Lords of St. Thomas

<p>In the Mojave Desert at the southern end of the isolated Moapa Valley sat the town of St. Thomas Nevada. A small community that thrived despite scorching temperatures and scarce water St. Thomas was home to hardy railroad workers farmers shopkeepers teachers and a lone auto mechanic named Henry Lord.</p><p><br />Born and raised in St. Thomas Lord lived in a small home beside his garage with his son Thomas his daughter-in-law Ellen and his grandson "Little" Henry. All lived happily until the stroke of a pen by President Coolidge authorizing the construction of the Boulder (Hoover) Dam. Within a decade more than 250 square miles of desert floor would become flooded by the waters of the Colorado River and St. Thomas would be no more.</p><p><br />In the early 1930s the federal government began buying out the residents of St. Thomas yet the hardheaded Henry Lord believing the water would never reach his home refused to sell. It was a mistake that would cost him--and his family--dearly.</p><p><br /><em>Lords of St. Thomas</em> details the tragedies and conflicts endured by a family fighting an unwinnable battle and their hectic and terrifying escape from the flood waters that finally surge across the threshold of their front door. Surprisingly it also shows that sometimes you can go home again as Little Henry returns to St. Thomas 60 years later after Lake Mead recedes to retrieve a treasure he left behind--and to fulfill a promise he made as a child.</p>