In January 1865, Thomas Smith and nearly a dozen Mormon men and women arrived at the confluence of the Virgin and Muddy Rivers to build the community of St. Thomas, a settlement Brigham Young, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had called for along the freight route from the Colorado River to Salt Lake City. The Colorado River was just 23 miles to the south. St. Thomas struggled to survive in its early years, but the settlers persisted in establishing this Mormon settlement in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and by 1866, 45 families were building homes and planting crops in the Muddy River Valley. Brigham Young led the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, and church members refer to themselves as Latter Day Saints or Mormons.