George W. Boyd operated the mail and stage line there and was assisted by Enoch Wallace Tripps and his wife, Julia Boyd Tripp. The Tripps became the first settlers in Callao in 1869. Other early settlers include Kearneys, Bagleys, Timms, Sabeys, and Morehouses. Callao has remained a small farming community, as have Trout Creek, Partoun, and Pleasant Valley. At the time of this writing, no private merchants were in operation, although Callao has had a post office, a school, a hotel, two service stations and a store at one time or another. Partoun has been the site of the West Desert High School in recent years.

Several hostile encounters between Indians and whites occurred in the Deep Creek area during the 1860's as the Indian's way of life began to be threatened. Indian attacks on Eight Mile and Canyon Stations near Ibapah in 1863 resulted from unprovoked massacres on Indians at Bear River and Skull Valley, Utah. Such Indian attacks were glamorized in media accounts as late as eighty years after.

A home station for the Overland Mail and Stage and a telegraph office were established at Deep Creek following the demise of the Pony Express in 1862. The Devine General Store was founded in the 1860's and has continually operated under different proprietorships to the present. There are two stores, one of which houses a post office in modern Ibapah.