Part 1 Marriott-Slaterville City A Short History on the Weber River in Marriott-Slaterville by Bill M. Morris, City Recorder December 29, 1999 The Ogden River flowing from Ogden Canyon (to the east) and the Weber River flowing from Weber Canyon (to the south-east) meet in Marriott-Slaterville City. These two mighty rivers have been the source of life in the region for millennia. The source of these rivers begins high atop Utah's high Wasatch and Uintah Mountains from Monte Cristo (also called Marriott Hills)1 to the south fork of the Weber River near Gardner's Fork and Slater Ridge these rivers have rolled since the post-Lake Bonneville era. Marriott and Slaterville are two of Utah's oldest communities in Weber County. Marriott, originally called "Marriottsville", was named after the early pioneer John Marriott who became the area's first permanent settler in the fall of 1850.2 Slaterville was also settled in 1850 and named after Richard Slater in honor of his service as a member of the Mormon Battalion.3 The area along the Weber River was at one time home to large Indian encampments. These Indians relied on the river for their sustenance, and there are reports of between 60 to 100 lodges and 200 warriors under the charge of Chief Little Soldier, a notable Shoshone Indian leader of the mid-19th Century, inhabiting the shoreline along the river. Also, early records of the community indicate that a large portion of the "country was covered with timber, brush, and heavy wild grass ...," and numerous wild animals including "wolves and bears" occupied the flood plain along the river.4 During the early 1800s, fur trappers and frontiersmen, such as Miles Goodyear, explored and made their living from the rivers and streams in present day Marriott-Slaterville. Trappers lured mostly beaver and muskrat along the river corridor. Further, at the convergence of the Weber and Ogden Rivers, trappers kept camp. Some early history also indicates that Miles Goodyear may have actually constructed his first camp in this area. Through the 1830s, this site also hosted numerous rendevous where some 3400 mountain men mingled, exchanged goods, and added to the history of the Weber River. 1 The Marriotts: Workers of Flocks and Fields. Hermoine Tracy Jex. (1990, pg. 105). 2 Ogden City and Weber County - A Historical Sketch. Transcribed from the original manuscript of Joseph Stanford, (1880), by John M. Belnap and Associates, (1968, pg. 26). 3 Inventory of the County Archives. Number 29 Weber County (Ogden) Preliminary Edition. The Utah Historical Records Survey Project, (January 1950, pg. 53). 4 Ibid. Ogden City and Weber County - A Historical Sketch. 2