In 1881, Micajah Harris Phelps settled a 160-acre parcel of land straddling the just completed Milligan Ditch. His cattle operation was one of the first large herding operations in Round Valley. When the Amity Ward of the LDS church was created in 1882, Phelps' homestead was located therein. On his death in 1892, his property (which included other ranches in Texas and New Mexico) was split between his three children: Bill Phelps, Sarah Dugan Phelps (known as Duge) and Elizabeth Phelps. Duge maintained the family home in Amity Valley, running a large portion of her father's original herd of 350 cattle.
