The group of three men created a dugout home to live in amidst hard times.

The area became home to several Irish families with the men taking up local jobs in farming, roadwork, and ditch-digging.

James C. Mitchell, the leader of the group and founder of Florence, purportedly formed a mob to confront the Gophertown settlers, with the only written source on the incident being a now-defunct newspaper called the Omaha Nebraskian.

When the Gophertown men received word about the incident, they returned to the settlement with firearms and shillelaghs, causing the Claim Club members to retreat.

[2] It is unknown when Gophertown formally ceased to exist, but the area was used for the Miller Park neighborhood, founded in 1896.