EARLY DAYS IN OGDEN SALT LAKE CITY february 6 1895 while in ogden last month for the pur pose of obtaining historical information about the weber stake ot of zion it was deemed necessary to visit some of the old land marks in in and around ogden city Accor according dingy y on the irth alt the I 1 following named veterans and old settlers accompanied me to the site of the old goodyear and browns fort alexander brown jesse S brown and john C thompson who visited the old goodyear fort as early as 1847 james M brown and james burch who settled on the weber in 1848 ralph douglass charles F middleton nathan and clifton S browning whose settlement dates back to 1850 president lewis W shurtliff benjamin C churitch Ch ritch low moroni brown pioneers of 1851 and datus H ensign bishop moroni F brown grandson of captain james brown and anci dudley W stone ot of later date among those mentioned were four of captain browns sons namely alexander jesse S james C and moroni the two first named ot of these brothers were members of the mormon battalion as were also john C thompson and ralph douglass datus H ensign one ot of the company is a son of datus ensign the pioneer who assisted alexander brown in in plowing the first land in in weber county the old goodyear fort the home of miles M goodyear of whom captain james brown early in in 1843 1848 purchased that tract of land which embraced most of what is now weber county stood on the right bank of the weber river immediately north of what is is now aith street of ogden city the fort consisted of a stockade built ol of cottonwood logs which reached above ground about fifteen teet feet it a parcel of ground about six six rods square there were two entrances one on the east end one on the west side of the fort and on the inside three or four log cabins gave shelter to mr indian family and those who worked for him or who together with him were engaged in trapping fishing and hunting at the time of the purchase the goodyear fort stood upon a tut tract of land forming a big bend in the river but subsequent floods particularly the high water of 1862 washed away the lands once occupied by the fort until the site is now almost on a levelt level with the bed ol of the river or nearly lour four leet feet lower than the surface of the land in in 1848 in times of high water the site becomes an island as the river has cut a new side channel some distance east of where the fort stood and between that and the union pacific railway track on the east about forty rods southwest of the site stands a circular sand bed of respectable dimensions by the presence of that familiar land lanct mark the old settlers have no trouble iya in pointing out the exact spot where the goodyear fort stood the goodyear fort was first visited by a few of the mormon pioneers in kugust august 1847 on the nineth day of that month captain james brown who about two weeks previous had arrived in great salt lake valley with that detachment tach ment of the mormon battalion which had wintered at pueblo started fron from the pioneer encampment on the pres present crit site ot of salt lake city bound for san francisco by way of fort hall the object ot of captain browns trip to the coast was to draw the pay due from the united states government to the men of his detachment he took with him the muster roll of the detachment witt with ro power of attorney from each man to sign tor for and receive his pay accompanying the captain were samuel brannan who was to act as guide abner blackburn gilbert hunt john fowler william gribb heur henry y frank lysander woodworth wood worth and jesse S brown this little company stopped over nig night ht with mr goodyear the first or second night after taking their departure from the pioneer camp later in the same year a detachment of the battalion which had been discharged in california also visited ther the goodyear fort on their way to the pioneer camp andio and to winter quarters captain brown in returning from call Cali fornia forma toward the close ot of 1847 again called upon mr goodyear and soot soon afterwards in january 1848 he bonsu mated his historic purchase payin paying g U mr goodyear 3 for his land and an and d improvement lm pro and thus laid the foundation tor for the second city of importance in what two years and a half later became utah territory when the purchase was made this intermountain inter mountain region was still a part of mexico but about a month later by the far famous treaty of guadalupe hidalgo it became a part of the united states almost immediately after beco becoming ming the owner of the goodyear fort captain brown sent up men to tane take charge and prepare for putting in a crop that season in which he was tar more successful than mr goodyear and companions hai had predicted captain brown only retained a small portion of the lands purchased tor for his own use and allowed his brethren to take possession of and utilize the remainder among those who settled on the weber river in 1848 soon after the goodyear purchase was made were th the following captain james thrown Brown his wife mary his stepson david black his sons alexander and jesse S and infant daughter mary eliza born in the great salt lake city fort november ath 1847 and now the wife of win F Critchlow of ogden lewis B myers and his indian wife george W TheA theaniel Therl kiel and wife robert crow and family heber C shelton a member ot the mormon battalion and family reuben herring and wife and a mexican boy artemus sprague danial burch and family including william james robert M belinda and emma mrs ruth stewart and family among whom was james rufus Cynt cynthea bea william A izaiah eliza J nancy L and virgel william stewart and family including caroline randolph joshua delpha china and john irwin stewart bt ewart dr mcintire of the mormon battal battalion lion lame fame also mr briggs and mr burrows two mountaineers with indian wives and families later in 1848 another branch of captain james browns bowns family located with the others among the members of which were nancy daniel james M william and benjamin franklin none except the brown family located in the old goodyear fort the rest built log cabins at different points along the weber beber and on both sides of the ogden river in the spring and summer of 1849 most of the early settlers on the weber left for the gold mines of california but the settlement was strengthened by many of the fall emigration of 1849 who located on the weber and durin during 9 r the winter of 1849 and 1850 1850 new arrivals were of common occurrence in march 1850 1850 the saints were organized into a branch of the church soon after that a city was surveyed and in january 1851 a stake of zion consisting then of two bishops wards was organized by president brigham young the heavy rai rains ns in the spring of 1850 1850 caused the weber river to overflow its banks and the goodyear fort and the i surrounding ur rounding farming lands were submerged sub merged upon which captain brown concluded to vacate the old goodyear stockade stoc kado and locate on higher grounds consequently a site for a new fort was selected about a quarter of a mile southeast of the old tort fort on a tract of land which lies immediately south of what is now aoth street of ogden city and east of the union pacific railway track according to t the he best recollection oi of the old residents this fort which is is known in the history of 0 ogden as browns fort about ten acres of ef land the log houses of which the fort consisted were built on the four sides of the square but it was not entirely enclosed there being quite a few small and some large openings between betwee n the houses into this fort and the so called farr fort situated on the north side of the ogden river nearly all the people ale who had settled on the weber ze removed moved in 1850 1850 because of indian troubles but in the spring and summer ot t 1851 most ol of them moved out upon their city lots an I 1 farms again the aborigines having become reconciled to their white neighbors there is no trace of browns rort fort today the east log cabin which formed a part of it having been removed years ago the site is included in what is now known as the south ogden survey and forms a part of one of the numerous additions which during the recent boom were put on the market about half a dozen small modern houses stand upon the historic spot parrs fares fort which nourished flourished atthe at the same time as browns fort was built in the fall ot of 1850 and contained quite a population during the winter of 1850 1850 51 it stood on a level tract of land on the i no north rth side of ogden river about three quarters of a mile in an air line northeast of the reform school but opposite the river from it it is about a mile east of main street or washington avenue the distance between farrs barrs fort and browns fort was about three miles the former being situated in a northeasterly direction from the other or to make it plainer when farrs barrs fort stood about one mile east ot of what is now the main thoroughfare of ogden city washington avenue browns fort was nearly three quarters of a mile west ot of that street farrs barrs fort stood on the right bank or north side of the ogden river and distant from it about a quarter of a mile while browns fort stood about rods east or on the right bank of the weber river and about two miles above the junction of the two streams ginghams Bing hams fort which in the minds of some people becomes contused confused cont used with farrs barrs fort was an after consideration it came into existence during or immediately in after the walker war in 1853 but built mostly in 1854 and 1855 it stood about three miles north of 01 the present center of ogden or half a mile west of the so called five points the ground upon which this was built was owned by erastus bingham one of the first bishops of weber county hence the name ginghams Bing hams fort the fort ground extended east and west no rods north and south it was 64 rods wide it was designed to build the walls twelve feet high and six leet feet thick at the bottom but they were never completed in the fall of 1855 president brig brigham ham young heber C kimball and other i prominent leaders of the church who v visited the place counseled the people to break up and move to ogden city as the site of ginghams Bing hams fort was not considered a suitable place to build a large city the greater portion of the people responded to the advice and settled mostly on what is known as the bench ot ogden city or that portion now embraced in the fourth and fifth bishops wards this move gave a fresh impetus to ogden which at that time was yas being surrounded by a spanish wall similar to the one built around salt lake city in 1854 there are no 40 remnants left of either farrs barrs fort or ginghams Bing hams fort both sites are today carefully cultivated by the husband men the ground upon which parrs fort stood is now embraced in the mound fort ward that of brighams Brig hams fort in the lynne ward ANDREW JENSON