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Show 76 Nuwuvi: A Southern Paiute History successfully even though white influence was spreading on the Santa Clara, Virgin, and Ash Creek. In 1855 the Mormon Church sought to extend its contacts by sending an Indian mission to Las Vegas. The missionaries first stopped at the Muddy River. The Moapits who lived there had been regarded as the most hostile Nuwuvi band by the white travelers on the emigrant trail. The members of the Las Vegas Mission were well aware of this reputation.27 Yet when the missionaries arrived, they found that the Indians were not only very industrious but willing to be courteous if treated courteously: The Indians here farm more than any others we have been among, some of them had about one load of wheat straw already thrashed out, they took charge of our horses daily, and were thankful for a piece of bread, but were not greedy, nor did they ever attempt to take any of our trappings, tho' they had ample opportunity. We left them with ample good feelings, we partook of their wheaten bread, wine made of sweet berries and some dried meat. We left them many sorts of seed carrots, turnips, etc., etc.28 The Moapits' extensive farming might explain some of their uneasiness about white intruders. Parley P. Pratt visited the Muddy and saw about forty acres of wheat in addition to beans, melons and corn, all of which was carefully irrigated.29 The missionaries found no Indians living at Las Vegas, but set out to organize a town and farms. No single band of Nuwuvi had always occupied Las Vegas. Many bands used it as a stopover and gathering site, while the Pegesits band sometimes lived there longer when emigrant travel was not too heavy. The mission served a dual purpose as a mission to the Indians and as a lead mining operation with mines in the mountain range thirty miles south of Las Vegas. Although a fort with adobe homes and irrigated farms was built within a short time with Indian labor, the mission was abandoned late in 1856, partly due to conflict between the missionaries and the lead workers.30 Another cause for the abandonment was increasing conflict with the Indians, who were more and more dissatisfied with the permanent settlement in their midst.31 On the Santa Clara, the missionaries in the winter of 1855-56 also built a fort. They managed to induce thirty lodges of Nuwuvi |