Provo Herald, March 23, 1999 Small town battles Ogden to preserve historic heritage SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The tiny town of Marriott-Slaterville is battling Ogden officials to protect what city officials call a historical heritage in the face of development of the Defense Depot Ogden site. History buffs and town officials want to commemorate where the original transcontinental railroad tracks ran, a spur of the Oregon Trail leading to Idaho, a World War II prison camp and a pioneer Mormon fort. "The Golden Spike is part of Ogden's very symbol," said Marriott-Slaterville City Attorney Duncan Murray, referring to the Central Pacific-Union Pacific railroad connection at Promontory, to the northwest. "Why would they want to just throw that away?" Eager to develop But Ogden officials are eager to develop the Defense Depot Ogden, which the Army sold to the city earlier this year for $5.9 million. Ogden officials hope to develop DDO into a business and industrial park attracting as many as 10,000 jobs in 15 years. "It's an opportunity to diversify the regional economy away from dependence on government jobs," said Mike Pavich, Ogden's executive director of redevelopment. Closure of DDO took 2,500 military jobs from the city. The old track and nearly all of the pre-World War II buildings are gone. In all, DDO's buildings are unremarkable. With no signs of a pioneer heritage, Pavich questions if Marriott-Slaterville is raising a fuss to get back some of 1,100 acres the Army bought from residents of the then-unincorporated town decades ago. "We know we've lost (the land)," said Murray. "They got it fair and square. But just because they got the land, why does that mean they can't involve us?" Murray said the debate is "The Golden Spike is part of Ogden's very symbol. Why would they want to just throw that away?" Duncan Murray, Marriott-Slaterville City Attorney another example of the futilfe efforts to get some say in the DDO development. He said the city would settle for a seat on a commission that guides DDO development. Ambitious memorial Fred Oates, mayor of Harrisville, just north of Marriott-Slaterville, proposes a more ambitious memorial to the area's pioneer past. He wants a tourist train linking downtown Ogden with the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory. The line would run through DDO and other area historic sites. "All it would take is some cooperation and this would really be a jewel for the West," said Oates Ogden officials say they have determined it would cost $32 million to build such a train line, and it is not a viable idea Bill Morris, formerly a member of the old Marriott Township's Planning Commission, said his city, Farr West, Harrisville and Weber County may sue Ogden demanding more consideration to the site's history. But Kathleen Mallis, base transition coordinator for the DDO, said the government is not susceptible to a lawsuit since it has contracted for a historic-sites study, held publifc hearings and got the go-aheaf from state and federal historic-preservation offices. "The government has met its (legal) requirements," Mallis said. 220