Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. George to the point it ascended the Mormon Plateau to cross to the Muddy River in present-day Nevada.

The Old Spanish Trail followed the Virgin River for part of its length from near St. Virgin recovered from his wounds but was later killed, along with most of Smith's companions, in an attack by Umpqua people (in present-day Oregon). Hiram Chittenden speculated that Smith had later renamed the river after Thomas Virgin, who was badly wounded in an 1827 attack by Mohave people during the crossing of the Mojave Desert. Fremont reported that it was called 'Rio Virgen' but did not state the origin of the name. Smith named it 'Adams River', after then-president John Quincy Adams.

The first known Euro-American party to encounter the Virgin was led by Jedediah Smith in 1826. It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the centennial celebration of Zion National Park. The river is about 162 miles (261 km) long. The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S.

Virgin river casino mesquite nevada