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.

Tidbits of Mormon Pioneer history: Salt Lake 'forsaken place,' First rattlesnake encounter and more

                   The original "This is the Place" monument  marker.

NOT every pioneer expressed excitement over the first view of the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

For example, one pioneer, Mrs. Harriet Young said, “Weak and weary as I am I would rather go a thousand miles farther than remain in such a forsaken place as this.” (-From "Utah in Her Western Setting" book, by Milton R. Hunter, page 118).)

After all, none of the previous emigrants to the west (outside of Miles Goodyear or a few trappers) had thought the Great Salt Lake Valley was worth settling in. To many, it was a country that God forgot. (-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 11 and page 27.)
Still, once LDS Church President Brigham Young said that the Salt Lake Valley was the right place, all the pioneers accepted that and settled there.
(There were 147 members of the July of 1847 vanguard pioneer group, including three women and two children. None of the first group died -- all made it safely to the Salt Lake Valley, after a 1,031 mile trek.

-However, another pioneer had an excited response with his first view of the Great Salt Lake Valley. Also, he experienced one of the first confrontations with nature by the pioneers, as he encountered a coiled rattlesnake.
Erastus Snow recorded this account during his first view attempt of the GSL Valley, on July 21, 1847:

“The thicket down the narrows, at the mouth of the (Emigration) canyon, was so dense that one could not penetrate through it. I crawled for some distance on my hands and knees through the thickets, until I was compelled to return, admonished to by the rattle of a snake, which lay coiled up under my nose, having almost put my hand on him; but as he gave me the friendly warning, I thanked him and retreated. We raised on to a high point south of the narrows, where we got a view of the Great Salt Lake and this valley, and each of us, without saying a word to the other, instinctively, as if by inspiration, raised out hats from our heads, and then, swinging our hats, shouted.” (-From “Utah in Her Western Setting,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 112.)

-The reason why the Mormon settlements in San Bernardino, Las Vegas and Lemhi, Idaho were abandoned was because of the coming of Johnston’s Army in 1857. Brigham Young recalled all settlers and they were never sent back to these places. (-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 79).

-Some of the more grisly of details in the deaths found in the handcart companies was that survivors of the Martin and Willie companies were so cold that they sat around and on the bodies of the deceased until the heat had left the bodies.

Even among the wagon trains of Mormon emigrants, sleeping inside a wagon at night was considered the coldest place to be. So, most emigrants slept on the ground and some even atop the charred ground of where the campfire by been.

(-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 107).

-Mention “Forty-niners” and the California gold seekers commonly come to mind. However, Brigham Young boasted his own variation of 49ers too. Yet, his frontiersman sought coal and iron and not gold, in a more practical quest to improve life. (-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 182).

                        Miles Goodyear's cabin, oldest structure in Utah.

 -The gold used by the Mormon pioneers to purchase the Ogden area from Miles Goodyear in 1848 did NOT actually come from the income of the collective Mormon Battalion soldiers, but from Captain James Brown’s own earnings only, in his military service – including some gold he earned as a business gain while in California.

And, because food was very scarce during that period in northern Utah, crops from the Goodyear land were shared with all settlers.

Also, even though it was Brown’s gold that purchased the Ogden area, not a single settler paid anything to Brown for land purchased from Goodyear.

(-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, pages 202-205).

-Mormon pioneers were commonly taught to marry within their own race and religion. However, when the pioneers settled Fort Lemhi (Idaho) on the Salmon River, that usual advice was not the case.

In a Church meeting on May 10, 1857 in Lemhi:

“Perhaps the most stirring bit of advice was given by Heber C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells, when they urged the young men to ‘marry native (Indian) women, that the marriage tie was the strongest tie of friendship that existed.” However, President Young modified that advice to the extent that they should not be in a hurry, and should marry young girls, if any.”

The groups of Mormons at Fort Bridger and Fort Supply (Wyoming) were also given similar marrying advice.

Notwithstanding, there were few such mixed marriages at any of the locations.

(-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 337).

-Payson, Utah was originally named “Peteetneet.”

It was titled for the creek in the area and after a local Indian chief. Later, the branch of the LDS Church was named Peteetneet too. Then, the town was renamed after James Pace, a settler who led the emigrants there. At first it was spelled “Pacen” and later “Payson.”

(-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, pages 230-231).

The first 20 Mormon colonies settled:

 1. Salt Lake City, July 24, 1847.

 2. Bountiful, Sept. 29, 1847.

 3. Farmington, fall of 1847.

 4.Parley’s Park, fall of 1847.

 5.  Pleasant Green, fall of 1847.

 6. Ogden, January 1848.

 7. Big Cottonwood, spring of 1848.

 8.East Mill Creek, spring of 1848.

 9. Sugar House, spring of 1848.

 10.   Centerville, spring of 1848.

111.     Bingham, August 1848.

112.   Mound Fort, fall of 1848.

113.      South Cottonwood, fall of 1848.

114.      North Jordan, December of 1848.

115.      West Joran, December of 1848.

116.       Kaysville, spring of 1849.

117.       Provo, spring of 1849.

118.        Genoa/Mormon Station, June 1849.

 19.       Union/Little Cottonwood, 1849.

  20.       Lynne/Bingham’s Fort, 1849.

(-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 361.)

-President Young's general rule of thumb regarding the Native Americans was that it was cheaper to feed them than to fight them. So, often the Mormon pioneers gave the Indians food.
In fact, in late 1849, they gave the mostly ill Sanpitch Indians in the Sevier River area "a supply of tea, coffee, sugar, bread and meat, and some food medical advice."

(-From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 40.)

-Obviously, if the pioneers had some coffee and tea, at least some Church members were drinking these "hot drinks" themselves, as the "Word of Wisdom" was still somewhat voluntary at this time period.

(-The first portions of this blog were previously published in the Deseret News on July 21, 2018.)

At least 6 men were living in the territory when the Mormon Pioneers arrived

The Miles Goodyear Cabin, oldest structure in Utah, in a Utah State Historical photograph.

                                              The Miles Goodyear Cabin today.


MOST HISTORIES of early Utah would have you believe that Miles Goodyear was the lone non-Native America living in Utah territory when the Mormon Pioneers arrived in 1847.
However, there may have been at least FIVE others living in the region before the pioneers, bringing the total to 6.
Details on these 5 men are sketchy, but according to a Deseret News article from Dec. 15, 1906, under the headline of: "Utah Legends, Indians, Trappers and Pioneers," ...

-1. A mountain man, Peg Leg Smith was living in the Bear Lake Valley before the pioneers arrived there. He told the settlers many Native American tales about Bear Lake and also operated a trading post at Dingle (Idaho), on the north end of the valley.

-2-3. Two brothers, by the last name of Goodall operated a horse and goat ranch in the Ogden "Flats" area and had to be bought out too, like Goodyear did.
William H. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball's oldest son, was sent by Brigham Young in 1848 to buy out the Goodall's. They apparently had 750 horses grazing on 10 square miles. Kimball moved the horses to Antelope Island ("Church Island"). Although no purchase price to the Goodall's was recorded, they told Kimball that they had secured the land from Mexicans, who had started a mission there.

-4. Barney Ward was also mentioned as another mountaineer who was living in the Ogden area when the pioneers arrived. He dealt in tobacco and liquor sales, products not much in demand by Mormon settlers.

(-In addition, Ogden Canyon supposedly originally contained a dugout and a cabin that was reputed to have been built by Peter Skene Ogden.)

-5. Finally, "Daddy Stump," another non-Indian, was living on Antelope Island when the Mormon Pioneers started exploring the Isle in 1848. That’s also the first mention of the man. Stump, believed to be a mountain man and perhaps also known as a bear killer, had built a small cabin and had a small orchard of peaches on Antelope Island. (from the LDS Improvement Era Magazine of 1907.) 

Daddy Stump has other historical references, as does Peg Leg Smith, but the other three men remain mysterious, with the single mention in history. Sadly, the 1906 Deseret News article did not list its source or sources on the men's existence. But assuming there is some accuracy to the account, then the area was certainly not deserted when the pioneers arrived, as is so often envisioned.

(-Previously published in the Deseret News on July 21, 2018.)