Wasatch Mountains Rich in History By BOB AGEE The Wasatch mountains that encompass Ogden on the east and north are rich in history, storied in resources and hal¬lowed in the minds of many res¬idents. In the pioneer days the moun¬tains supplied timber, rocks, crude water power and recrea¬tion. Let us start on the north, where majestic Ben Lomond Peak rears its frosty head 9,717 feet above sea level. HIGH PEAKS Incidentally, Mount Ogden, father south, has an elevation of 9,575 feet. Few people realize it but both peaks are higher than the crossings of the Conti¬nental Divide in Yellowstone Park. Ben Lomond Peak was named by a homesick Scottish girl, a convert to the LDS Church. Back in the 1850s she and her family settled north of present Ogden. The girl had come from the area of Loch Lomond in Scotland and she petitioned the county commissioners to name the peak. They agreed. There is a strange story about Ben Lomond Peak. At certain times in the early spring when the snow is beginning to melt, a face appears. GROWS A 'BEARD' The top of the peak resembles a Boy Scout's hat. Two crev¬asses look like eyes. Later in the spring, when melting con¬tinues, the Boy Scout sprouts a beard of melting snow and ice going down the front of the mountain. One of the most rugged areas in the territory is at the north side of Ben Lomond Peak. There are towering pines, small lakes and a recreation area that is still being developed. Now let's go south a little, to North Ogden Canyon. This was the first route over the Wasatch from Cache Valley and for set¬tlers and cattlemen in Ogden Valley. CANYON TOO TOUGH In 1825 the fur trappers ren¬dezvoused near the junction of the Ogden and Weber rivers. They came in from the north and went across North Ogden Pass. At that time Ogden Can¬yon was practically impassible because of the narrow gorge and the rough river. In the 1850s many Ogden men grazed their cattle in the valley. In the fall they would trail them across North Ogden Pass be¬cause the winters were too rugged in the valley even for tough cattle. The next important landmark in the Wasatch Front is Lewis Peak. It is a rounded peak, somewhat different from its two big neighbors. There is a lot of timber up there. The peak is about 9,000 feet high and was named for Lewis W. Shurtliff of Plain City. He was the first to scale the peak. He was also fa-mous for another reason, as president of Weber Stake from 1833 to 1922. As we travel south we come to the famed Ogden Canyon, the narrow gorge that thwarted trappers in the frontier days. But it didn't thwart the Mor¬mon pioneers. On Nov. 15, 1860, a road from Ogden to Huntsville was opened for travel. Build¬ers were Lorin Farr, Isaac Goodale and other important church leaders. At the mouth of the canyon a toll gate was lo¬cated and charges ranged from 25 cents for a mounted horse-man to one dollar for wagons. The cost of the road from Ogden to Huntsville was $19,000. The canyon has a rich his¬tory. It was the location of many sawmills where aspen and pine from as far away as Monte Cristo was brought by wagons to be sawed and hewed. HOTEL WAS FAMOUS The canyon was the location of the famed Hermitage Hotel where "Billy" Wilson operated a plush resort. The Union Pacific included in its route a trip up the canyon where fine steaks and tasty trout were served. The old hotel burned to the ground in January of 1939. The Ogden River provided the first hydroelectric power for the area. It gave power to a powder mill that supplied explosives for the mining activities in the area. The Ogden River was the source of the first organized irrigation project in Weber County. The pioneer settlers built a canal from the mouth of the canyon into the west part of the county. It was Mill Stream, still flowing. It supplied power for Lorin Farr's grist mill where the Old Mill tavern is located now. Also the river was used to float logs down from the tim¬bered areas of the canyon. CLIFF TRAGEDY Let's move south, across the rugged cliffs of the front. When the writer was young we used to clamber up those cliffs and roll rocks down the sheer slope. A schoolmate slipped up there once and they took him home in a basket. It sobered all of us up and we shunned the cliffs after that. Next comes Taylor Canyon, named for John Taylor, a pio¬neer Mormon of the area. He operated a lime kiln at the mouth of the canyon. This canyon was the site of many mining explorations. At the far east end there was a gold claim in the early '60s. Along both sides of the canyon can still be found narrow steep shafts where miners sought gold and silver. The writer and some other foolish friends used to clamber down the old shafts to where water had filled. It is a wonder we weren't buried under a slide. HIGH RESORT HOTEL Taylor Canyon was the route by which tourists rode in sur¬reys to Malan's Basin, across the top of Malan's Peak, or Malan's Heights. Lawrence Malan, retired Weber County clerk, drove the teams up the narrow trail to the basin where there was a hotel and sawmill and bungalow cabins. Towering above Malan's Ba¬sin is the rocky peak of Mount Ogden, 9,575 feet high. For many years it was called Observatory Peak, because in 1888 the U.S. Geodetic Survey had a crew of eight men on the peak to make astronomical studies and to make sightings into Idaho, Wyoming and Ne¬vada. One of the popular hikes in the area has been to go to Ma¬lan's Basin, sleep overnight and hike early the next day to the top of Mount Ogden to see the sun rise. From the peak the view extends for hundreds of miles into four states. STEEP GORGE South of Mount Ogden is Wa¬terfall Canyon, a narrow steep gorge with a streaming water¬fall that has its source on the west slope of Mount Ogden. It flows through Malan's Basin. Farther south is Srong's Can¬yon, a timbered gorge with a strong spring run-of from high snow banks. Still farther south is Burch Creek Canyon. James, Robert and Daniel Burch were early pioneers. Daniel Burch had a sawmill in the Riverdale area, using power generated from the Weber River. Cottonwood trees and pines were cut in the can¬yon and hauled to the mill. Next gorge in the Wasatch Front is Weber Canyon, named for an early trapper who was with Ashley in the 1830s. The long Wasatch Front from Ben Lomond to Weber Canyon is a majestic line of frosty peaks most of the year. COOL SIGHT Travelers from the west, tired of the long dusty desert roads, get a "lift" when the towering Wasatch Front looms dimly in the east. The mountains are constantly changing. Their vistas are never the same, day after day. Misty rains, heavy snows, bril¬liant orange sunsets on the rocky cliffs — these are the scenic joys of our great range.