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Show e R e The gden Valley News e—— L ———.. r— T,. . May 1999 AN—— d of 1825, they had struggled through- - ‘:Ashley Smlth had been in .regon A' {gdenS tent an ner left rd Ga deep snowdrifts and achieved a ~Territory on business. He had left ,wem to the lodge of John Grey, i hazardous mountain crossing. War there' at the same time as Ogden. .. part-Indian, part-white leader"of:the S Iroqu()is who were trapping for Durm the mp South he had kept parties of Bloods and Blackfeethad an eye on Ogden’s party. As soon .- Ogden. Gr[aly agreed that his attacked, costing them the hves Of i ~ae_;‘b0th hfirses and men. A "~ as Smith heard Weber was in the ~ people had been treated poorly by e area, he set off to find the American ~the British. The mfly reason they = A By Gayen Wharton L s —_— . . ee eY ‘ T . . The race ffir fur was on me Amund the same tlme Euenn@ - leader with a report that could not j New Mexxco to Canada fmm St. (e Louis o the Pamfic Ocean et g rmeV()st entered the GreatSalt Lake - be ignored: Ogden was flying the ~ area. A French- Canadzan fur trader ~Union Iack and talkmg as 1f fl‘ns - searched for beaver. The demand | - Provost led a motley group. 0f country belonged t@ Bmam ~for fashwnable top hats made from + Cana dia 58 pani ish, and ev en " had not deserted sooner, he told ‘Gardner, was because they had not met the Amencans ’ g Johnson Gardner a member ()f “While Gardner and this men pmnted e ~ there, trylng to recover as much ~ property as he could. He managed s to salvage g@@ds from men who =¥ : e e i 3 I , . e . v‘_' 4‘_ S bfl,ud interests At - ../‘- - the British group under Peter Skene SR Country region of the- northern Rocky Mountains. One of Ogden’s el The Amem,ans fired no bhOtS but they hurled pientv of insults and el - obscenities at the outnumbered - British. ‘Ogden and his remaining beaver pelts @ver t@the A.irru,an camp o S Andrew Henry Wlfl“} all thesemen ‘reasons, Weber and Provost did not :reached the Great Salt Lakein May ¢ they would get from Hudson’s Bay . - ~ Company. Most damaging of all, Gardner - Gardner accxlsed the company of i e ‘treating its men like slaves. He - offered to help any mountain man in Ogden’s company who Wamtedt0 f\ i . desert and ]om Provost s group asga men w1thv them Gardner‘.arode 0 ,.f braggmg that he woulds_ee Og’den e g Such an Offer g@t Ogden S men_,‘_-_ B 7 B e e | thmkmg Many Hudson’s Bay. ~Company trappers were quuom"' -ff *headed nerth and Canadian freemen: ~They demoralized he was by his losses ~ recognized the truth in bardner g ~he knew the deserters had a p@mt T - words. They paid high prices to Lhe:f ‘American fur companies paid = - company for-supplies and: m,selved;;,~;_ trappers eight times what the British low pmce% for their furs. They were ‘paid for beaver peits 0 gden always in debt to the company.- returned and made his report toAfter heated words and minor. ,:HudSGfl s Bay Campany, and the fighting, a small group-of trappers - company changed the way it treated Pk L P s S 5 e et 3 e e e goais was to eliminate the beaver- ~in the same area after the same accompany their men. That mght L . .inthe Northwest the Amencam' . limited resource, tmuble was:;a;-ffi while both parties camped nearby, _ Gardner and hzg menmade camp o ~ would then have no reason to | mevfiable Gardner spoke with Ogden and his. f‘f{,_*_'?’ f@i the night about half amileaway. e ~ colonize or explore the area. If thef, , e clerk William Bittson. ‘Inno ; At the British camp, Ogdendoubled - Americans came anyway, the thfi watch fearmg the de s-:erters g»ef@re they encountered Ogden * uncertain terms, he mformed them, . British would at least deprive the-i | Provost s party met up with Weber ~ that they were trespassing on e e o ;1nvaders of pmfits from beaver , ~ and the Americans. The Canadian - American territory and must leave B ',fl'skmsa L G S ~ and his men listened to the talk of immediately. Gardner offered to. m - Jedediah Smith, an Amerlcan ~ pay $3.50 a pound for their beaver gmup"?’_.'~~ s Ogden txme By the TR : trapper Workmg for Wllllam H ~ pelts, ‘which was much more than fur trappers thus avaidlng further R from Ogden’s company leftmth_' S ot Garchl@r | | ;revgkg o . g British temtoryfi they the Brmsh a VlSlt in the s oB B o e ‘their American flag. For unknown traders William H. Ashley and o T e ol e e TN el T e e o e T e T e e A e Oy A v P P T S o T e T TR e ele e B e e e P clerk, Kittson, hurried to save the herses they had lent the Iroqums ‘The trapper led both vote to show Ogden he On May 23 1825 Johnson further, | Brltains Hudsons Bay ~ Ogden. To crowd matters withan‘f»"» j@g}m Weber showed’ up ST Cempany put Peter Skene ‘fgden in | Gardner and twenty -five othersrode ~'men could only watch as twenty-—‘;_{'_;;;;‘ ;_° chargeofan expedltlon to the Snake - ' American party trapping for fur - past Ogden’s camp, brazenly flymgfl-,f.{ one more deserters, took piles of % e . vyt g . et S e ' N R B e &w An independent mountain man, ~ werenot in camp that day, including - Gardner considered himself a loyal - " three thousand beaver skms ‘His - American.. °occurred in what is now northern On 1h1sMaya 1825 tr1p to the - parties to 2 ~ Utah [Ogden Valley] when three"‘= Great Salt Lake, Provost ventured,;‘_ j was not m furtrapplng groups Ccmverged on the iy. farther north “He soon found “would pay mgmlng __same area atthe same tlme -| himself in the same territory with e i T i Lo o5 v - ~—-—-,——~<-'-<—-':~—\v~‘->--4<0———;<—> Mw'gv~ fcompetlng national g -| guns at ’gden he ran here and - . 5 i One notable batt]f ;,.lefilea@ f-;he lookedi t@ pmvx.dca beaver pelts m fhe@t\@ = On Grey’sm‘dcr thc Iroqu()is *dzsmanfled their lodges. Ogdensaw . his supplies disappearing as well..© ~ vaost s group, grew angry: as he trouble with the - Spam shf}_ | listened. Before joining Provost, , immigration. It also pltted French, gavernment in New Mexwa over ‘Gardner had trapped the Missouri British, and Americans against each “ his trappmg activities and had spent River with William Ashley and had Ty Gth@r in thelr msh for more furs Uk ‘time in Santa Fe- dungecms ‘Now traversed South Pass with Weber. 2 i g . felt of beaver fur had fueled an ‘Russian mountain men out of Taos, - enterprise. "The hunt for pelts Ea e opened up new routes for westward - New Mexico. Provost had run into . e ~ ~ , ButGardner wasn’tfmshed ‘{fiks By 1&5@ m@s,t Of thebeavcr\?_; j-—r@mm@d to the British camp the next ‘were gone, the mountain men - mroring. and demanded that Og den- o &‘h%appem ed wfih them. One of the | it tell everyone in which country they " most colorful fivems;;‘.."” | trappmfl_‘ ‘_,_7=;_ what is now - were. mmped @gden rephz;ci that h1smry took place at “no. one was sure who owned the: C Ogden’s Hole, a pretty _m@u’fh-taifi valley. It belongs to the Ummd‘ff"*?fi-"f‘gmey :abave ih@ mw Gf Ogden * States and the British must leave, “Gardner thundered back. (What A F ur deers F zght isa storyf‘f_.,f:”?--, ngen-and perhaps even Gdrdner-—:;}-ji- *f?-fit‘iken from the book “It Happened . = ~ ° didn’t know was that they were “in Utah” by Gayen and Tom ‘Wharton. The story is. b@mg used rritory ‘actually in Mexican te - according to the Adams @m% Tr@at‘jff_jf by permzsszen fmm ‘Falcon Ené - For more ~of 1819.) Ogden |insisted he would - PUbiighing, “not ]eave until his government told information about th@ bcok which =~ contains additional stories:-and < * “himito do so. If Ogden didn’t leave, Gardner threatsned ‘the ErmSh"’ffi ‘information about Utah’s heritage,” .imppem Would bf; in éang@f ShEAe~or to purchase a mpy, contact ~ Falcon Pubhshmg, Inc at 1 8@@-«. *;é%z 26 6:3 > |
