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Show During the 1820's Mountain Green was the scene of a showdown between British and American fur men, which may have had international repercussions. As a result of this encounter, Peter Skene Ogden pulled his Hudson's Bay trappers out of Northern Utah, leaving the Americans free to ply their trade throughout the west¬ern mountain area without harassment from the Canadian-based company. In 1846 a wagon train of emigrants, led by Lansford W. Hastings, traveled through Morgan County on its way to California. In one part of the canyon, poss¬ibly Devil's Gate, the wagons had to be hauled up over the cliffs with ropes and winches. At another dangerous place, a wagon plunged over the precipice, hurling the frightened oxen to their death on the crags below. When the Donner party reached Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the wagon master chose to follow the cutoff down Weber Canyon. But a timely warning from Hastings sent them back-tracking to what is now Henifer where the party cut across to Emigra¬tion Canyon for its entry into the Great Salt Lake Basin. A month of precious time had been wasted and this delay possibly contributed to the tragic events which overtook Donner's party in the High Sierra Mountains. The Pioneers followed the Emigration Canyon route into the Valley the following year. In his book, "The Founding of Utah" Page 234, Elder Levi Edgar Young gives the following information: "When Ogden was settled in 1850 it was not long before people made a road up Weber Canyon where they went for fuel and for timber with which to build their homes. In 1855 the Utah Legislature granted Ira N. Spaulding, Abiah Wadsworth and Thomas J. Thurston the right to build a good road through the canyon and to keep said road in good repair from tolls collected. WEBER CANYON'S EARLY PRIMITIVE ROAD Back L-Cabin near river toll bridge 7 |