The Lusk name is associated with one of the earliest claims in the Bannock Valley. Before the area was officially opened for homesteading, many settlers set up squatter's rights that they later acquired officially through the Homestead Act. John Winters Lusk Jr. had a Possessory Claim in the Big Meadows (West Fork Area) in 1889. He also acquired water rights on the South Fork of Rattlesnake Creek in 1889. He and his wife Annie both later acquired homestead claims, which were completed in 1913. Idaho wasn't even a state until two years later.
John's brother, Perry Park Lusk, also homesteaded in Arbon Valley in 1909, having purchased an existing ranch there in 1906.