After an incident in which an Indian leader was killed in 1850 at Five Mile Creek in Harrisville as well as a general uprising of the Indians in the Walker War in central Utah in 1853, the Indian threat led Brigham Young to order Utah communities to "fort up" as a protective action. In response to that admonition, several other forts were constructed or partially constructed in Weber County. The forts included Goodyear's original Fort Buenaventura on the Weber River, Farr's Fort (at Mill Creek, near present-day 12th Street and Monroe Avenue), Brown's Fort (located near 29th Street and Pacific Avenue), Mound Fort (located between 9th Street and 12th Street and west of Washington Boulevard to the bluff at 250 East), Bingham's Fort (located on both sides of 2nd Street and mainly west of Wall Avenue), Fort Ogden (located between 21st Street and 28th Street and between Wall Avenue and Madison Avenue), North Ogden Fort (located in the vicinity of 2700 North and 500 East), Uintah Fort (located west of the mouth of Weber Canyon on the Weber River-now in Davis County), Kington Fort (located at approximately 475 East and 6650 South in South Weber, which is now in Davis County), and Huntsville Fort (in the upper valley of the Ogden River).15
Three of these forts would be added to Ogden City proper - Bingham's Fort, Mound Fort, and Farr's Fort. Bingham's Fort was a community that took its water from Mill Creek and transported the water through what later was called the Lynne Ditch to the area of 2nd Street west of Washington Boulevard. The name of Bingham's Fort came from the fort's first leader, Erastus Bingham, who came to Weber County in 1850 and first settled in a more central area of Ogden City. In 1853 he moved to the northern end of the city to establish his fort. Bingham's son-in-law,Isaac Newton Goodale, was also instrumental in building the fort and digging the three-mile Lynne Ditch that brought water to the fort. The fort was a wood frame structure, interwoven with willows and filled in and covered with mud and adobe. It had dimensions of 120 rods by 60 rods, with gates on the east and west walls. The east wall of the fort was approximately 110 feet east of Wall Avenue and the west wall was 1,870 feet west of Wall Avenue. 16 The Mound Fort settlement started in 1848 when a few settlers moved to the vicinity north of the Ogden River where a prominent mound was a major land feature. Here Indian groups frequently camped. During threatening times with the Indians in 1854 a fort was constructed which was named Mound Fort. It enclosed the district from the present 12th Street to 9th Street, and from the west side of the state road (present Washington Boulevard) to the west face of the mound at 250 East. The west slope of the mound was very steep, and with a small amount of work it was cut to make a precipitous face about ten feet high. To strengthen the west side, a breastwork approximately three feet high was erected along the top of the mound. A mud wall nine feet high, three feet wide at the base, and sixteen inches wide at the top was built around the other three sides of the enclosure. David Moore was the leader at this fort, and about ten or twelve other families joined his family there.17 The Barker and Malan families had farms in the Mound Fort area. The Malan family presents an example of how some pioneer families moved to different areas of the county as communities developed. The Malan family first homesteaded in the river-bottom area at 12th Street and later moved to develop the bench land at 24th Street and Monroe Avenue, where they found rattlesnakes around their cabins. By 1894 they had moved to the Knob Hill area of east Capital Street and at the same time acquired the Malan's Heights land which ran from the base of the mountains to Malan's Peak. In less than half a century they had moved across the developing areas of Ogden City. After a severe flood in the spring of 1850, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Orson Hyde visited Lorin Farr in August 1850 and carried out the business of laying out a city on the site designated during the earlier visit. The south limits of the city were defined as a line going east from Brown's Fort (at 29th Street and Pacific Avenue) to the mountains; and the north limits ran from the mountains west to the southwest of Farr's Fort (at Mill Creek and Monroe Avenue) and jogged to the north to 12th Street (south of Mound Fort); this included the territory between the forks of the Weber and Ogden rivers. This gave the town a most beautiful setting, with several creeks and two major rivers for water. Young's party set the corner stake and gave a detailed plan for a modern city of wide streets.18 [although sources are marked as number 15, 16, 17 and 18, they are not notated in the information. Sources are listed at the end of that site, but unknown which includes the information cited here.] |
