Brownsville

The first recorded wagon train to cross Utah was the Bidwell-Bartelson party. They left Independence, Missouri in the spring of 1841, apparently influenced by Antonine Robidioux in their choice of routes. The wagon train included 66 men, five women and several children. The first two women to enter Utah were Mrs. Nancy Kelsey and her young daughter Nancy.

Some historians believe that the county name of "Weber" was a corruption of Pauline "Weaver" whom legend described as an old trapper who wrote so poorly that historians transcribed his name incorrectly. According to Dr. David E. Miller, a native of Syracuse, Davis County, Utah, and professor of history at the University of Utah: "During the fall and winter of 1824-1825, a brigade of American trappers under the leadership of John H. Weber, followed Bear River from its big bend of present Soda Springs, Idaho, southward into Cache Valley. Winter camp was established near the present site of Franklin, Idaho. With the arrival of spring 1825, Weber and his men followed Bear River to the points of its discharge into great Salt Lake, then turned to the South, exploring and trapping the various streams that flowed westward out of the Wasatch Range. During that spring, Weber and his men reached, explored, and trapped Weber River - named for John H. Weber, leader of the brigade." Dr. Miller stated, "Obviously, Weber County and Weber College took their names from the same source."

Early Settlement

"At the time of major white migration through, and to, the Great Basin and the Snake River areas in the 1840s, there were seven distinct Shoshoni groups. The Eastern Shoshoni, numbering about 2,000 under their famous Chief Wash-a-kie, occupied the region from the Wind River Mountains to Fort Bridger and astride the Oregon Trail.

Four groups of Shoshoni are usually listed under the general name of the "Northern Shoshoni." One of these groups, the Fort Hall Shoshoni of about 1,000 people, lived together with a band of about 800 Northern Paiute known in history as the Bannock at the confluence of the Portneuf and Snake rivers. A second division, the Lemhi, numbering some 1,800 people, ranged from the Beaverhead country in southwestern Montana westward to the Salmon River area, which was their main homeland. In western Idaho, along the Boise and Bruneau rivers, a third section of about 600 Shoshoni followed a life centered around salmon as their basic food. Finally, the fourth and final division of 1,500 people, the Northwestern Shoshoni, resided in the valleys of northern Utah--especially Weber Valley and Cache Valley--and along the eastern and northern shores of Great Salt Lake.

There were three major bands of Northwestern Shoshoni at the time the first Mormon pioneers began settling northern Utah. Chief Little Soldier headed the misnamed "Weber Ute" group of about 400, who occupied Weber Valley down to its entry into the Great Salt Lake. Chief Pocatello commanded a similar number of Shoshoni, who ranged from Grouse Creek in northwestern Utah eastward along the northern shore of Great Salt Lake to the Bear River. The third division of about 450 people, under Chief Bear Hunter, resided in Cache Valley and along the lower reaches of the Bear River. Chief Bear Hunter was regarded as the principal leader of the Northwestern Shoshoni, being designated by Mormon settlers as the war chief who held equal status with Chief Washakie when the Eastern and Northwestern groups met in their annual get-together each summer in Round Valley, just north of Bear Lake.

By the 1840s, the Northwestern Shoshoni had adopted most of the Plains Culture, using the horse for mobility and the hunting of game. Chief Pocatello especially led his band on numerous hunts for buffalo in the Wyoming area. The Wasatch Mountains provided small game for the Northwestern bands, but of even greater importance were the grass seeds and plant roots which grew in abundance in the valleys and along the hillsides of northern Utah before the cattle and sheep of the white man denuded these rich areas and left many of the Shoshoni tribes in a starving condition and to suffer under the ignominy of being called "Digger Indians." Before white migration, the Great Basin and Snake River Shoshoni had been among the most ecologically efficient and well-adapted Indians of the American West." (Brigham D. Madsen at: http://www.onlineutah.com/shoshonehistory.shtml)

Simultaneous to the occupation of this land by the Indians, Mexico was claiming that what is now Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and California was all the northern most part of their country, to the 42nd latitude north, and to the Pacific Ocean on the west. In 1845 the U.S. Congress voted to annex Texas. This led to the American-Mexican War. At the end of the war U.S. troops captured Mexico City and the Mexicans were forced to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe- Hidalgo in 1848. Mexico (New Spain) ceded Texas, California, Utah, Colorado and most of New Mexico and Arizona to the USA. It was this War that the Mormon Battalion became involved with in 1846-1847.

["On August 9, 1847, Jesse C. Little, Wesley Willis, Joseph Matthews, John Brown, and John Buchanan penetrated the country northward to the Bear River Valley, accompanying Captain James Brown, who was on his way to California via Fort Hall to obtain the pay of the Pueblo Detachment of the Mormon Battalion.  Enroute they visited Fort Buenaventura, the home of Miles Goodyear and on their return to Salt Lake reconnoitered Cache Valley."--Heart Throbs of the West, Vol. 12, 1951, Page 194]

"In August 1847 Jesse Little took an exploring expedition to Fort Hall in Idaho to see what the nature of the land to the north was like. Wilford Woodruff reported that…

"The messengers Bring a Glorious report of the cash valley & the Country between us & there, that [there] is rich soil & well watered & well calculated for farming purposes Also bear river valley for stock grazing.... [The expedition] Called at Miles Goodyiers place. Had about 30 yards picketed in A small garding Corn and vegitation doing well."

["MEN OF THE MORMON BATTALION AS EXPLORERS
Members of the Mormon Battalion passing through the various western states took note of places that would make good pioneer settlements. They proved to be some of the most outstanding colonizers. Captain James Brown who led the sick Battalion and the Mississippi Saints into Utah set out on August 9th [1847] for San Francisco by way of Fort Hall. While passing through Weber Valley, he was so impressed with Buenaventura, that he approached Goodyear with a proposition of buying. Goodyear was not over anxious; later President Young definitely instructed the authorities who remained in Utah to buy the Fort, which sale was negotiated by Henry G. Sherwood, Daniel Spencer, and Ira Eldredge. The money was provided by Captain Brown who had returned from California."--Heart Throbs of the West, Vol. 12, 1951, Page 208]

After he returned from his duties at Sutter's Mill in California, Captain Brown purchased Miles Goodyear's cabin and fort in November 1847, Captain James Brown sent his two sons, Alexander Brown and Jesse Brown, to take possession of the property on 12 January 1848. Brown retained all the livestock and 300 acres of the immense amount of land he had purchased from Goodyear. Brown gave the rest of the land to new colonists without cost as they came north to settle. The purchase price was paid from Captain Brown's pay and that of his soldier sons, as well as from business conducted by Captain Brown while in California. The purchase price of $1,950 was actually Brown's, the balance of the $10,000 Spanish doubloonscollected represented the balance due to the Sick Detachment (the portion that had not been collected when they were in Pueblo). The pay collected was distributed to the Sick Detachment of the Mormon Battalion.

Two months later, on 6 March 1848, Brown moved his family, accompanied by the families of Henry C. Shelton, Louis B. Meyers, and George W. Thurkill, into the fort region on the Weber River. A few days later, the families of Robert Crow, Rueben Henry, Artemus Sprague, Daniel Burch, William Stewart, Mrs. Ruth Stewart, and Urban Van Stewart followed to the new settlement. The Brown family occupied Goodyear's fort and the other settlers built homesteads along the Weber River to the south and as distant as Mound Fort, two miles to the north beyond the Ogden River. The first home in Ogden outside of the Goodyear's fort was built by Captain James Brown and Datus Ensign

Brown's Fort, depicted by Utah painterFarrell R. Collett, was a new name given to Fort Buenaventura after it was purchased by the area's first Mormon settler, Captain James Brown. Ogden: Junction City.

After the purchase of Goodyear's fort, Captain James Brown had been appointed bishop over the ward area designated as Brown's Settlement Ward or the Weber River Ward in 1849 by Brigham Young and the ruling council in Salt Lake, and he was also elected to be the civil leader of the Weber River Precinct. Early in 1850 the Brown family abandoned the old Fort Buenaventura of Miles Goodyear and relocated on higher ground near present 29th Street and west of Wall Avenue because of flooding of the Buenaventura settlement by the Weber River. This new fort consisted of about a block of houses built in the fort plan. Besides the Brown family, the new fort drew several other families to this more southern location.7 At that same time James Brown also moved one of the original Goodyear cabins to the Tabernacle Square near present Grant Avenue and 22nd Street where some of his family lived. That same building was moved several times through the years, but presently stands near where Brown had once placed it on Tabernacle Square. 8

The Weber River site of Fort Buenaventura was the first of the Mormon settlements in Weber County; but during a visit to the Weber River community in September 1849 by Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders, including Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant, and Thomas Bullock, it was decided where the city of Ogden should be located. Thomas Bullock wrote on 2 September 1849:

Alexander Brown and his brother, Jesse S. Brown, built the first irrigation canal in Weber County
by Maynard Dixon

"…after spending a comfortable night in Brownsville, President Brigham Young and party spent a pleasant day visiting about in and near the settlement. They turned up Ogden's Fork going as far as the mouth of the canyon where the hills rise very abruptly. There we were regaled with plenty of mountain trout, and then went into the Goodyear's farm which had not been irrigated this year, but it looked tolerably well. After chatting for some time we again made preparations to travel and return to Brown's at 11:45 A.M. The sky was very hazy and dull and at times we could scarcely see the top of the mountains, but the air was warm. Ogden's Fork is about a rod wide and 18 inches deep, the water being soft and clear and the banks of the river lined with willows, rose bushes and small trees. Ezra Chase said that the land was very productive in grain. A short distance below he said, it will yield a hundred bushels of crickets to the acre and 50 bushels of mosquitoes." 9

On the next day, 3 September, Young gave Captain James Brown permission to build toll bridges across the Weber and Ogden rivers. Young, Kimball, Grant, Bullock, and others climbed to the top of the sand hill near Brown's Fort and spent an hour discussing how the town of Ogden should be laid out. It was decided that the town should be laid out on the south side of Ogden's Fork at the point of bench land in order that the waters from the Weber River and Ogden's Fork could be taken out for irrigation and other purposes.

Shortly after the visit of Brigham Young and his party to Weber County, the general conference of the Mormon church voted on 7 October 1849 to lay out a city "in the district known as Brownsville, some forty miles to the north of Salt Lake."'°

In 1850 Lorin Farr, who was one of the settlers in Salt Lake, was selected by Brigham Young because of his pioneering experience, leadership ability, and long­time acquaintance with Young to go to Ogden and take charge of affairs there. Farr moved to Ogden on 12 January 1850; but, instead of remaining at Captain Brown's Fort, he went north of the Ogden River to the flat land just below the mountains and close to the Ogden River. He purchased a piece of land from Captain James Brown and occupied a cabin which had been built on the land by his father-in-law Ezra Chase, who had moved there in 1848. This became the site of Farr's Fort, which was built in 1850 because of Indian threats. Farr's Fort was located one and a half miles northwest of the mouth of Ogden Canyon and about a block north of the Ogden River, which is the south side of 1051 East Canyon Road. The protective walls of the fort drew several families besides the Farrs to take up residence there."

On 26 January 1851 the Weber County area was reorganized by the Mormon church into a broader ecclesiastical district as the Weber Stake of Zion. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction was placed more in line with the secular county boundaries, and this was an effort to break up any schism that had "grown up between some of the members living about the South [Brown's] and North [Farr's] forts." On this date Lorin Farr was made the first president of the Weber Stake, replacing James Brown as the ecclesiastical leader; and by this time Farr was also mayor of Brownsville. This organizational meeting was conducted by Farr's life long friend, Brigham Young, and was held at the South Fort, which was Brown's new fort. Charles R. Dana and David B. Dille were chosen as Farr's counselors. The following were chosen as high councilors: Joseph Lake, George Pitkin, Lemuel McCory, Daniel Birch [Burch], Joseph Grover, William Earl, David Moore, Edward Bunker, Phillip Garner, Samuel Stickney, Horace Rawson, and Joseph Lish. Bryant W. Nowling was selected as clerk. 12

At this same time two ecclesiastical wards were created within the Weber Stake - the South Ward and the North Ward. Isaac Clark became the bishop of the South Ward, with James Browning and Captain James Brown as his counselors; and Erastus Bingham became the bishop of the North Ward with Charles Hubbard and Stephen Perry as counselors.13

Lorin Farr and his family played a busy role in the Ogden community, and Farr accumulated over the years an extensive estate to support his large families from six plural wives. He held approximately 400 acres of land, widely scattered along the Ogden River, and city lots with six homes for his families at 21st Street and Washington Boulevard. On these various farms he kept forty to one hundred head of cattle, ten to thirty head of horses, and about 300 sheep, as well as many hogs and chickens. Besides the farms, Farr developed a sawmill, a gristmill, a woolen mill, a store, and other miscellaneous enterprises.14

The General Assembly of the State of Deseret granted Brownsville, now to be known as Ogden City, its charter, which was approved February 6, 1851. It provided for a mayor, four aldermen and nine councilors.

The presence of church control initially made civil government somewhat superfluous, since practically all the people were Mormons and their ecclesiastical government managed much of their lives. The selection of civil officers and the beginnings of Weber County government did not take place until the election of 4 August 1851, with the following results: Isaac Clark as chief justice of the county court; Erastus Bingham as associate justice; Daniel Birch (Burch) as associate justice; Francillo Durfey (Durfee) as justice of the peace; Edward Bunker as justice of the peace; Benjamin F. Cummings as sheriff; Sandford Bingham as constable; Clifton Browning as constable; and Joseph Grover as road commissioner. David Moore was appointed by territorial governor Brigham Young as county recorder and David Dille was appointed as county clerk. The chief justice and the associate justices of the county were the governing body of the county.

The name derives from the Hudson's Bay Company trapper, Peter Skene Ogden, who was trapping in the valleys and mountains east of Ogden in 1825

In an election held on 2 August 1852, Erastus Bingham, Lewis Hardy, and Jonathan S. Wells were elected selectmen, the new title for the justices. The county selectmen, designated together as the county court, were the governing body of the county during the territorial period. Under the Utah State Constitution of 1896, county govern­ments were restructured into a county commission format. At that time, the title of the governing officials was changed from selectmen to county commissioners.

The incorporation of Weber County preceded the Ogden City incorporation, and Weber County functioned to organize and serve the larger geographical area. Ogden City, as county seat, was the center of political and economic control. In many ways the county was closely related to Ogden, and in the early days much of county life was dominated by Ogden. Much of the early history of the area involved the interplay between the county government and the county seat, and over time there were struggles to define the roles of each. Cooperation was evident in June 1852 when the Weber County Court approved loans to Ogden to construct a canal to carry water to the city; and, even though through the years there were disagreements between the county and Ogden City, there were also times of cooperation.

Paiute Indians in 1850
Medicine Man ~ Warrior ~ Indian Doctor
"It is cheapter to feed them than to fight them" said Brigham Young

After an incident in which an Indian leader was killed in 1850 at Five Mile Creek in Harrisville as well as a general uprising of the Indians in the Walker War in central Utah in 1853, the Indian threat led Brigham Young to order Utah communities to "fort up" as a protective action. In response to that admonition, several other forts were constructed or partially constructed in Weber County. The forts included Goodyear's original Fort Buenaventura on the Weber River, Farr's Fort (at Mill Creek, near present-day 12th Street and Monroe Avenue), Brown's Fort (located near 29th Street and Pacific Avenue), Mound Fort (located between 9th Street and 12th Street and west of Washington Boulevard to the bluff at 250 East), Bingham's Fort (located on both sides of 2nd Street and mainly west of Wall Avenue), Fort Ogden (located between 21st Street and 28th Street and between Wall Avenue and Madison Avenue), North Ogden Fort (located in the vicinity of 2700 North and 500 East), Uintah Fort (located west of the mouth of Weber Canyon on the Weber River-now in Davis County), Kington Fort (located at approximately 475 East and 6650 South in South Weber, which is now in Davis County), and Huntsville Fort (in the upper valley of the Ogden River).15

Three of these forts would be added to Ogden City proper - Bingham's Fort, Mound Fort, and Farr's Fort. Bingham's Fort was a community that took its water from Mill Creek and transported the water through what later was called the Lynne Ditch to the area of 2nd Street west of Washington Boulevard. The name of Bingham's Fort came from the fort's first leader, Erastus Bingham, who came to Weber County in 1850 and first settled in a more central area of Ogden City. In 1853 he moved to the northern end of the city to establish his fort. Bingham's son-in-law, Isaac Newton Goodale, was also instrumental in building the fort and digging the three-mile Lynne Ditch that brought water to the fort. The fort was a wood ­frame structure, interwoven with willows and filled in and covered with mud and adobe. It had dimensions of 120 rods by 60 rods, with gates on the east and west walls. The east wall of the fort was approximately 110 feet east of Wall Avenue and the west wall was 1,870 feet west of Wall Avenue. 16

The Mound Fort settlement started in 1848 when a few settlers moved to the vicinity north of the Ogden River where a prominent mound was a major land feature. Here Indian groups frequently camped. During threatening times with the Indians in 1854 a fort was constructed which was named Mound Fort. It enclosed the district from the present 12th Street to 9th Street, and from the west side of the state road (present Washington Boulevard) to the west face of the mound at 250 East. The west slope of the mound was very steep, and with a small amount of work it was cut to make a precipitous face about ten feet high. To strengthen the west side, a breastwork approximately three feet high was erected along the top of the mound. A mud wall nine feet high, three feet wide at the base, and sixteen inches wide at the top was built around the other three sides of the enclosure. David Moore was the leader at this fort, and about ten or twelve other families joined his family there.17

The Barker and Malan families had farms in the Mound Fort area. The Malan family presents an example of how some pioneer families moved to different areas of the county as communities developed. The Malan family first homesteaded in the river-bottom area at 12th Street and later moved to develop the bench land at 24th Street and Monroe Avenue, where they found rattlesnakes around their cabins. By 1894 they had moved to the Knob Hill area of east Capital Street and at the same time acquired the Malan's Heights land which ran from the base of the mountains to Malan's Peak. In less than half a century they had moved across the developing areas of Ogden City.

After a severe flood in the spring of 1850, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Orson Hyde visited Lorin Farr in August 1850 and carried out the business of laying out a city on the site designated during the earlier visit. The south limits of the city were defined as a line going east from Brown's Fort (at 29th Street and Pacific Avenue) to the mountains; and the north limits ran from the mountains west to the southwest of Farr's Fort (at Mill Creek and Monroe Avenue) and jogged to the north to 12th Street (south of Mound Fort); this included the territory between the forks of the Weber and Ogden rivers. This gave the town a most beautiful setting, with several creeks and two major rivers for water. Young's party set the corner stake and gave a detailed plan for a modern city of wide streets.18

During 1850 Mayor Farr engaged William M. Lemon to survey portions of the county adjacent to the plat of Ogden City. Shortly after commencing the work, however, Lemon died. William M. Dame continued the work, and Jesse W. Fox completed it. Farmland was divided into blocks half a mile wide by one mile in length, with streets running north and south every mile and east and west every half mile. Each farm contained twenty acres and fronted the streets running east and west. The survey covered an area approximately six miles square.19

The newly surveyed region outside of Ogden City was divided into districts. The first district to the north of the Ogden River and Ogden City was called the Bingham Fort district (Lynne). It occupied land on both sides of present 2nd Street. The second district north and west was called Slaterville. Extending northward from this dis­trict to the mountains and westward to Utah Hot Springs was an extensive district about nine miles in length called North Ogden. When Ogden City was first organized, it included most of the North Ogden district; but, when these new districts were created, Ogden's boundary line was moved to two miles north of the Ogden River and excluded North Ogden. Other districts were Marriott, Pleasant View, Harrisville, Farr West, West Weber (including Taylor) on the Ogden River domain, and Uintah and Burch Creek in the Weber River area.

Settlers, as they arrived, could take up a city lot, which provided space for a house and garden, while those who wanted more land could also get a larger piece of land in the outlying areas. Many of these early settlers lived on a city lot and worked a farm in the county. Brigham Young counseled the leaders not to settle in the country but to "move on to the city lots, build good houses, school houses, meet­ing houses, and other public buildings, fence their gardens and plant out fruit trees, that Ogden might be a permanent city and suitable headquarters for the northern country."20

On 6 February 1851 the territorial legislature incorporated Ogden City, and on 23 October 1851 the first election was held, resulting in the election of Lorin Farr as mayor of Ogden, a position he held for twenty-two years.

Matthew William Dalton claimed to have built the first house within the surveyed Ogden townsite. In 1851 he built a log house on the southeast corner of Grant Avenue and 24th Street. Dalton arrived in Ogden on 5 September 1850, a few days after Brigham Young had visited and laid out the city. Dalton described the area:

"Now on my arrival at Brownsville now called, Ogden, but then part of the wilderness, I saw a few scattered families, of people, who for protection lived in a fort on the outskirts, of what is now the plat­ted part of the City. The afternoon I came in, the surveyors were running the first lines of the City, and began staking off some of the lots. It was a barren looking wilderness, in places, covered with "sage Brush" and "bunch grass." . . . Upon inquiry, I found the prices of provisions very high. Flour was One Dollar per pound. One hundred pounds of flour would purchase a fine horse! I began at once to look for work, and fortunately made the acquaintance of a man named David Moore; who being in need of a man, engaged me to work for him at a wage of Two Dollars per day and board. I got busy at once, and did my first work, the afternoon I came in. This consisted in cutting and hauling a load of Box Elder trees, from the Weber River bottoms.21

Dalton's house was a two-room log house, and he fenced the three city lots he acquired and plowed and planted a garden in what would become the heart of the city. He also farmed twenty acres of land north of the Weber River, where he harvested 33 bushels of wheat to the acre.

William Lang built one of the first houses on a surveyed lot in Ogden at the corner of 27th Street and Washington Boulevard. It was built of ax-hewn cottonwood logs taken from the banks of the Ogden and Weber rivers. It had a roof of dirt and the doors hung on wooden hinges and were fastened by wooden latches. Isaac Clark built the first adobe home in Ogden; it was located at 2386 Washington Boulevard, which also served as the first post office and first meeting place for the county court. Isaac Clark was the first postmaster and the first Weber County Chief Justice.

In December 1854 Mormon leader Wilford Woodruff visited the Weber County settlements and described them in his extensive diary. He described East Weber (Uintah) as having some thirty-five families and a school. Woodruff reported that Ogden "is a flourishing place containing some 150 families," and that the Ogden city wall, which was just in the beginning phase of construction, would enclose one mile square and was to be built of earth eight feet high, three feet wide at the bottom and eighteen inches at the top. Ogden had two stores and two schools with about 120 students. The residents of the city had raised 10,000 bushels of wheat during the past season. As Woodruff continued his journey, he described Bingham's Fort and North Ogden. Bingham's Fort had 732 residents and North Ogden had forty-seven families. The North Ogden families had raised 16,000 bushels of wheat in 1854. Both communities had begun schools, and the early winter weather was cold. 22

In 1855 the English traveler William Chandless described the flourishing settlements on the Weber River. After spending a night with the Captain James Brown family, Chandless commented on Ogden city:

"Ogden City was a specimen of the settlements in Utah on the model of Salt Lake; precisely a mile square, part on the bench, part in the valley-bottom, enclosed by an earthen wall, and laid out in "blocks;" a large portion was still unoccupied, but adobe-houses were fast springing up. In the middle of the place was a school­house, also used as a church, and its door plastered over with parochial notices; near it were two small stores - few settlements have as many, and what people want they must get direct from "the city," as best they can. The roads, except on the "bench," were a miserable alternation of mud and water, and if not frozen over, hardly passable for a foot traveler; there was little cleanliness or neatness about them. Several small mountain burns ran through the place, and to the north lay a small, deep, sluggish river, closed in by kinnikinnik, and crossed by a substantial wooden bridge; to this a list of tolls were affixed, but as far as I could see they were never exacted. Cattle on all sides straggle about, picking up what they can find, and at night return, or are driven within the walls; the cultivated land is necessarily more or less distant, but danger gathers the inhabitants and their stock to a single place."23

The U.S. Census of 1850 noted that Weber County had 687 males and 454 females - a total of 1,141 - living within its jurisdiction. This census did not record any Native Americans, nor did it make any reference to any other ethnic group. Virtually all of the some 200 family heads reported that they were farmers or stock growers. Other occupations reported in the census included 155 students and a varied assortment of carpenters, masons, wheelwrights, wagon makers, tin­ners, chair makers, a draper, a stonecutter, tailors, coopers, shoemak­ers, merchants, saddlers, a potter, cabinet makers, a machinist, a woodcarver, a soapmaker, a dairyman, a baker, a butcher, a dentist, schoolteachers, an engineer, an artist, a printer, sailors, soldiers, and a peddler. A chimneysweep listed himself as a gardener.

Page 74: "Early in 1851 ( some say 1850) Oliver Bybee and William Middleton erected a log cabin in West Weber which was used as a "herdsman's house." This cabin was located on the riverbank in a grove of box elder trees. The first permanent settlers arrived in 1857 when John Martin Brown camt to stay. Two years later, other families took up farms after purchasing land from Captain James Brown at five dollars per acre."

Page 84: "...The main food supply for Weber County during the first winter ws the dairy products obtained from the cows Captain James Brown purchased from Miles Goodyear and others that Brown accumulated. This herd provided the colony with milk, butter, and cheese, some of which was taken to the settlers in Salt Lake City. [Brown's wife, Mary McRee Black Brown, is recognized as the first cheesemaker in Utah, producing a very fine product.]

In 1848 the Browns plowed a considerable tract of land, planting wheat and corn. The tally or the harvest of 1848 was one hundred bushels of wheat, seventy-five bushels of corn, some cabbages, potatoes, watermelons, and a good crop of turnips."

Page 88: "Molasses milling was another early enterprise in the county. The first molasses mill was built in 1851 by George Hill and was operated by Captain James Brown. It was located on the south side of 24th Street, on the east bank of the Weber River. Here sugar cane was processed into molasses. James Brown, the first Mormon settler of the county, was fatally injured when the sleeve of his shirt was caught in a cog of mill machinery at the molasses mill and he was dragged into the wheel. He died on his 62nd birthday, September 30, 1863."

{Page 99: Pages 131-132: )

"The tragic transformation for the Northwestern Shoshoni to a life of privation and want came with the occupation by Mormon farmers of their traditional homeland. The white pioneers slowly moved northward along the eastern shores of Great Salt Lake until by 1862 they had taken over Cache Valley, home of Bear Hunter's band. In addition, California-bound emigrants had wasted Indian food supplies as the travelers followed the Salt Lake Road around the lake and across the salt desert to Pilot Peak.

The discovery of gold in Montana in 1862 further added to the traffic along the route. The young men of Bear Hunter's tribe began to strike back in late 1862, raiding Mormon cattle herds and attacking mining parties traveling to and from Montana.

The Indian aggression came to an end on 29 January 1863. On the morning of that day, Colonel Patrick Edward Connor and about 200 California Volunteers from Camp Douglas in Salt Lake City assaulted the winter camp of Chief Bear Hunter's Northwestern group of 450 men, women, and children on Beaver Creek at its confluence with the Bear River, some twelve miles west of the Mormon village of Franklin in Cache Valley. As a result of the four-hour carnage that ensued, twenty-three soldiers lost their lives and at least 250 Shoshoni were slaughtered by the troops, including ninety women and children in what is now called the Bear River Massacre. Chief Bear Hunter was killed, and the remnants of his tribe under Sagwitch and the chiefs of nine other Northwestern bands signed the Treaty of Box Elder at Brigham City, Utah, on 30 July 1863, bringing peace at the price of submission to this Shoshoni region.

After the signing of the Box Elder agreement, government officials attempted to get all of the Northwestern Shoshoni to move to the newly founded Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho. After several years of receiving their government annuities at Corinne, Utah, near the mouth of the Bear River, the Indian bands finally gave up their homelands in Utah and settled at Fort Hall, where their descendants live today. As a result of their move to Idaho, the Northwestern Shoshoni have been lost to Utah history although for centuries they had lived in northern Utah. It is time for Utah historians to make the Shoshoni a prominent part of the state's history along with the Navajo, Paiute, and Ute tribes." Brigham D. Madsen at: http://www.onlineutah.com/shoshonehistory.shtm

Endpaper of "Ogden: Junction City" by Roberts and Sadler

The Browns and many other families set up a community laid out in squares bordered by many trees. Ogden was a difficult place to live in those early days with storms, floods, disease and Indian attempts to preserve their lands and hunting rights. But the settlers persevered and the railroad and all its trappings came to Ogden and west to Promontary. Five and a half years after Captain James Brown's death the Golden Spike ceremony was held May 10, 1869 not too far from Ogden at Promontary Summit.

Last Spike at Promontory Summit driven May 10. 1869

First Ogden Tabernacle. Built in1855 by Colonel William Nichol Fife

During July 1855 when Ogden boasted some fifty families, William Nichol Fife (Orson Pratt Brown's stepfather), architect and builder of Salt Lake City was commissioned by Brigham Young to go to Ogden and build a Tabernacle for the saints of that area. According to William Fife's diary, he received about $100 and some foodstuffs in pay. He went to work under the direction of President Lorin Farr and in spite of the hard winter the work progressed satisfactorily with volunteer labor giving able support. Red pine logs were cut in the mountains east of Ogden and floated down Ogden River and sawed at Farr's mill. With nails costing $100 a keg--and none to be had--it was necessary to fasten the timbers in the huge roof rafters and arches with wooden pegs. The foundation was of rock and the two-foot thick walls were made of adobe.

The structure located on the corner of 2nd and Main (22nd and Washington) originally had a plain dirt floor and the benches were made from hand-split logs. When Johnson's Army invaded Utah (1857-58) the tabernacle was utilized as a headquarters for the Ogden Division of the Utah Militia. Amidst the hardships of the times the saints sacrificed a great deal to complete the building, using it in the meantime for many meetings and entertainments. Finally completed it was dedicated on the 10th of October, 1859. Since most of the materials and labor were donated no account was kept of the original cost. Considered relatively large for the times, it seated 1,200 persons.
See http://www.OrsonPrattBrown.org/Fife/WmNicolFife1831-1915.html for continued history of the Ogden Tabernacle.

Ogden, Weber, Utah in 1883

Ogden's Carnegie Library 1902-1970	Ogden's Masonic Hall 1906 to present
	Ogden Union Station 1888 - 1923

Ogden City Hall 1889-1930

Quoted from the Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol. 1, 1928. Page 91.

Brown's Fort. Miles Goodyear obtained a grant of land from the Mexican Government in 1841. Under this he claimed the tract of land beginning at Weber Canyon, following the base of the mountains north to the Hot Springs, thence west to Great Salt Lake along the shore to a point opposite Weber Canyon and thence back to the beginning. This land extended about eight miles north and south and from the base of the mountains east to the shores of Salt Lake on the west. Goodyear built a picket fort and a few log houses on land now occupied by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in Ogden. Goodyear was living at the fort with a few mountaineers and half-breed Indians when Captain James Brown of the Mormon Battalion arrived. Captain Brown purchased all of his rights for the sum of $3,000.00.  Captain Brown established a colony at Ogden in the Spring of 1848 and located in this section. The fort built by Goodyear and later occupied by the Mormons was renamed Brown's Fort. Farr's Fort, Bingham Fort, Mound Fort and Kingdom's Fort were in the same vicinity, now Ogden Utah.

WEBER COUNTY HISTORY

In 1983 Betty Cook wrote: "Weber County, one of the first counties, formed in 1850, consists of 549 square miles in the northern part of Utah. North of Weber County is Cache County; north and west is Box Elder County; south are Davis and Morgan counties; and east is Rich County. Although Weber County is the second smallest county is size in the state of Utah (Davis County is the smallest), it is the fourth largest in population. Salt Lake County has the greatest number of residents; Utah County is second; Davis County is third; and Weber County is next, with a population almost as large as that of Davis County.

"The 1980 census reports a population of 144,616 for Weber County. Of that figure, 135,054 were white, 2,225 were Black, 736 were Indian: 1,415 were Asian, and 5,186 were of other races. The figure given for those of Spanish origin was 8,570, which is included in the number of white residents in the county.

There is disagreement among historians about the origin of the name Weber. One explanation is that the county was named for the Weber River, which was named for John H. Weber, one of the American trappers who entered Great Salt Lake Valley in 1825 and who was killed by Indians near the river a few years later. A second story is that the river was named for Pauline Weaver, also an early trapper, who was a frontiersman in Arizona. The river is called "Weaver's Fork" by some of the early writers of material about this area.

Most of the residents of Weber County live in Ogden, which is the county seat, and in the rural communities around the city. Ogden has an elevation of 4,370 feet. The climate is stimulating with low humidity. Average rainfall totals 17.92 inches a year. The average high summer temperature is 91.8 degrees; the average low winter temperature is 20.4 degrees.

Peter Skene Ogden 1794-1854

Ogden was named for Peter Skene Ogden, a representative of the Hudson Bay Fur Company, who trapped in the region about 1826. How the renaming of Brownsville came about is unknown.

[Peter Skene Ogden, born in 1794, was an experienced trapper and mountain man who remained with the Hudson's Bay Company after its 1821 merger with the Northwest Fur Company. In November 1824 Ogden was appointed leader of the Snake River Country Expeditions by John McLoughlin, and he was instructed to continue the British policy of creating a "fur desert" between American territory and the southern Columbia River drainage to discourage American trappers from coming into the area.

Ogden, with a brigade of 131, pushed south from Flathead House toward Utah in December 1824. Accompanying the British was a small group of Americans directed by Jedediah Smith. By April the expedition had reached the Bear River, where the two outfits parted company. Ogden continued south along the Bear River to Cub Creek in present Cache Valley, where he learned from Snake Indians that Americans (John H. Weber's brigade) had already trapped the area. The British continued south through present-day Smithfield, Logan, Hyrum, and into the Huntsville area via Paradise Canyon. After trapping the Ogden Valley region, Ogden took his brigade across the divide south of Huntsville and established his southernmost camp near present Mountain Green. Records seem to indicate that Ogden himself did not enter the area of the present-day city which now bears his name, nor is it positively known if he even saw the Great Salt Lake at this time. However, men of his brigade did return from their trapping with accounts of these areas, and it is quite possible that Ogden did observe them.

While encamped at Mountain Green, Ogden's company was visited by two groups of trappers. The first was led by Etienne Provost, and the second was a group of "Ashley Men" from John Weber's brigade led by Johnson Gardner. Discussion between Ogden and Gardner regarding ownership of the territory escalated into a heated exchange. Ironically, both parties were trespassing on Mexican territory. Gardner enticed twenty-three of Ogden's men to defect to the American camp, bringing more than 700 pelts with them. Fearful of additional desertion and losses, and also to avoid possible diplomatic repercussions, Ogden gathered the remainder of his brigade and retraced his steps to Flathead Post. Undoubtedly, had Ogden not been forced to withdraw, his journals would have provided the earliest and most complete account of what became the Utah Territory.

Ogden continued to lead Hudson's Bay Company brigades; however, not until his 1828-29 expedition did he again enter the Utah area. This journey brought Ogden south from Fort Nez Perce to what trappers called "Ogden's" or "Mary's" River, later named the Humbolt by John C. Frémont. Pushing east, Ogden's brigade proceeded to present-day Lucin, Utah, then north along the east side of the Grouse Creek Range. The expedition then proceeded eastward across Park Valley and camped near Ten Mile Spring. Ogden indicates that at this spring he had his first view of the Great Salt Lake; whether this meant his first view during this expedition or his first time ever is uncertain. After observing the lake, Ogden continued north toward Soda Springs, then south along the Bear River through Cache Valley to where the Malad River joins the Bear. After trapping the area, Ogden's brigade returned to Ten Mile Spring, skirting the north end of the Great Salt Lake and retracing their route out of Utah.

Ogden's impact upon the fur trade was immense; however, after his 1828-29 expedition he never again entered Utah. He did remain active in the Hudson's Bay Company until a few months prior to his death in 1854. http://www.onlineutah.com/historypeterskeneogden.shtml]

Another trapper, Miles Morris Goodyear, was granted "all the land between the mountain and the lake" by the Mexican government which claimed the territory at that time. In 1841 Goodyear built a log cabin in the area, the first permanent home in Utah [Captain James Brown of the Mormon Battalion purchased the Mexican land grant property and cabin in January 1847], the cabin now stands next to the Pioneer Hall Museum on Ogden's Temple Square. The area became known as Brownsville.

Brigham Young, Mormon leader, led a group from Salt Lake City to the area around Weber in 1850 to lay out the city which was incorporated as Ogden in 1861 [February 6, 1851]. Now the city is a bustling municipality, the center of the entire marketing area. Ogden is also the location of Weber State College, a four-year college where about 10,000 students were enrolled in 1979.

[Where did Weber come from? A canyon, a county, and a river share this name. Some people claim the name comes from a Dutch sea captain, John H. Weber, a trapper with General Ashley who was killed by Indians in 1825 near the river shortly after his arrival to the area in 1823. Others believe the area was named for Pauline Weaver, an Arizona frontiersman, who was in the area].

Weber County ranks seventh in the state in the economic value of its agricultural products, with a figure reported in 1979 as $26,346,000, about $2,000,000 lower than it had been five years earlier. Agricultural products are beet sugar, cereals, flour and grain products, dairy and poultry products, all from Ogden. Meat products come from Roy and Ogden: and canned fruits from Roy.

The Government ranks first as the employer with the largest number of workers. The United States Air Force, realizing the convenience of the location of Weber County for dealing with the gathering of supplies, maintaining equipment, ease of movement of personnel, providing facilities, and other related concerns, established Hill Air Force Base in the Weber County Area. Over 15,000 civilians and 3,000 military people are employed at the base. The Internal Revenue Service, with 3,000 employees at Ogden, provides tax services and processes tax forms for all western states except California, as well as states in the mid-west.

The wholesale and retail trade is second in the number of employees. Service-related and miscellaneous non­agricultural work is third, with manufacturing running a close fourth. There are 160 manufacturing plants in Weber County. Some of the products are pharmaceuticals, lingerie, transportation equipment, prefab homes, zirconium alloy, and chemicals.  The natural resources that come from the forests of Weber County are made into wood products, millwork products, and prefab buildings in Ogden. The principal products that come from mining are potash, industrial chemicals, sand and gravel, also produced in Ogden.

Ogden was formerly the location of the Browning Arms Company which has moved its operations to Mountain Green in Morgan County. However, the John M. Browning Armory and Firearm Museum is still located in Ogden. Browning's shop and many of his machine guns, rifles, and pistols are on display there.

John Moses Browning was born in Ogden on January 21, 1855. His father, Johnathan Browning, was a gunsmith. In 1879 John, at the age of 23, invented his first rifle. He sold the rights to his single shot rifle to the Winchester Company, but soon founded the Browning Brothers' Sporting Goods Company in Ogden, which later became the Browning Arms Company. He worked on an improved rifle in 1884 and devised a repeating rifle, then automatics and machine guns. He enriched the realm of repeating small arms. His flourishing firm developed repeating rifles of various calibers and gauges. His firm became known as the largest arms factory between Omaha and the Pacific.

John Moses Browning died in Herstal, Belgium, November 26, 1926. The Browning Arms Executive Offices and Research & Development Department remained in Ogden until 1965 when the move was made to new facilities in Mountain Green.

Another person of note who should be mentioned here is Herbert B. Maw, who was Utah's eighth Governor, serving from 1941-1949. He was born in Ogden March 11, 1883, and attended elementary school there. He graduated from the University of Utah, received a doctorate from Northwestern University, was in the Army Air Corps, later turning to teaching in high school and then at the University of Utah. He was in the Utah Senate, then became Governor of the State. After his term in office, he remained in Salt Lake City to practice law.

Still another noted person from this area was Fawn McKay Brodie, author of numerous books including THE DEVIL DRIVES, A LIFE OF SIR RICHARD BURTON; NO MAN KNOWS MY HISTORY, THE LIFE OF JOSEPH SMITH THE MORMON PROPHET; THOMAS JEFFERSON, AN INTIMATE HISTORY; and RICHARD NIXON, THE CHILD AND THE MAN which was published posthumously, was born September 15, 1915, in Ogden and grew up in Huntsville. She was the daughter of Thomas E.McKay and Fawn Brimhall McKay. She lived in many states and died in California January 10, 1981.

Another author, Bernard De Voto, was born in Ogden January 11, 1897. He was considered an authority on Mark Twain and wrote many articles and stories about him. He was editor of the SATURDAY REVIEW OF LITERATURE and wrote a column in HARPER'S MAGAZINE Among his books are THE CROOKED MILE, MARK TWAIN'S AMERICA, ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI, which won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1948, and THE YEAR OF DECISION He died in New York November 13, 1955•

The musical entertainment family, the Osmonds of Utah, can call Weber County home, having grown up in Ogden and Huntsville. Donny and Marie Osmond became stars on television and the idols of many people across the country. They built their own production studio in Utah County which attracts many visitors.

As for places to visit for recreation in Weber County, part of the "Golden Spike Empire" travel region, there is the Wasatch National Forest, which is only partly in Weber County, and, while there is no national park in the county, there are numerous county and municipal parks. Antelope Island, approved in 1978 as a state park and recreation site, is located in nearby Davis County and attracts many people to Weber County.

There are also Ogden Bay and Great Salt Lake to visit. Nordic Valley, Snowbasin, and Ogden's newest resort, Powder Mountain, are popular sports areas for skilers, campers, and picnickers. Elk and deer hunting are excellent in the forests of Weber County. Hiking and climbing Mt. Ogden are enjoyed by many who come to the area.

Weber County has a daily newspaper, THE OGDEN STANDARD EXAMINER, published in Ogden. Weekly newspapers are THE SUN CHRONICLE and THE CLEARFIELD COURIER, both published in Roy. There are several radio broadcasting stations in Weber County: KLO,KANN, KSVN, KVOG, KJ^Q and KZAN, all in Ogden; and KQPD, in Roy. The county is served by television stations KUTV-2, KTVX-4, KSL-5, KUED-7, KSTU-20 (UHF), all of Salt Lake City; and KBYU-11, Provo. Cable television is also available in the county.

Ogden Municipal airport is in Weber County." End of Betty R. Cook 1983 description.

Copyright 2001 www.OrsonPrattBrown.org