Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together Morgan County Morgan County residents include people from all walks of life, of different religious beliefs, and ancestors from many different countries. But everyone seems to love being able to call Morgan home. To feel an uplifting of spirit when entering these wonderful, protective hills. Morgan was originally referred to as part of Weber Valley, which also included the Ogden area. Weber Valley was named after a trapper and was famous for its excellent beaver pelts. Included in the list of early trappers who explored the valley are General William H. Ashley, James Beckworth, Peter Skeen Ogden, William Sublette, Milton Sublette and Jim Bridger in the early 1820's. In the fall of 1824 Etienne Provost was gathering beaver when winter set in, but because of the frozen streams, trapping was impossible. He and his men followed the river through the precipitous walls of Devil's Gate and into the open valley where they set up winter camp on the lower Weber just west of what is now Ogden City. The first man to make a home in Morgan County was Ben Simon. He was a trapper, and built the first house in the valley, at what is now known as Stoddard Spring. Formerly it was known as Simon Spring. Ben Simon was part French and part Cherokee Indian. He had an Indian wife. He came up from Mexico when the valley belonged to that country. He was very kind to the first white settlers. In the summer of 1846 the Harlan emigrants and families traveling from the East to California under the leadership of Lansford W. Hasting led his group through Morgan County. In the Devil's Gate area they were forced to let the wagons down the steep rocky gorge with ropes. So much trouble was encountered in passing, that other emigrants were forewarned, including the Donner Party which came three weeks later, and left the Weber River at Henefer and broke the trail through Emigration Canyon. In 1847 Orson Pratf s advance company followed what was then called the Red Fork of the Weber River, which was a creek running down Echo Canyon, until they became aware of the depth and rapidity of the water and the steep mountains on either side. They were finally convinced the "Ten Mile Canyon" would indeed be too rugged to travel and returned to the main company. Camp was made at Henefer while others searched for the route known as Reed's Trail. The pioneers then followed the trail made by the Donner Party the year before. The first company of pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Two members of this first group, Jesse C. Little and Roswell Stevens, were among the earliest settlers in Morgan County. Thomas J. Thurston of Centerville, was riding with his two sons to get logs when he rode to a spot overlooking this valley, which reminded him of his Ohio home, and he decided this was where he wanted his family to live. They began to explore the valley and built a road out of the little trail into the valley. Jesse C. Little helped supervise the road building. William Porter and J.B. Noble decided to investigate the area further. Charles S. Peterson, John Cousins, Thomas Bebington, and Elder Jedediah Morgan Grant assisted with building the road using their teams, and played vital roles in the early development of the county. The road building project involved working with picks, shovels, and crowbars, and occasionally a small plow. Huge rocks had to be moved from the area or used as a foundation to built the road on. Weber Valley was located in the heart of the Wasatch range. Cottonwoods and willows grew along the streams of the Weber River. Brigham Young set companies to explore the whole area. The land was excellent and had two important streams, the Weber River and (East) Canyon Creek along with numerous other streams. The main pursuit for the earliest arrivals was agriculture. As other settlers began to arrive and build houses, the people realized the importance of establishing villages instead of just scattering out in many areas. This provided better opportunities for safety as well as socialization. Churches and schools were built as well as better homes. Much of the land was actually purchased from the Indians, and the treaties made with them were honored by the white settlers and the Indians. Chief Washakie knew that in times of need he and his people could go to the bishop, who they acknowledged as the community leader and receive food or help. Later some of the Indians began to prey on the white man's property, so the wise chief moved his Indians to Ogden to encourage them to provide for themselves. Early problems encountered by the settlers included drought, high streams and grasshopper plagues which destroyed their crops. The people tried to be self-sustaining. Clothing was made from carded wool from sheep or from animal hides. They made their own soap, brooms, furniture, candles, molasses,