a 110-mile-long series of basins and coves, now known collectively as Lake Mead.

Since its establishment in 1936, the recreation area around Lake Mead has been managed by the National Park Service. In 1947 Boulder Dam was renamed Hoover Dam. At that time the area of Lake Mohave, stretching 67 miles southward from Hoover Dam to Davis Dam, was added to the recreation area.

In 1964 Congress established this entire area as Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This was the first nationally designated recreation area in the country."

(National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Lake Mead National Recreation Area)

"Born in 1858, Dr. Elwood Mead became a world-renowned water and irrigation engineer. He wrote Wyoming’s first water code, the basis for codes throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. He wrote the Carey Act, led water conservation and irrigation efforts in Victoria, Australia, and Palestine, created the Rural Institutions Program for the University of California, and led the first federal irrigation studies. He was the Bureau of Reclamation’s first commissioner, serving from 1924 until his death in 1936. His last great project was Hoover Dam."

(Queho Posse Chapter 1919 E Clampus Vitus)

"The celebrated Hualapai Lodge, constructed in 1941, rested in the desert scrub you see before you. In 1945 this sprawling hotel complex was renamed Lake Mead Lodge. It was one of the first tourist facilities inside the park. These historic buildings, near the beaches of Lake Mead, reflected Spanish-style architecture replete with red terra cotta tile roofs. Wooden double doors opened into a lobby which led to a gift shop, dining hall and bar as well as administrative offices. A courtyard gazebo, grassy lawn, ornamental lamp posts and towering palm trees gave the resort an inviting exterior.

After World War II, visitation to Lake Mead rapidly increased and so did the popularity of Lake Mead Lodge. The Lodge was situated with easy access to the Lake Mead Marina, boat rental, and beaches, and attracted guests from all walks of life. Celebrities regularly chartered boats for fishing and fun. Hollywood stars on illicit holiday trips, were even rumored to have stayed at the Lodge. The nearby marina was relocated in 2008 due to declining water levels and the declining revenue to the lodge prompted its closure."

(National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior)

"On August 30, 1869, Major John Wesley Powell landed at the mouth of the Virgin River, about twelve miles south of here [Echo Bay], thus ending the first expedition through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River.

The expedition left Green River City, Wyoming Territory, on May 24, 1869. For three months, Powell and his men endured danger and hunger to explore, survey, and study the geology of the canyons along the Green and Colorado Rivers.

Exhausted and near starvation, the Powell party was fed by the Mormons of St. Thomas, a small farm settlement about eleven miles north of here.

The waters of Lake Mead flooded original sites of St. Thomas and the junction of the Virgin and Colorado rivers.

Powell’s work stimulated interest in the water conservation problems of the Southwest."

(Nevada Historical Marker 37)

"On September 1, 1869, a weary but triumphant Major John Wesley Powell rode past here [Echo Bay] en route to St. Thomas, about 10 miles north. He had just survived a three-month scientific expedition, sweeping through the heretofore unknown canyons of the turbulent Green and Colorado Rivers.

Three days earlier Powell and five crewmen had emerged from the Grand Canyon into the Grand Wash Valley of the Colorado River. Their supplies were exhausted. Only two of four boats remained. Four men had quit along the way; three of them disappeared and were never found.

When Powell's boats reached a Mormon settlement at the mouth of the Virgin River, 12 miles south of here [Echo Bay], their adventure was over, the river downstream was well known. Four crewmen continued downriver with the boats, while Powell and one other traveled with Mormon settlers via wagons past here [Echo Bay] to St. Thomas.

But Major Powell would be back for more."

(National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Lake Mead National Recreation Area)

Black Canyon Wilderness established in 2002.

Bridge Canyon Wilderness established in 2002.

Eldorado Wilderness established in 2002.

Ireteba Peaks Wilderness established in 2002.

Jimbilnan Wilderness established in 2002.

Muddy Mountains Wilderness established in 2002.

Nellis Wash Wilderness established in 2002.

Pinto Valley Wilderness established in 2002.