Recalling the old "Pioneer Spring" on Grant Avenue in Ogden

              The artesian well at the north end of Washington Boulevard.

MENTION water springs or wells in the Ogden area and you'll likely hear about the artesian well at the top of Washington Boulevard (still flowing today), or the artesian wells in Ogden Valley that were capped when Pineview Reservoir was constructed (and have been under water ever since).
However, there was a major water well -- "Pioneer Spring" --  in Ogden City and this existed from the time the city was settled and up until some 40 years later, in 1889, when it was capped.
"Reminscences of Dr. Condon: Recalling the old spring in front of the fire station" was a July 22, 1919 headline in the Ogden Daily Standard newspaper. The article's writer, Dr. A.S. Condon noted that this well and the old street names in Ogden disappeared at the same time, when the first "Gentile" (non-Mormon) mayor and city Council came into power in 1889.

           The old Hostess Bakery used to be approximately where the old Ogden Spring was.

This is a view of the vacant property where the old spring might have been on Grant Avenue.

                                    Another view of the old spring property.

This well was on Grant Avenue, in front of the City's first fire station and just across the street to the west. It was located between 25th and 26th Streets. The liberal leaders of Ogden believed the well to primarily be surface water and this a health hazard to residents.
Condon stated that the first attempt to cap the well with some sort of material failed and the water flowed back to the surface. The second time cement was used and this forced the well to flow into the Weber River (though that meant it had to travel over two blocks west, across Lincoln and Wall Avenue and the railroad yard to reach that river) Did Condon just assume the spring drained back into the aquifer? Perhaps). It's grave is neglected and unmarked, Condon stressed.
"So passed into the land of shadows a venerated friend loved by everybody, even its enemies for I have often heard them speak kindly of it," Condon wrote in his recollection.
Condon admitted that in the 19th Century impure water caused plenty of disease and sickness and even "empty cradles" in Ogden. The absence of sewers many many a shallow well was contaminated.
"The pure waters of Pioneer Spring offered a scanty supply for a large village, but did its best to fulfill the requirements. Crowds armed with pitcher and pail surrounded the faithful old spring in early morning and evening," Condon wrote.
Essentially, Condon stated that Ogden's new liberal leaders simply "ordained that the old order of things should give way to a new dispensation."
And, that reason was why the spring was capped and also why Ogden's streets were renamed after the U.S. Presidents, instead of local leaders and leaders of the dominant religion in town.