PART 2 History of Marriott The area which became known as Marriott (earlier, Marriottsville) was first occupied by William Rowe in the winter of 1849-50. Mr. Rowe built the first house in the area, a log cabin near the junction of the Ogden and Weber Rivers. In contrast to his neighbors who arrived soon, he was a non-Mormon. In 1850 he allegedly became embroiled in a stealing escapade and departed quite hastily to California 1. The first real attempt to settle Marriott took place in 1849-1850, by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Moses Tracy, Lorenzo Tracy, and Mr. Cheney, with their families, settled in the extreme southeastern portion (between 12th and 17th Street) known as Broom's Bench named after John Broom. Mr. Broom brought in toads of iron (a very scarce commodity) from Fort Bridger. He grew the first apricots in the area. He later moved to Ogden where he built and operated the Broom Hotel. Moses Tracy built a unique two-room log house at Broom's Bench. It was a mobile home which could be moved, and he did move it later to Bingham's Fort. While at Broom's Bench he also built a fanning mill. 2 In the fall of 1850 eight families, Ensign Tracy, Harrison Keys, Isaac Oldecarte, Joseph Hancock, and the Bums, Bell, Andrew, and Rolliston families moved to Broom's Bench briefly. Shortly thereafter they moved on to Oregon.3 In 1853 when the Indians became more hostile, Brigham Young instructed the settlers of the area to "fort up." They constructed a fort in the vicinity of today's Wall Avenue between Second and Fourth Streets, which was called Bingham's Fort, after Erastus Bingham. The families who still resided in the Broom's Bench area moved to the fort, where some lived for several years. The fort contained 755 inhabitants at that time4. John Marriott, for whom the town was named, was the community's first permanent settler. In 1855 this English immigrant was called by Lorin Farr to settle the western portion of the locality later known as Marriott. He and his wife Elizabeth Stewart Marriott, and their baby left their previous home in Kaysville on February 4, 1855, and lived in a wagon while Mr. Marriott made a small dugout without windows in their new location. Shelves were placed in the dugout, and the baby was put to sleep on one of them while Mrs. Marriott carried water for a half mile from the Ogden River. Upon her return, it was not uncommon to find snakes crawling over the shelf where the infant slept. Before the end of the year John provided better living quarters for his family. He built the first permanent log house erected in the settlement. Later an addition was made of adobes.5 The first spring Mr. Marriott was actively engaged in clearing his land of brush for farming and providing water with which to irrigate. Unassisted, he dug the first ditch in 1855, through which he brought water from the Ogden River to Marriott. Later, in connection with the Dinsdales on 17th Street, a ditch was dug up to the vicinity where the Ogden Stadium is presently located. Later, good water rights were obtained through the Marriott Irrigation Company.6 Later in 1850 other settlers arrived-Thomas Joyce, William Gill, William Beckington, Henry Reeder, Robert Hewitt, and Simon F. Halverson, with their families. Within the next few years they were joined by Thomas Stanger, Caleb Parry, William Morris, George Stanger, James Burton, Mrs. Lilly, James Rycraft, William Hodson, Joseph Allen, Thomas Salisbury, William Hill, Mr. Greenwood, and their families 7. Marriott was covered with willows, timber, sage, rabbit and other brush, grass and weeds. Coyotes, wolves and bears were plentiful, and became such a nuisance the settlers used poison to kill them. Indians camped in the area regularly. However, in spite of these obstacles, good farm land was developed for crops, gardens and orchards. Flood waters and grasshoppers took a toll of the crops in the early years. Some winters roots and wild onions were eaten to supplement their meager rations and keep them from starvation 8. 8