Raymond/Thomas Fork

At first, the Raymond and Geneva areas were known as the Thomas Fork Valley, which is located at the Idaho-Wyoming border. The name came from an old mountain man and trapper named Thomas. In the summer of 1877, Grandison Raymond, Henry Evans (Raymond's son-in-law), Lee Hart, and Lyme Conely were cattlemen who came to the Thomas Fork Valley from Kaysville, Utah, looking for grazing lands. They found what they were looking for here, where the Indians used to graze their horses in the plentiful grass. Grandison Raymond was the first to file for a homestead, so the town of Raymond was named after him.

There was only one woman who spent the first winter here. She was Harriet Hart, wife of Lee Hart, and a sister to Lyme Conely. In 1878 she had a baby boy, Albert Leslie Hart. He was the first white child born in Thomas Fork.

Helen E. Hymas wrote about Harriet living in Thomas Fork, "One time, Harriet kept four hostile Indian braves pacified for over four hours with her home-baked bread. Another time she chased a cougar out of her kitchen. Yet, when she was asked what she considered her greatest hardship that first winter, she would answer, 'Breaking up Lee and Henry's checker games long enough for them to chop me some firewood."'

The men went to Kaysville, Utah in the spring of 1878 to bring cattle to Thomas Fork and left Harriet alone. When they returned with the cattle, to Harriet's joy, they also had Mrs. Henry Evans and her three children with them.

Soon, other families arrived -- David Boyd, the Cruikshank family, a father and his three sons, and the Dalton, Stevens, Webster, Webb and Linford families. Next the Cook, Bryson, Gibran, Layland and Francis families came.

A log church was built on the south side of Thomas Fork. It was called the Thomas Fork Branch. In 1915 they built a frame church. Gustaf Peteriet used the old one as an addition to his home. Neils Peter Larson was the first presiding elder of the LDS Thomas Fork Branch. He served until 1893. In 1895, Upper Thomas Fork was named Geneva, and Lower Thomas Fork was named Raymond. Each had their own ward. On Jan. 8, 1956, the Raymond Ward was dissolved. Those living south of the Etcheverry Ranch went with the Cokeville Ward and those living north went to Geneva. Godfrey Eschler owned the first store in Thomas Fork Valley.

It can be confusing to live in Raymond. On the 6,000 acre Etcheverry Ranch, most of the buildings are in Wyoming and the ranch land is in Idaho. Their children went to school in Wyoming, they paid taxes in Idaho and Wyoming. John even dragged his house out of Idaho so they could live in Wyoming. They once owned a dairy, but Idaho, Wyoming and Utah regulations were too hard to deal with so they closed it.

Schools were first held in Raymond and then at Geneva. The first school was held in 1879 in a cabin at Henry Evans home with six students. The roof was made of sod over willows and grass with one small window, and a floor of dirt. There was an early teacher nicknamed "Cat O' Nine Tails" Miles. He used his whip for discipline. The next school was a two room building made of rock with Fred C. Evans as the teacher. In 1928 they built a two room brick building. Fifty-one students went to this school the first day.

At first, Hyrum Holmes took the mail. The post office was known as the Thomas Fork post office until 1889, Raymond in 1900, and then Corinth.

During the 1940's mines were open in Raymond Canyon. Charles R. Brown came here at the request of the government from Lead, South Dakota to prospect for vanadium, a material that would harden steel. The government needed this for WWII. The mines strengthened the community. The Wyodak Coal and Manufacturing Co. also began mining here. One hundred people were employed by this company. Some workers lived in Raymond in barracks and others commuted from Cokeville and Montpelier. There were two work shifts each day. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Calton owned a cafeteria that fed 100 people per shift.

Samuel W. Hart, J.W. Cook and Joseph A. Dalton owned a creamery. They sold milk, eggs, cheese and butter to the miners. When the mines closed suddenly, the creamery lost business and closed in the late 1950s. The building then became a store. When the store closed, the post office that was located in the store also closed. Today Raymond has the only one business left, agriculture.

Resources:

1. The History of Geneva by Jennie B. Sleight
2. J. Patrick Wilde, Treasured Tidbits of Time, vol. 1
3. Unpublished life sketches of Mary Eleanor Johnson and Edward Laker Lashbrook owned by Bill Parslow, a descendant.