Oral History Program Lynn J. Ward Interviewed by Glen J. Ward 24 February 1971 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Lynn J. Ward Interviewed by Glen J. Ward 24 February 1971 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Ward, Lynn J., an oral history by Glen J. Ward, 24 February 1971, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Lynn J. Ward. The interview was conducted on February 24, 1971, by Glen Ward. The interviewee discusses early North Ogden history, including North Ogden Native American populations and uprisings as well as early LDS pioneers and their culture. LW: North Ogden is situated in the northern part of the county of Weber, with Ogden City on the south, Harrisville and Pleasant View on the west – the latter originally forming a part of North Ogden – tucked in a cozy little nook in the Wasatch Mountains on the north, leading up to the far-farmed Ben Lomond Peak, standing as a silent sentinel, wellseconded by the Lewis Peak on the east. GW: Sir, to the best of your knowledge, who were the first white men into the area of North Ogden? LW: North Ogden, or “Ogden Hole”, was visited by white men at least as early as 1821. Etienne Provost, a famous trapper, visited the Great Salt Lake Valley, and very likely explored and trapped the region of future North Ogden. Jim Bridger continued the trapping throughout the region for several years. Rice Creek, Ogden Hole Creek, Cold Water, adjacent and near the only passage through Ogden Valley were good streams for trapping purposes. The trappers operated their trade here for several years, but their caches became smaller year by year until the business became so unprofitable that they were forced to abandon the business and leave the red men in undisputed control. The red men still held control until the coming of the historic band, the pioneers, in 1 1848, after the exploration of the Rocky Mountains by John C. Fremont, who had been assigned that duty by the government. GW: You mentioned John C. Fremont as passing through the area of North Ogden. Where did he actually stop? LW: John C. Fremont stopped at the Utah Hot Springs as he passed through on his way to the Weber River. He returned through Harrisville, North Ogden, and Pleasant View in the same year. GW: Who were the first to actually settle the area of North Ogden? LW: Sometime in 1848, Captain James Brown purchased the Miles Goodyear claims and commenced the settlement of Ogden, which was the parent settlement of “Ogden Hole,” later known as North Ogden. Miles Goodyear was a trapper and trader and had succeeded in obtaining a grant of land from the Mexican government embracing the territory between the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake, and from the Utah Hot Springs 20 miles southward. Captain James Brown, while on his way to California to negotiate for the wages of the Mormon Battalion while in the service of the government, in 1847 was at the Goodyear Fort. On his return late in the autumn, he partially negotiated the purchase but it was not consummated until the next year. This purchase included in its northeast portion what is now the town of North Ogden. GW: Sir, then James Brown did not settle this area, he only purchased it. When was the first permanent house built? LW: Yes, that is right. The first house was built in 1850 by Jonathon Campbell, a member of the Mormon Battalion, and his brother Samuel. They had to vacate soon after they 2 arrived because of an Indian uprising occasioned from an Indian being killed in Harrisville by a white man by the name of Stewart. The settlers returned to Farr’s Fort in Ogden after the Indians succeeded in the killing of a white man, John Campbell, who was on an errand from Harrisville to warn the settlers of the uprising. In 1854 Jonathan and Samuel Campbell returned to North Ogden reinforced with Thomas Dunn, Lemuel Hallory, John Riddle, Benjamin Cazier, Newton D. Hall, Newman C. Blodget, Franklin G. Clifford, Enoch Burns, Solomon Campbell, David Garner, and Noah Brimhall and their families, and made the first permanent settlement of North Ogden. GW: What kind of an evolution has North Ogden gone through as far as agricultural implements? LW: The first harrows were simply brush ‘drags,” which were followed by a triangular wooden frame set with wooden teeth, then later by a crude frame of four or five pieces of pole attached longitudinally and set with steel teeth, and now the steel frame with spring teeth has superseded all of these. The process of reaping has gone through as varied an evolution as the harrow. First the sickle or scythe, then the cradle followed in turn by the platform reaper, which reaped the grain and after collecting enough for a bundle, swept it off where a man came along, picked it up and with a thong made of a handful of the grain interwoven at the heads, bound it into a bundle. This machine was followed by the modern self-binder, which cuts, binds in bundles, and drops them in heaps ready to be shocked. Threshing has gone through as varied a history as reaping, passing from the flail and winnowing by hand, through the various improvements to the modern thresher which is self-feeding, measuring, weighing, and sacking and stacks its own straw. Today in large fields, the whole process which cuts, threshes, and sacks the 3 grain is carried on by the harvester combine, thereby eliminating hauling and stacking. Hay in the early history of the settlement was harvested by means of a scythe and wooden hand-rake. This was followed by the various improvements of the mower and horse-rake up to the present modern implements, including the hay loader. GW: Well, how did they convert their grain into flour and bread? LW: In 1854 the first gristmill was built on Coldwater and was the scene of an altercation in its early history that came very near costing the life of the little settlement. An Indian desired a grist, refused to wait his turn but wanted it immediately. An altercation arose and the miller hit the Indian. An uprising was the result, and the massacre of the town was threatened. The Indians encircled the home of the bishop, giving vent to the most hideous yells. They were bought off with beef and flour, and peace was restored. The owners of the mill, James Barker and Newman C. Blodget, with their miller, Mr. Gardner, were permitted to continue converting the wheat of the people into the very essential breadstuff of that time. GW: What about the Indians? What tribes were they, and how did the settlers treat them? LW: The Indians of North Ogden were generally of the Bannock and Shoshone type, mixed in an early day with a few of the Ute tribe. Numerous large bands of them frequently passed through the settlement to fish in the Bear River, to gather berries in the valleys, to hunt in the mountains, or to find grazing on the bottoms for their ponies during the winter. Their begging and thieving proved, at times, very annoying to the settlers, but the counsel of President Brigham Young that it was better to “feed them than to fight them” was generally observed and proved to be the means of avoiding much strife, for it 4 was found that they would follow the spirit of revenge to the last extreme, as was evidenced in many of their hostile outbreaks. GW: Sir, what did the early settlers of North Ogden do for amusement? LW: Amusements of the town have varied with the growth and development in conditions and increase of population. In the early years of the settlement, Broncho busting and roping of wild horses and cattle was a favorite pastime for the young men, and to resort to the bottoms for such sports, on the Sabbath even, was often indulged in, but little development was made until better lines were had. The way into the dances then held in the schoolhouse, the only public building afforded, was generally paid with such as the people were in possession of other than money. James Deamer says of those days, “Many a time I paid my way with a log of wood.” Squash, pumpkins, a peck of wheat, a few pounds of beans, a little measure of molasses, served as the medium of exchange for a dance ticket. All lines of class distinction were eliminated. Young and old, male and female, mingled with unimpeded pleasure, pride and camouflage were cast to one side and the lack of shoes was no bar to ballroom etiquette. Calicoes, cottonade, homespun, buckskin, and clothes made of old tent or wagon covers were the costumes that adorned the belles and beaux in those early days. Instead of being transported to the ballroom in an automobile, the young lady usually rode behind her escort on the bare back of a horse, or sometimes would group together and wend their way by means of ox team transportation. GW: You mentioned the dances. What styles did they have? 5 LW: The style of dance in those days was the Quadrille, Virginia Reel, Scotch Reel, French Four and cotillion, the round dance being seldom indulged in. The patrons of the dance would often take lunch and remain all night. GW: Besides their entertainment, what were some of their favorite pastimes? LW: They had many varied pastimes, but their many trips to the hills and canyons should not be forgotten. They would go in search of chokecherries, service berries, wild strawberries, and other fruits so very much made use of then, when orchard fruit for preserving and storing for future use was scarcely known. The thimble berry, much resembling the raspberry, was a very delicious fruit and was gathered in great abundance. This was found in canyons and on moist hillsides. Besides the recreation these trips to the canyon afforded, it was also a source of profit in the great amount of fruit gathered. GW: Do you feel North Ogden has changed much throughout the years? LW: Yes, of course it has changed as the people have changed along with their way of doing things. Yet the area is still so much the same as it was when it was first settled. Still today you can go to the hills and canyons and gather chokecherries or wild strawberries. There is timber to be had, and clay for bricks from the soil. Though the Indians are gone, all through the area you can find the relics of their remains. GW: Sir, is it not true that you are a direct descendent of the early settlers? LW: Because I am a grandson of an early pioneer, it was my privilege to visit and converse with many of the early settlers. Thus from personal contact and later through research into the history of this area and its people, my information is hereby given. 6