Christmas Eve, an irrigation ditch was staked out. "The first Christmas
was celebrated as fully as possible. The women cooked all the good things
their supplies allowed, trading with the stockmen for meat. For fun,
the women traded clothes with their husbands. It was a sight to see
women with stubbles of beard on their faces, and men with fair, rosy
spring finally arrived, farms were chosen about five miles from what
would become Ferron, on land that is now Molen (named for settler Michael
Molen). "The new location was level, grassy and free of rocks. Getting
water onto the ground was easier. Before long new dugouts were built,
with corrals and sheds. They also made a new ditch and named it the
Peterson ditch after Peter F. Peterson."
settlers arrived, some by call from the Church; others were lured by
an advertisement in the Deseret
News stating that certain kinds of laborers were needed in Castle
Valley. In the fall of 1878 all the women returned to Sanpete County to avoid the harshness of winter —all, that is, but Ann Singleton Wrigley,
who was made of sterner stuff. "Alone she faced winter, the solitude
and terrors of a wild, untamed country with only a dugout for protection.
She took care of her small brood; the oldest child, Clara, was only
five. Here is an untold story of bravery, daring and determination that
is rare in any history.... Ferron could have done itself honor by adopting
her name as 'Ann's Town' instead of the name of a government man who
casually passed through on a surveying job."