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Show Volume XV Issue IV The Ogden Valley news Page 11 February 1, 2008 A History of Ogden Valley Hyrum Farrell’s ranch. born here—a girl—was born to one of the one big field, as was the ground on the south President C. F. Middleton and compan- Hunt families. Hunt’s Fort, for such it was side, and this originated the terms “North ions brought the first wagon into the valley. called, proved to be an unsatisfactory place fields” and “South fields,” used to this day. It was necessary, in places, to let it down to live, so in The First Saw Mill with ropes. the spring of The first sawMrs. Angus McKay was the first white 1861 it was ing of lumber done woman in Huntsville. She came up here abandoned here was done at a with her brothers Isaac and David McKay and its entire “pit” mill. No one in the summer of 1860. They mowed and population seems to be able to put up a patch of hay on the South Fork and settled and recollect who operthen returned to Ogden. When built again ated it. A pit mill is they came back to haul the hay, on the bench really not a mill at they found the Indians had burned land where all. The timber to be it. Huntsville sawed is laid across now stands. a pit and a hand saw Captain Hunt Comes In 1861 operated by a man A little later that summer, a party consisting of Captain Jefferson David Jenkins and a party consisting of in the pit and one on top, is run through it Hunt; his three sons, Joseph, Hyrum Thomas Bingham, Carl Hawking, Chas, perpendicularly from end to end. It probably would not appeal strongly to and Marshall and their families; Grow, Geo. Langlois, Isaac McKay, Robert and Nathan Coffin and his mother, Aldous and Edward Rushton, surveyed the present generation. About 1861 Thomas came here and located near Winters’ Huntsville, established a base line running Bingham put up a hand-driven shingle mill grove. They cut hay on the mead- east and west from Moffet’s spring to the on the North Fork, just west of where ows nearby and that fall built a southeast corner of Alanson Allen’s home- the county road now crosses that stream entirely upon the memory of people associ- log fort as a protection against the Indians. stead and laid out what is now the state road between Eden and Liberty. It was operated ated with those early events. There isn’t a During the winter Katherine Connover Hunt running through town. All the ground on HISTORY cont. on page 12 record, ecclesiastical or otherwise, that could taught school in the fort and the first child the north side of that road was fenced in be found in a search extending intermittently over several months relating to the settlement and development of this valley or who took part in them. Care has been taken to record only those things which the evidence seems to warrant one in believing are indisputable facts, yet under the circumstances inaccuracies may have crept in. The distinction of being the first white man—or rather men—to set foot in this valley after Utah was settled belongs to Thomas Abbott of Farmington, who, with several companions, came through here in the summer of 1848. Mr. Abbott and companions came her from Salt Lake City by way of Weber canyon and passed on up South Fork and over to the Bear Lake country on a trip of exploration, ordered by Brigham Young. They went as far north as Dingle, where a cabin was built. When their work was completed, they returned by the same ground. Once a Herd Ground Ten or eleven years later, the valley was used as a herd ground by the people of the lower settlements, who at that time were fairly numerous. It must have been an ideal range except for the occasional Indian raids. You can imagine that wide meadows and the tender bluebells of the higher ground would put a “finish” on cattle not equaled by corn and oil cake. Nathaniel Levitt had the first herd here. They were brought in through North Ogden canyon and were ranged on the present site of Liberty. A year or two later Erastus Bingham had a herd here. But he came farther south in the Snowbasin Rope Tow Can anyone name the approximate year? Photo courtesy of Snowbasin Archives. valley, making his camp in the grove near Note: This article ran in a July 24, 1915 program as part of a celebration hailing the coming of The Ogden, Logan & Idaho Railway into Ogden Valley. The advertisements were also used in the program. The article was prepared by the Huntsville Commercial Club. In searching for the data contained in this very brief and incomplete historical sketch of Ogden Valley, the writer has had to depend Historical Photo Celeste C. Canning PLLC Attorney at Law 2590 Washington Boulevard, Suite 200 Ogden, Utah 84401 Local: (801) 791-1092 Office: (801) 612-9299 Email: ccanninglaw@aol.com Meeting the Legal Needs of Small Business and Their Owners FREE Initial Thirty Minute Consultation. Appointments in Ogden Valley upon request. |