Peder and Marit Lommen came to Lincoln County with three children in the spring of 1870 and their son Even was born that first winter while the family shared a dugout dwelling with the neighboring Ole Risty family. Norwegian immigrant farmers dominated this area along the Big Sioux River, and the early years were challenging, with several grasshopper infestations in the 1870s destroying crops and with long, cold winters. Less hardy families left, but the Lommens and their neighbors persevered, building sturdier homes, improving their farms, and establishing schools and churches. Ox teams, likely like the one used by the Lommen family on their journey to Lincoln County, were relatively inexpensive and very hardy, and they could also pull plows and other farm equipment. Within a decade of arriving in Lincoln County, Peder and Marit Lommen had six more children, and many members of the Lommen family are buried at nearby Springdale Cemetery.