Lund and Thermo, Utah
A Personal Perspective
Written by Georgia Norris Goff, 1961,
Edited and Submitted by Alexa Robinson (daughter), August 2001

The quantity and file-sizes of the photographs on this page will require considerable download time if you are using a dial-up connection. There is plenty of reading to be done while you wait. Please enjoy. We thank Alexa Robinson, Modesto, CA, for sharing a portion of her family history with us. All photos have been provided by Alexa Robinson.

(Unknown child in Lund, Utah, about 1920. Photo submitted by Alexa Robinson)

Taken from the personal writings of Georgia Norris Goff, Lund, Utah and Ramona, California
This is My Life
By Georgia Norris Goff, 1961
Dedicated to My Children and My Grandchildren

The Norris Family lived near Ramona, CA before going to live on the homesteads. L.to R. Edgar, William "Bill", Telitha, Georgia, Rosa. In back, Thomas J. and Ollie Norris.

Chapter 4
Utah Homestead In the winter of 1912 - 1913
"There were some real estate agents came to Ramona Valley trying to get settlers for some Utah homestead land. They came and talked to Dad about it. The folks thought if the land was as good as represented it would be a good way for us young folks to get a good start. There were four in the family who could homestead for I would be 21 the next May.

Mother and Dad went to Utah to see the land. It looked good to them so they decided to move there. We did not sell our place, but rented it part of the time. We moved in June 1913. Dad hired an immigrant car and we took all the things we thought we would need to start ranching. Besides our household furnishings and piano, we had a big wagon. Also, a spring wagon and a buggy. Four horses, two cows, three heifers, a coop of chickens, one of turkeys and our dog.

Ollie and Bill went with Dad in the immigrant car. Rosa Mother, Eddie and I went on the passenger train. This is when I had my first automobile ride. We went from Ramona to San Diego in our neighbor's car. We had to go to San Diego to take the train for Utah.

The immigrant car was placed on the switch at Nada, Utah. We had to move all our stuff by wagon seven miles to Thermo, where our homestead was located. We arrived in the evening and there was no place to stay, so we had to sleep in the car. Dad and the boys had taken the horses and cows out and stabled them near the car. That night a train came by. They were placing more cars on the switch and bumped into us. The noise frightened the horses so one broke loose and took off up the track. Ollie found him the next day about 25 miles from us. The dog, we found at the end of the switch. He did not know which way to go and was waiting for us.

Thermo, UT; Two buildings used by the railroad.

There was nothing else at Thermo in 1913. The agents had promised to have two houses built for us, but when we arrived they had not even started the houses so we had to unload our things right out on the brush. That night it rained and we had to all crowd into one little tent and cover things up the best we could.

It did not take long to build the houses, as the law only required a 12 foot by 16 foot house. We had to have one on each claim. We had the agents settle us and paid them $1.00 per acre so we could get a piece of land with 4 claims that cornered together, so we could all live together. We built a house on each corner. We used one for a kitchen, one for bedrooms, one for a living room and bedroom and one for a barn.

Thermo homestead houses.

The homestead land was in the Big Escalante Valley of Southern Utah. Nada and Thermo were Railroad Sections. There was nothing there but a section house where railroad workers lived. We were the first settlers at Thermo. There were a few hundred around Nada. Our land was under the Enlarged Homestead Act. So, we could each take 360 acres.

Well water near Thermo, UT

We had to live on it for three years and farm so many acres each year before we could prove up and get a patent. The land was covered with brush, such as sage brush and yellow top. It was a lot of work to take off the brush, level up the land and plow and plant. Dad and the boys did most of the work, but we girls helped to pull and burn the brush.

House and Garden


Cattle


Sheep

We worked hard but we were young and we had fun too. The homesteaders would meet at different places for picnics, dances, rabbit drives, etc. After about a year the County furnished the material and the settlers built a school house. It was about a half mile from our place and was a meeting place for the whole county. We had a Union Sunday School and sometimes the Mormon Missionaries would come from Milford and preach to us.

Milford was our nearest town, 16 miles from us. After a few months there was a Post Office at Nada and we got our mail there, only 7 miles away.

Thermo School

Thermo Sunday School Group

The second year we were there my Grandmother Pepper passed away at Ramona. (June 21, 1914) Mother went back for the funeral. A couple of years later, my Grandfather died at the age of 95. (October 7, 1916) We had some bad times like when my Dad had typhoid fever and was down for weeks.

Team and wagon used for hauling hay and wood for the winter.

And, once when Mother and I went to Minersville for a load of hay. Coming back we had a wreck and Mother was badly hurt. I was only scratched up a bit. And, again when Ollie was kicked by a horse that almost broke his leg. With no Doctor within 16 miles it was pretty hard.

My cousins, Otto and Lucy Pepper, came out from Arkansas to take a homestead, but they never built their house. They were with us for six months and finally went back.

Telitha is in the back seat. Perhaps this car belonged to Otto and Lucy Pepper (brother and sister), nephew and niece of Telitha.

We had no trouble proving up on the land after living on it three years and doing the required amount of work. We each got a patent and owned 360 acres of good land. It never did us much good. It did not rain enough for farming and our wells were too deep to make it pay to irrigate from pumps. We had no electricity or gas. We used wood stoves and coal oil lamps. There were no built-in cupboards or closets and no bathroom. We took a bath in our wash tub. We washed on the rub board and carried the water in from the well, and heated water in pots on the stove. We did not get a newspaper and there was no radio or television. We only got the mail once a week or longer.

Bill Norris and Friend with Coyotes.

Bill Norris and Margaret Furlong

The boys liked to hunt and trap. There were lots of rabbits and coyotes. The rabbits were so thick they took most of what little crops we raised. The County paid a bounty on coyotes and 4 cents each for rabbits. That helped a little on expenses. We tried raising cattle and sheep but even that was not a success.

Othnell Pickett and rabbits.

In 1916, Rosa was married to James Posik, another homesteader. They were married in Beaver by the Justice of the Peace. (October 4, 1916) Ollie and I went with them and were their witnesses.

.
Rosa and James Posik. James Posik had his own homestead property. The building looks very sturdy. James was born in Czechoslovakia.

Rosa and James smile.

About this time, we got our first car, a Ford. Being able to travel at 20 miles per hour was much better.

New Ford 1917 - Friends from the area

Flossie and Clint Myers. Flossie Myers, age 22, is listed in the 1920 U.S. Census for Iron County. She is a cook in the Hotel

Flossie and Ms. Myers

Elizabeth Barnes

Friends with corn.

Five adults, three children, dog and cat. Names unknown to me.

In 1918, Ollie and Bill were called into service of World War One. They were gone about a year.

The Norris Family 1918 Ollie and Bill in uniform.

I took over Bill’s horse and saddle and acted as cowboy in his place, but I was not very good at it.

Georgia with Bill’s horse and saddle.

Telitha and Georgia

Telitha’s Birthday Party When the War was over and they came back, Ollie was married to Violet Crawford of Monroe who he met in Salt Lake City while in training. They had a big wedding at Violet's home and Mother and Dad went. (Married August 4, 1919)

Mr. And Mrs. Ollie Norris

Ollie and Violet

In 1920, the folks sold off the cattle and Mother, Dad, Bill, Eddie and I went back to our old home at Ramona. We drove back in a big Chandler car that we traded cattle for. We were there only about a year and the folks sold the place and went back to Utah. I did not go with them. I went to Imperial Valley with Rosa. She had moved there, but was spending the summer with us at Ramona, where her third boy Max was born. (July 5, 1920) I worked in the telephone office at Brawley about a year. While working there I was baptized in the First Christian Church.

I went to Lund, Utah where the folks were helping Ollie build a Garage. I worked in the Lund Hotel for 14 months. While there I was engaged to Charles Roy Goff, nicknamed Jack. He spent that summer working in California. We wrote letters twice a week. He came back in the fall and we were married November 20, 1922 in Parowan, Utah. Jack’s folks and Bill and Dad went with us.

We spent that winter on his father’s homestead 10- miles from Lund. The next summer we moved to Modesto."

We thank Alexa Robinson for sharing these photographs and the above excerpt from her mother's personal journal with us. If you have additional information about Lund from this period, or would like to contact Alexa, please send me email.
Dave

Additional Lund/Thermo photographs shared by Alexa Robinson:

Could this couple be the owners or managers of the Lund Hotel in 1920?(Photo submitted by Alexa Robinson)

I left my mother's handwriting, because of the name Clistie. (Photo submitted by Alexa Robinson)

In costume, ready to go to the Masquerade party. (Photo submitted by Alexa Robinson)

Georgia Norris on the left. Ida is on the right. I don't know Ida's last name or the others' names. The taller girl may be Clistie.(Photo submitted by Alexa Robinson)

(Photo submitted by Alexa Robinson)

Friends sitting on the grass, talking. I wonder if the building with the pillars is the Lund Hotel.(Photo submitted by Alexa Robinson)

Mystery picture.Two young women and two men and a lawnmower. (Photo submitted by Alexa Robinson)

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