Bonelli’s Ferry (also known as Old Bonelli Ferry) was a historic Colorado River crossing in Clark County, Nevada, located just above the confluence of the Colorado and Virgin Rivers. It operated as a key transportation link between Nevada and Arizona in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The ferry site was originally part of a small settlement known as Junction City (later renamed Rioville, Nevada), which served as a hub for agriculture, salt mining, river navigation, and overland travel to mining camps. The entire area, including the ferry landing and town remnants, is now submerged beneath the waters of Lake Mead, created by the completion of Hoover Dam in the 1930s.
Early History and the Predecessor Ferry
The area around the Virgin-Colorado Rivers confluence saw limited Euro-American settlement in the mid-19th century, largely tied to Mormon colonization efforts and mining activities in the surrounding desert regions. In the early 1870s, a flatboat ferry known as Stone’s Ferry was established approximately two miles downstream from the Virgin River mouth. It provided a basic crossing for wagons and travelers but was limited in capacity and location.
In 1870, ferry rights were acquired by Daniel Bonelli, a Swiss-born immigrant, Mormon pioneer, and entrepreneur who had settled in the nearby Mormon community of St. Thomas, Nevada. Bonelli, one of the few who remained in St. Thomas after many residents abandoned the area around 1871 due to flooding and other hardships, saw economic potential in the river crossing. He purchased and later relocated the operation.
Establishment of Bonelli’s Ferry and the Town of Rioville
By 1876, Bonelli had moved the ferry upstream to the more strategic location at the Virgin River confluence, near what was then called Junction City. He developed the site into a small but functional outpost, which he later helped rename Rioville in the late 1870s (reflecting its position at the “Rio” or river junction). Bonelli built a substantial stone house, outbuildings, and irrigated fields on both sides of the rivers using water diverted from the Virgin River. The settlement included orchards, vineyards, alfalfa fields, and vegetable crops, supporting local agriculture and livestock.
The ferry itself was a flatboat-style vessel pulled across the river by a rope line operated by hand. Crossing fees were set at $10 for a wagon and two persons, plus an additional $0.50 per extra passenger. It connected trails to Arizona mining districts (such as Cerbat and Mineral Park in Mohave County) and linked to broader routes like the Hardyville-Prescott Road, while also serving travelers heading to settlements along the Muddy and Virgin Rivers in Nevada and Utah.
Rioville grew modestly as a supply point. It featured a store, post office (established in 1881 and operating until 1906), and even served briefly as a Pony Express station. In 1879, it gained significance as the head of practical steamboat navigation on the Colorado River when the steamboat Gila (under Captain Jack Mellon) reached the landing on July 8. Smaller vessels like the sloop Sou’Wester (1879–1882) transported locally mined salt downstream to process silver ore at sites like El Dorado Canyon. Steamboat traffic peaked in the late 1870s and early 1880s but declined after 1887 as mining activity waned.
Economic Role and Peak Operations
Bonelli’s Ferry played a vital role in the regional economy during the mining boom of the American Southwest. It facilitated the movement of goods, people, and ore-related supplies across the Colorado River, supporting silver mining operations in Arizona and Nevada. Bonelli himself supplemented the ferry income through farming, cattle ranching, and salt mining from nearby deposits, which he sold to mining camps. The ferry remained in operation even as the town itself faded, with Bonelli’s son taking over after a major flood in 1904 destroyed the original boat (the same year Daniel Bonelli died).
Decline, Abandonment, and Submersion
The town of Rioville was largely abandoned by the 1890s as mining declined and overland routes shifted. The post office closed in 1906, though the ferry continued to serve a smaller number of travelers. Operations persisted under Bonelli family management or successors until around 1920–1935 (accounts vary slightly on the exact final year). The construction of Hoover Dam (completed in 1935) and the subsequent filling of Lake Mead permanently inundated the site, along with other historic river communities like St. Thomas. By the mid-1930s, Bonelli’s Ferry and Rioville had disappeared beneath the reservoir.
Legacy and Current Status
Today, the original location of Bonelli’s Ferry lies underwater in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, in the Virgin Basin area. No surface structures remain visible under normal lake levels, though the site occasionally reemerges during periods of extreme drought when water levels drop significantly (similar to the reexposure of nearby St. Thomas). The broader area is now known as Bonelli Landing, a remote recreational site popular for boating, fishing, camping, and beach access along Lake Mead. It serves as a modern gateway to the lake’s waters rather than a historic crossing.
Bonelli’s Ferry represents a quintessential example of small-scale pioneer entrepreneurship in the arid West, bridging Mormon settlement, river navigation, and mining economies. Its history is preserved in archival photographs (including 1890 views of the landing and structures), oral histories, and studies by the National Park Service. Daniel Bonelli’s contributions are noted in Utah and Nevada historical records as those of a resilient “forgotten pioneer.”
