Monuments and markers have been erected to keep alive the memories of individuals and events. They are in the windows through which we look to journey back into time. A monument is made of stone or concrete and a marker is made of wood with the words routed thereon. Here in Weber County we have 35 monuments and markers erected to remind us of historic events and places, of peoples and individuals who contributed to the opening of the region, of the struggles to survive, and of the successful undertakings all of which laid the foundation of our present society.
Ogden City Wall
In 1854 Ogden pioneers built a rock and mud wall a mile square along 28th Street, Wall Avenue, and 21st Street. Madison Avenue was not completed because the Indians became peaceful. The eight foot wall has a six foot base, a 1 inch top and four gates. The cost of $4,000 was raised by $40 tax on each city lot and a $10 tax on all able bodied men over 18 years. The project was erected by 500 working men. Wall Avenue was named after this wall.
Weld the Past to the Present to Enrich the Future
This monument is a grateful tribute to the builders of America’s first transcontinental railroad completed May 10, 1869 when the Golden Spike was driven at Promontory Mountain 53 miles northwest of Ogden.
“Dedicated May 10, 1951 to honor those pioneers who built better than they knew and to encourage for all time the joy of doing.”
Plaque to historic sites on national register.
Miles Goodyear Cabin Monument
To the rear of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum on Grant Avenue between 22nd and 21st Streets is this historic monument. It reads:
“This cabin built about 1841 by Miles Goodyear, as far as known, the first permanent house built in Utah, stood near the junction of Ogden and Weber Rivers. In 1847 it was sold to Captain James Brown of the Mormon Battalion with a Spanish land grant covering all of Weber County. It was preserved by Minerva Shaw Stone and by her presented to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers of Weber County who placed it on the present site.”
This cabin which was built in 1845 was a little over one mile up the Weber from its junction with the Ogden. It was enclosed in a picketed fort in 1846. A replica of the original fort was recently reconstructed.
Lorin Farr
At 21st Street and Washington Boulevard on the west wall of the Travelodge is a plaque to Lorin Farr. Lorin Farr had five wives. He built three homes on the south side of the street and two across the street where the Deseret Industries are now located.
“Pioneer, religious, and civic leader – statesman, friend, and staunch supporter of Joseph Smith the prophet, assisted in the settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois where he helped build the temple. He was the first president of Weber Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a member of the first territorial legislature and a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the State of Utah. He assisted in laying out the original plat of the City of Ogden and organized the first city government and became the first mayor. He built and operated the first gristmill and sawmill in Weer County and with others constructed the first highway through Ogden Canyon. Tullidge, contemporary historian, proclaimed him ‘Ogden’s most representative citizen.’”
Marker at 1049 Canyon Road – Farr’s Fort
Across Mill Creek is the location of the five acre Farr’s Fort. It was erected in 1850 by Lorin Farr, Ezra Chase, Ambrose Shaw, John Shaw, Charles Hubbard, and other settlers to protect themselves from Indian attacks. The fort was enclosed on the east, south, and west by houses joined end to end and facing inward. The spaces between the houses were picketed with poles and extending upward some 12 feet. The north wall was never completed. Nearly all the settlers on the north side of the Ogden River lived in this fort at one time. Lorin Farr moved into town in 1853 and shortly therafter the fort was abandoned. The land is now owned by a grandson of Lorin Farr, R. Kenneth Farr.
About 50 yards east of the Millstone Manor sign, 1175 Canyon Road, was located the first sawmill-gristmill, constructed north of Salt Lake City. The original structure by Lorin Farr in 1850 was destroyed by fire in 1862 and rebuilt as a carding and woolen mill. In 1910 the carding mill was leveled by fire and rebuilt by the Smith’s Bedding Company. A plaque was placed on this structure which read:
“First grist mill in Weber County. This flour mill was built in the fall of 1850 by Lorin Farr, first mayor of Ogden and continued to operated until 1862. There was a 30x40 foot two story building of lumber and rock. The grain was ground by the use of burrs several of which were set up.”
The plaque was removed by some hippies. When those individuals moved from the squalor of their apartment the plaque was left behind. The landlady restored it to the Farr family.
Toll Gate Monument
Located south of the junction of River Drive and Canyon Road before entering the canyon.
“Ogden Canyon Toll gate was established November 15, 1860 by Lorin Farr and Isaac Goodale, builders of the first road through Ogden Canyon. From 1865 to 1882 it was operated by the Ogden Canyon Raod Company with the original builders and John Taylor as principle stockholders. James Dinsdale was gatekeeper for 14 years. It became a public road February 20, 1882.”
This marker was erected by the Boy Scout troop of the Ogden 7th Ward.
Huntsville
The road to Huntsville on the south side of Pineview Reservoir makes a sweeping curve to the north at the upper end of the reservoir. As you approach the slight incline going north on your left is a metal roofed barn which is located on the site of the Huntsville Fort.
The next stop is on the west side of town square in Huntsville. There are two monuments on the square and one in front of the school across the street to the north.
Captain Jefferson Hunt; Company A Mormon Battalion; Soldier, Guide, Pioneer; 1804-1879
Located on the west side of town square in Huntsville.
“Leader of the largest party of 49ers from Salt Lake to California. Guided first Mormon settlers to San Bernardino in 1851, colonized Huntsville in 1860, and represented Weber County in Utah Territorial Legislature in 1863. He was instrumental in planning Huntsville and Valley Irrigation and directed building the first school and meeting house. Hunt served as first branch president of Huntsville until 1865. This plaque marks the town square of the old fort.”
Mary Heathman Smith
Located just north of Hunt monument.
“In memory of Mary Heathman Smith, lovingly known as ‘Granny Smith’, she was born in England, January 2, 1818 where she trained in a maternity hospital. She came to Utah in 1862. As a doctor, surgeon, mid-wife, and nurse for thirty years in storm or sunshine during the bleakest winters or darkest nights with little or no remuneration, she attended the people of Ogden Valley with a courage and faithfulness unexcelled. In addition to rearing her own family of nine, she brought more than 1,500babies into the world with her skill and attention. She died in Huntsville, Utah on December 15, 1895.”
Huntsville First Known Settlers
The northwest corner of the park is on 200 South and 7400 East. Across the street west of this corner is the monument.
“Settlers arrived in fall of 1860. They were Jefferson Hunt for whom the town was named, his sons Joseph and Hyrum and their families, Charles Wood, Joseph Wood and his mother, Sarah, Nathan Coffin and his mother, the Edward Rushton family and the James Earl family. Owned by the Ute Indians, the land was purchased for two ponies with additional payments and the succeeding seven years. Arriving in 1864 Scandinavian settlers helped build the community through their thrift and industry. By 1880 Huntsville had grown to the population of 800.”
Mary Jane Dilworth Hammond
Situated on the lawn of the Huntsville School north of the town square.
“In honor of the first school teacher in Utah, Mary Jane Dilworth Hammond. Hammond taught at the first school in Salt Lake City, October, 1847. She came to Huntsville with her husband, Bishop Francis A. Hammond in 1865 where she resided until her death in 1877. Utah’s first free school was established at Huntsville.”
Liberty Monument
Located on the corner by the old meeting house in Liberty
“Liberty was called Little Valley by the Ute Indian Chief, Little Soldier. The first white men to visit this locality were trappers for Hudson Bay Fur Company in 1825. Here the Moroni Campbell family spent the winter of 1859. John Freeman renamed the settlement Liberty. The Latter-Day Saint Ward was organized in 1892 with Joshua B. Judkins as Bishop.”
North Ogden Pass
On the summit of the pass to North Ogden we see the only monument erected to date in the State of Utah which shows that Indians did something besides fight the settlers. This is one of the most impressive and beautiful monuments in Utah.
The monument is really three in one. The middle and dominant section sets the theme. Five Indian trails met in Ogden Valley. There trails invariably led to the most convenient mountain passes and places where the streams could be forded.
The panel on the left tells of the usage of the trails by the trappers and mountain men.
“Pathfinders, trappers, and explorers followed the well-worn Indian trails through Utah Territory. In May 1825, Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson’s Bay Company led a party of trappers from Cache Valley on Trail #2 and in seven days the party took 585 beaver pelts in New Hole, as Ogden called the valley. The Ogden party left New Hole and followed Trail #4 south to the Weber River. After a skirmish with some American trappers at Mountain Green, Ogden retraced his steps north, never descending to the lower valley. Mountain men such as Smith, Fitzpatrick, Weber, Sublette, Bridger, Russell, Clyman and Goodyear, called the valley Ogden Hole. In 1843 John c. Freemont and his expedition traveled south on an Indian trail from Fort Hall arriving at the Weber River they launched a boat and visited the island in the Great Salt Lake which now bears his name. In 1849 Captain J. Howard Stansbury led an expedition of Topographical Engineers of the U.S. Army to the west. He left the Donner Trail south of Evanston and descended the Bear River until he found ‘an Indian Lodge Trail’ going west (trail #3). ‘We soon arrived at the headwaters of Pumbar (Lost) Creek, a tributary of the Weber.’ The party took trail #1 west and visited Brownsville, now called Ogden. Later while encamped on the west side of Promontory Mountain, Captain Stansbury noticed indications of the area having been inundated at some remote time by ‘a vast inland sea.; Stansbury thus became the first person to record the existence of ancient Lake Bonneville.”
Inscription on side section tells us of Pioneer Settlements.
“Brigham Young learned much about the geography of the region of the Great Salt Lake from the writings of a few of the mountain men and from interviews with others. Soon after the arrival of the first company of Mormon Pioneers in the valley in July 1847, Brigham Young sent exploring parties north and south along the Indian trails west of the Wasatch Mountains to locate places for settlements. One of these parties contacted Miles Goodyear at Fort Buenaventura. In 1848 Brigham Young sent a party to explore the country around Bear Lake. The group went up Weber Canyon and took trail #4 to Ogden Hole and then trail #3 up South Fork on their way to Bear Lake. In 1854 Brigham Young sent an expedition over trail #1 to find a shorter route to Fort Bridger for the settlers near Ogden so that they would not need to go via Salt Lake city. This expedition took the first wagon into the valley (Ogden Hole). Charles F. Middleton wrote, ‘The first wagon that was taken into the valley was taken by hand of man. No mules or oxen hauled that vehicle. I steered the wagon. The wheels were locked and my companions held onto the vehicle with ropes to prevent its breaking loose and dashing down the steep incline.’ In 1856 Ogden Hole became a summer grazing area for cattle. The next year the first herd houses were built where Eden is located. The first permanent settlers arrived in 1858 and located near the herd houses. Huntsville and then Liberty were settled soon thereafter. A toll road through Ogden Canyon, constructed in 1860 by Lorin Farr and Isaac Goodale, subsequently became the main route into Ogden.”
The panel on the right tells about the early settlers who used the trail over North Ogden Pass where the monument is located.
At the dedication of this memorial on July 21, 1984, Mae Timbimboo Parry, a full-blooded Northwest Shoshone Indian, made this statement, “If the rocks and trees could talk, what interesting stories they would tell us about this region.”
Long before the Lewis and Clark expedition to the west coast, 1804-1806, Indians were located throughout the intermountain region in well defined tribal areas claimed by individual bands. Northern Utah was inhabited by hunting and wild berry-pine nut-root gathering Indians of the Shoshone and Ute tribes. The Shoshones were a large tribe with bands throughout all of Southern Idaho to the Salmon River, in Utah to the Oquirrh Mountains, and in the Snake River and Green River drainages of Wyoming. Some of the Indian bands would over-winter on the east side of Little Mountain in West Warren or at Hot Springs on the Box Elder – Weber county line. By the time of the arrival of the first white men in Northern Utah, Indians had a network of trails to their hunting grounds. Besides these trails they had well traveled trails between the localities of the different bands. Trails went north-south in lower Weber County. Other trails were found east of the mountains which were connecting trails between the areas.
Inscription on the plaques – center section.
“Five Indian Lodge Trails radiated from Ogden Valley long before the arrival of white men. Trail #1 ascended North Ogden Creek to North Ogden Pass . . . veered to the north as it descended to the valley. Trail #2 crossed the divide north of Liberty and descended the South Fork of the Little Bear River to Cache Valley. Trail #3 went east up South Fork, ascended Skin Toe Trail between Causey Creek and South Fork, crossed Lost Creek on its way to the Bear River north of Evanston. Trail #4 went up Hawkins Creek south of Huntsville, over the low hills and connected with a trail on the Weber at Mountain Green. Trail l#5 went west down Ogden Canyon to the narrows near the west end of the canyon, ascended the mountain between Cold Water and Warm Water Creeks, continued west above the cliffs and emerged from the canyon near 21st Street. All of these trails joined other migratory trails.”
North Ogden Fort
Monument on southeast corner of LDS Church on 2600 North and 626 East.
“During the Indian uprising in 1853 Brigham Young instructed the settlers to guild a fort wall around ten blocks including this block upon which Thomas Dunn, the first presiding Elder, had erected a six room adobe home in 1851. In 1854, a band of Indians staged a war dance around the house. They were finally pacified and peace restored. The fort wall was never completed as work was abandoned when Indian troubles subsided. After 1952, the city used the home for offices and council meetings.”
Stage Coach Station
On the north side of the town square in Pleasant view is this monument.
“Approximately one and a quarter miles west from this site, John and Sara Ann Mower operated a stage coach station. During 1860-1880 it served the Holliday Line which was under the management of the Wells Fargo Company. The line ran (sic) 950 miles to Dalles, Oregon and branched off 400 miles farther to Virginia City, Montana. Coaches traveled the lines three times each week. Mower changed the horses and made repairs to harnesses and coaches. Mrs. Mower served meals to the passengers.”
As you drive north from Ogden towards Brigham City on Highway 89, you pass a group of houses at 766 North. To the east and slightly north the stage coach station was in the largest group of trees.
Peter Skene Ogden
Located on Highway 89 just south of Box Elder County line.
“Peter Skene Ogden, son of royalist of the revolutionary days who fled to Canada as a British sympathizer, was one of the most courageous and gallant of the fur trappers, traders and explorers of the early west. In the struggle between the United States and Great Britain for supremacy in the Rocky Mountains, Ogden was Field Captain for the powerful British owned Hudson Bay fur Company. He was charged with over-trapping the Rocky Mountains to discourage the westward advancing Americans. In May of 1825, a party of American trappers confronted Ogden in nearby Mountain Green and informed him (falsely) that he was on American soil and ordered him to leave. Ogden staunchly defended his rights in this yet unceded territory, but was forced to withdraw when 23 of his men deserted with approximately 800 beaver pelts. Unusual among trappers, Ogden was literate and left an excellent journal of his struggles in Utah where Ogden City, Ogden Canyon and Ogden Valley now honor his name.”
Oregon History – Peter Skene Ogden
There is a marker not found in Weber County but which is of interest to us. It is located on the Crooked River on Highway 97 north of Redmond, Oregon.
“This park is named after Peter Skene Ogden 1795-1854. In the fall of 1825 Ogden led a Hudson’s Bay Company trapping party on the first recorded journey into central Oregon, crossing the country to the north and east into the Crooked River Valley not far above here. He was in the vicinity again in 1826 bound for the Harney Basin and the Klamath Region where he discovered Mount Shasta. Ogden was an important figure in the early fur trade and ranged over the entire west. He rescued the survivors of the Whitman massacre. Ogden, Utah is named after him.”
Martin Henderson Harris
This monument is located on the south side of Harrisville Road about 725 West just east of the railroad tracks.
“Outstanding pioneer, Harrisville’s first permanent settler, first school teacher, first presiding Elder, nephew of Martin Harris, Book of Mormon witness, missionary to Salmon River and Eastern States. As county road commissioner, Harris surveyed roads through North Ogden Canyon, Ogden Valley, all roads north of the Ogden River and others in the county. He used a homemade water level to lay out the Western Irrigation canal. Harris was among the first to introduce the silk worm industry in the county. A famous silk dress made by his wife is on exhibit at the Pioneer Relic Hall Ogden owned store. At Farr West, Harris was a blacksmith, operated, with others, a sawmill and molasses mill and was a prominent orchardist. He played in Nauvoo Legion Band, Utah Band, and orchestras. He hauled logs for Harrisville school ad Ogden Tabernacle erected on the original home site by his grandchildren. September 29, 1820 – February 14, 1889.”
Pleasant Green Taylor, 1827-1917
This monument is located on the north side of the Harrisville Chapel.
“Taylor was a Mormon pioneer, loyal in friendship, honest in business dealings, courageous I public duty, fervent in religious faith. He was mighty in the mightiest of manhood.”
Brigham’s Fort
This is located 100 yards north of 2nd Street on the east side of Harrisville Road.
“In 1851 Bishop Erastus Bingham, pioneer of 1847, supervised the erection of a fort three blocks west of this marker for protection from hostile Indians. Each family was assigned a section to build the walls. The walls which enclosed an area 120 rods by 60 rods were 12 feet high, 8 feet wide at the bottom tapering to 3 feet at the top and were made of mud and rock supported by poles and woven willow. Within the fort houses were erected 66 feet from the wall to provide for livestock. A gate of heavy timber was large enough to drive a team through. Water was obtained from the Lynne Irrigation Ditch. By 1854 there were 732 inhabitants in the fort.”
Mound Fort
This is found on top of an old Indian burial mound on 10th Street and Grant Avenue.
“Mound Fort as a settlement began in 1848 when the first pioneers arrived in this locality. Others followed and erected a fort on an Indian burial mound. The steep west slope cut to a perpendicular face ten feet high topped with a three foot breastwork served as a lookout. Mud walls were begun on the other sides. Cabins were built, a spring furnished water. Meetings and school were held in private homes as more settlers came. When Indian threats subsided the fort fell into disuse.”
Memorial
This is located at the base of the flag pole in the community park in Slaterville.
“In memory of Richard and Ann Corbridge Slater, pioneer settlers of 1854 for whom this community was named. Member of the Mormon Battalion.
Plain City
On 4350 West in Plain City is an LDS chapel. West of it is a log cabin where the Carver family lived until they had six children.
“Plain City was settled in 1859 by a group of pioneers from Lehi. The city was laid out in five acre squares of four lots each. The work was done at night with the North Star as a guide to mark the blocks accurately. This cabin was built by John Carver, Sr. and was typical of all homes built here in pioneer days.”
Herd House Monument
Take State Road 135 to Hooper. Proceed south past the main cross roads to 1925 North, then west to the end of the road.
“ON THIS SITE THE FIRST HOUSE IN HOOPER WAS BUILT BY HON. WILLIAM H. HOOPER IN 1854
Erected by Daughters of the Pioneers July 24, 1927”
Muskrat Springs – Hooper
This monument is located on 5500 West and 5350 South
“Hooper was first called Muskrat Springs because of this spring, the main fresh water supply in the area. Wm. H. Hooper built a herd house in 1855. Jesse W. Fox surveyed the range in 1858. James Hale and his wife came in 1863, lived in a dugout and sold salt. Twenty-two families followed in 1869. A canal was dug by hand from the Weber River taking two years to complete. Charles Parker erected a molasses mill. Henry W. Naisbitt built a steam gristmill in 1873. Henriette Belnap was the first school teacher in Hooper.”
Post Office – Roy
This monument is located in Roy on 2700 West near 6000 South.
“The first post office in Roy, Weber, Utah began at this site in the corner of the kitchen of the original two-room home of the first postmaster, Orson Field and his wife Margaret Jones Field. Mr. Field received appointment under President Grover Cleveland March 25, 1892 while Utah was a territory. During the dedication, Mrs. Field was still living at the age of 94, and the original post office was at the time a portion of her home. The monument was erected 1958.”
Miles Goodyear and Captain James Brown
Formerly located on what is now the Petersen Motor Company at 900 West Riverdale Road in Riverdale was a marker to the first financial transaction in what is now Weber County. The marker can be seen in the basement of the Riverdale City Hall.
“In 1847 Capt. James Brown of the ‘Mormon Battalion’ purchased from Miles Goodyear, trapper and trader all of Weber County for $3,000. Goodyear claimed to have a Mexican Land Grant Secured in 1841 covering an area 8 miles north and south and extending from the base of the mountains to the shores of the Great Salt Lake. His log cabin, the first built in Utah, was erected in 1845 near the junction of the Ogden and Weber Rivers. Capt. Brown purchased all of the Goodyear holdings, including land, cows, horses and goats and established a post office, calling it Brownsville, Oregon. It later became Ogden, Utah named for a noted British trapper. The purchase was made with money paid by the government for services of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War.”
Christopher “Kit” Carson
Monument located at 40th Street and Washington Boulevard
“Born in Madison County, Kentucky, Kit Carson came to Utah in 1832 while trapping for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. The next few years he became famous as a mountain man, Indian fighter, guide and army officer. Carson served army explorers as a guide for several expeditions. In September 1843, Carson, Lt. John C. Fremont and three other men launched an India rubber boat (to the west of here) and carried out the first scientific exploration of the Great Salt Lake. Kit Carson carved a cross (still visible) in the rocks on the highest point on the island which the party named ‘Disappointment’, but now bears the name of Fremont Island. In 1845 a Fremont party guided by Carson explored central Utah and Great Salt Lake. Their greatest feat was crossing the great Salt Lake Desert en route to California, the trail followed in 1846 by the Donner party. Carson became an Indian agent and army officer. He died at Fort Lyon, Colorado May 23, 1868.”
Veterans of the Civil War
The furthermost northwest corner of Leavitt’s Aultorest Memorial Cemetary and the GAR monument to the veterans of the Civil War buried there. This monument had been erected in the old Mountain View Cemetery which later became a part of the present memorial park. The importance of this monument was not realized until an interesting chain of events brought it to light.
In September 1988, Philip B. Arnold, a Civil War history buff in California, contacted William W. “Bill” Terry, also a local history buff. Mr. Arnold informed Terry that according to records in the War Department in Washington, D.C., Nathan Kimball, a Civil War General, was buried in Weber, Utah. Mr. Arnold later furnished the following information:
Kimball fought in about 25 battles during the war. In March 1862, he commanded a division that delivered one of the few defeats suffered by Stonewall Jackson. Thereafter he saw action at Vicksburg, Atlanta, Franklin, and Nashville. In1873 he was appointed by President Grant as Surveyor General of Utah and was stationed in Ogden. He was later appointed postmaster of Ogden by President Hayes. He died in 1898.
Bill contacted the sexton’s office of the Ogden City Cemetery. The lady in the office searched the records – no Kimball. She did not shop there. She called the Aultorest Cemetery and in a few minutes she called Mr. Terry with the information that Nathan Kimball was buried in the old section of the cemetery which was originally the Mountain View Cemetery. Surprise – the personnel of that cemetery were not aware of General Kimball being buried there until that phone call. Bill went to the cemetery and was taken to the grave site of Kimball. Not too far from his grave marker is the GAR monument. Upon the monument are the names of a goodly number of Civil War Veterans.
Another surprise - there was another Civil War General buried in this cemetery, R.H.G. Minty. We do not know the reason for Minty coming to Ogden; however, we do know that he worked in the offices of the railroads here for a few years and then went to New Mexico to help establish a railroad to a mining district. He died there and his family brought him back to Ogden for burial.
Bill went to the archives of the Ogden Standard newspaper to find out if Kimball might be listed in the obituary. William Glasman, owner and editor, wrote a column with this opening statement “General Kimball is no more.” This short sentence tells us much. General Kimball was well known and well respected in Ogden at the time of his death.
Terry contacted the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Salt Lake City and learned from them that they had listed three generals of the Civil War buried in Utah – two in Salt Lake City and one in Scipio. Now they have two more.
Malan Heights
This monument is located on 27th Street and Tyler Avenue on the east side of the Ogden East Stake Center.
“In the 1860’s Tim D. Malan found a mountain basin containing a spring and timber. By 1868 he was selling logs using his roller invention to get them safely down cliffs. July 1892, Tim and his sons finished a road using picks and shovels, later hewed a switch back rod, built a home and a motel. Guests came in spring wagons to enjoy Aunt Loui’s cooking, play various games, or watch activities in town through a powerful telescope.”
Father Pierre Jean de Smet
Northeast corner of Lester Park
“Pierre Jean de Smet was the Priest of the Society of Jesus and Courageous Missionary to the American Indians. Father de Smet became well acquainted with the region of the Great Salt Lake and gave valuable information to Brigham Young, the leader of the Mormon Pioneers while they were at Winter Quarters.”
At the north entrance of the Municipal Building at 25th Street and Washington Boulevard are two monuments, one to Captain James Brown and the other to Lorin Farr. A monument to Jedediah Strong Smith faces Washington Boulevard east of the northeast corner of the building.
James Brown
“Captain James Brown, pioneer, soldier and one of the founders of Ogden. Enlisted in the Mormon Battalion in the United States Army July 16, 1846 at Council Bluffs, Iowa and was made Captain of Company “C”. The Battalion marched overland to San Diego, longest march of infantry ever recorded. At Santa Fe, Captain Brown was placed in charge of the sick detachment and ordered to Pueblo where he spent the winter of 1846-47 with a group of converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints enroute from Mississippi to the Salt Lake Valley. In the spring he marched his men by way of Fort Laramie and South Pass arriving in the Valley July 29, 1847 closely following Brigham Young and the Utah Pioneers. Early in August he left by way of Fort Hall for California to collect the army pay that was due members of the Battalion, returning in 1847. He stopped at the fort of Mile Goodyear, a trapper located near the junction of Weber and Ogden Rivers from Goodyear he purchased for $3,000 all of the land now comprising Weber County together with some livestock and the fort. The land was conveyed to Captain Brown in a Mexican Land Grant, this entire area being at that time part of Mexico. In January 1848 he settled with his family and bagan the colonization of Brownsville, later Ogden. He was born September 30, 1801 and died September 30, 1863.”
Lorin Farr
“Lorin Farr, Utah pioneer of 1847, was one of the founders of Ogden. He established Farr’s Fort in 1850, assisted in laying out the city and organized the first government in 1851. He became the first mayor serving 22 years, 20 years without pay. The deed to Ogden was made by Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States to Lorin Farr as mayor. He built Weber County’s first sawmill and gristmill in 1850 and with others built the first woolen factory in northern Utah in 1868. In 1857 with Newton Goodale and others, he built the first road through Ogden Canyon. Under Farr’s direction, Weber County was surveyed and irrigation canals and roads were built. He was a leading contractor on the Central Pacific Railroad from Ogden to Promontory.”
“Lorin Farr, civic and religious leader, staunch friend and supporter of the Prophet Joseph Smith, assisted in the settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois and in the building of the temple. He came to Utah with Brigham Young in 1847. In January 1851 he became the president of Weber Stake of Zion serving until 1870. He directed the building of the Ogden Tabernacle in 1855-56. He was a member of the first territorial Legislature for 30 years, serving longer than any other member and was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of Utah. A friend of the Indians, he was known among them as “Chief”. The move south upon the approach of Johnson’s army in 1858 was conducted under his direction. He was a statesman and colonizer of great ability. Historian Edward Tullidge proclaimed him ‘Ogden’s most representative citizen.’”
Jedediah Strong Smith
“Smith was an outstanding explorer, trapper and devout Christian. He came to Utah with William H. Ashley’s expedition in 1824. He started the first successful overland journey through Utah to the Pacific Coast from this vicinity on August 22, 1826. This is substantially the same route followed by the main highway to Los Angeles.”
Fort Buenaventura
This is located west on 24th Street over the viaduct on the north side of the West Ogden Park.
“Soon after the arrival of ’47 pioneers, Captain James Brown, who was on his way to California, visited Fort Buenaventura. The fort was located 1290 feet southeast of this site and belonged to Miles Goodyear, whom the original pioneers had met near Bear Lake. The fort consisted of a stockade enclosing a few log cabins and sheds, a herd of cattle, horses, goats and a garden. Upon his return, Captain Brown purchased Goodyear’s holdings with money received as wages for the Mormon Battalion. The name was changed to Brown’s Fort, Brownsville and later to Ogden.”
Weber Academy Flag Pole
The only plaque in Weber County not reached by automobile is found high on a mountain peak. In October 1922, the student body of old Weber Academy, which became Weber College and later Weber State University, placed a four section iron flag pole on Observatory Peak (now Mount Ogden). Nearly all of the 375 students attending the academy that year made the climb to the peak from the end of the streetcar line at 25th and Taylor. As the years passed, the iron pole rusted at the bottom and toppled. In August 1976, a commemorative plaque was placed at the summit. Three alumni, Floyd Barnett, Junius Tribe, and William W. Terry, who attended the original “flag pole raising” were on the peak during this event 54 years later.