Miles Goodyear
Encyclopedia
Miles Morris Goodyear was an American fur trader and mountain man
who built and occupied Fort Buenaventura
in what is now the city of Ogden, Utah
. The fort was located approximately two miles south of the confluence of the Weber
and Ogden rivers
and about one-quarter mile west of the end of Ogden's modern 28th Street. Goodyear was the first recorded man of European descent to live in the Weber Valley of Utah
.
Born in Hamden, Connecticut
, Goodyear was orphaned at the age of four and served as an indentured servant for much of his youth. In Independence, Missouri
, when he was nineteen, he joined the 1836 Whitman
-Spaulding
missionary party traveling west on the Oregon Trail
. As described by his fellow travelers, the young Goodyear was "thin and spare," with "light flaxen hair, light blue eyes." In later years, Goodyear's hair was described as red. Goodyear left the party at Fort Hall
, in modern southeastern Idaho
.
For the next decade, Goodyear worked as an independent or "free" trapper, being unaffiliated with any of the major American or Canadian fur companies. He lived, for a time, with the Bannock
Indians of southern Idaho. He traded in the Western mountains and visited various gatherings of mountain men and Indians, including the rendezvous of 1841. By 1839 he had married Pomona, daughter of the Ute
Chief Pe-teet-neet. The couple had two children, William Miles and Mary Eliza.
Adapting to the progressive decline of the fur trade and the increase in emigrant traffic on the overland trails, Goodyear built a way station on a large westward bend of the Weber River. The enclosed fort, constructed with local cottonwood logs, was begun in 1845 and completed by the end of 1846. Four log cabins occupied the corners of the fort, with sheds, corrals, and a garden within the enclosure. Additional corrals outside the walls accommodated cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Occupied by Goodyear and his family and a number of Indian helpers, as well as visiting trappers and emigrants, the fort served as a base for the rapidly diminishing fur trade in the Wasatch Mountains and as a meeting and trading post for overland emigrants.
In the winter of 1846-1847, Goodyear traveled to California
to acquire horses for trade. In 1847, he drove the herd east toward Missouri
, trading along the trails. During this trip, in July of that year, Goodyear visited with the first Mormon pioneer company on the Bear River west of Fort Bridger
. He urged Brigham Young
and other Mormon leaders to settle on lands near the Weber River. His efforts were initially unsuccessful, but in November 1847 the LDS High Council of Great Salt Lake City was authorized to purchase Fort Buenaventura. The resulting permanent settlement soon expanded and was initially called Brownsville. This is because Captain James Brown. The city was later renamed Ogden after another early trapper Peter Skene Ogden
.
Retaining his remaining horse herd, Goodyear and his family moved to California and engaged in horse-trading and gold mining. He acquired land at Benecia and made a gold discovery on the Yuba River
at "Goodyear's Bar." He died in the Sierra Nevada on November 12, 1849 at the age of thirty-two. He was buried at Benecia, California.
Museum on Grant Avenue, Ogden. A plaque on the cabin reads:
This cabin built about 1841 by Miles Goodyear, as far as known, the first permanent house built in Utah, stood near the junction of Ogden and Weber Rivers. In 1847 it was sold to Captain James Brown of the Mormon Battalion
with a Spanish land grant covering all of Weber County. It was preserved by Minerva Shaw Stone and by her presented to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers of Weber County who placed it on the present site. http://www.echamber.cc/moremonuments.html
Mountain man
Mountain men were trappers and explorers who roamed the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through the 1880s where they were instrumental in opening up the various Emigrant Trails allowing Americans in the east to settle the new territories of the far west by organized wagon trains...
who built and occupied Fort Buenaventura
Fort Buenaventura
Fort Buenaventura was the first permanent Anglo settlement in the Great Basin and the region that is now the state of Utah in the United States. It was founded in 1846 just east of the Weber River, west of current downtown Ogden, Utah. The fort and the surrounding land were bought by the Mormon...
in what is now the city of Ogden, Utah
Ogden, Utah
Ogden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...
. The fort was located approximately two miles south of the confluence of the Weber
Weber River
The Weber River is a c. long river of northern Utah, USA. It begins in the northwest of the Uinta Mountains and empties into the Great Salt Lake. The Weber River was named for American fur trapper John Henry Weber.-Weber River:...
and Ogden rivers
Ogden River
The Ogden River is a long river in Utah.The Ogden River's three forks begin in the Wasatch Range in Weber County and converge at Pineview Reservoir, near Huntsville...
and about one-quarter mile west of the end of Ogden's modern 28th Street. Goodyear was the first recorded man of European descent to live in the Weber Valley of Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
Born in Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
, Goodyear was orphaned at the age of four and served as an indentured servant for much of his youth. In Independence, Missouri
Independence, Missouri
Independence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...
, when he was nineteen, he joined the 1836 Whitman
Marcus Whitman
Marcus Whitman was an American physician and Oregon missionary in the Oregon Country. Along with his wife Narcissa Whitman he started a mission in what is now southeastern Washington state in 1836, which would later become a stop along the Oregon Trail...
-Spaulding
Henry H. Spalding
Henry Harmon Spalding , and his wife Eliza Hart Spalding were prominent Presbyterian missionaries and educators working primarily with the Nez Perce in the U.S. Pacific Northwest...
missionary party traveling west on the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
. As described by his fellow travelers, the young Goodyear was "thin and spare," with "light flaxen hair, light blue eyes." In later years, Goodyear's hair was described as red. Goodyear left the party at Fort Hall
Fort Hall
Fort Hall, sitting athwart the end of the common stretch shared by the three far west emigrant trails was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, which eventually became part of the present-day United States, and is located in southeastern Idaho near Fort Hall, Idaho...
, in modern southeastern Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
.
For the next decade, Goodyear worked as an independent or "free" trapper, being unaffiliated with any of the major American or Canadian fur companies. He lived, for a time, with the Bannock
Bannock (tribe)
The Bannock tribe of the Northern Paiute are an indigenous people of the Great Basin. Their traditional lands include southeastern Oregon, southeastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and southwestern Montana...
Indians of southern Idaho. He traded in the Western mountains and visited various gatherings of mountain men and Indians, including the rendezvous of 1841. By 1839 he had married Pomona, daughter of the Ute
Ute Tribe
The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...
Chief Pe-teet-neet. The couple had two children, William Miles and Mary Eliza.
Adapting to the progressive decline of the fur trade and the increase in emigrant traffic on the overland trails, Goodyear built a way station on a large westward bend of the Weber River. The enclosed fort, constructed with local cottonwood logs, was begun in 1845 and completed by the end of 1846. Four log cabins occupied the corners of the fort, with sheds, corrals, and a garden within the enclosure. Additional corrals outside the walls accommodated cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Occupied by Goodyear and his family and a number of Indian helpers, as well as visiting trappers and emigrants, the fort served as a base for the rapidly diminishing fur trade in the Wasatch Mountains and as a meeting and trading post for overland emigrants.
In the winter of 1846-1847, Goodyear traveled to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to acquire horses for trade. In 1847, he drove the herd east toward Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, trading along the trails. During this trip, in July of that year, Goodyear visited with the first Mormon pioneer company on the Bear River west of Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger was originally a 19th century fur trading outpost established in 1842 on Blacks Fork of the Green River and later a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, California Trail and Mormon Trail. The Army established a military post here in 1858 during the Utah War until...
. He urged Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
and other Mormon leaders to settle on lands near the Weber River. His efforts were initially unsuccessful, but in November 1847 the LDS High Council of Great Salt Lake City was authorized to purchase Fort Buenaventura. The resulting permanent settlement soon expanded and was initially called Brownsville. This is because Captain James Brown. The city was later renamed Ogden after another early trapper Peter Skene Ogden
Peter Skene Ogden
Peter Skene Ogden , was a fur trader and a Canadian explorer of what is now British Columbia and the American West...
.
Retaining his remaining horse herd, Goodyear and his family moved to California and engaged in horse-trading and gold mining. He acquired land at Benecia and made a gold discovery on the Yuba River
Yuba River
The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sacramento Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is one of the Feather's most important branches, providing about a third of its flow. The main stem of the river is about long, and its headwaters are split into North, Middle and South...
at "Goodyear's Bar." He died in the Sierra Nevada on November 12, 1849 at the age of thirty-two. He was buried at Benecia, California.
Monument
A cabin built by Goodyear within Fort Buenaventura has been preserved and designated as the "Miles Goodyear Cabin Monument." The structure was moved to a permanent location near the Daughters of the Utah PioneersDaughters of the Utah Pioneers
The International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers is a women's organization dedicated to preserving the history of the original settlers of the geographic area covered by the State of Deseret and Utah Territory, including Mormon pioneers...
Museum on Grant Avenue, Ogden. A plaque on the cabin reads:
This cabin built about 1841 by Miles Goodyear, as far as known, the first permanent house built in Utah, stood near the junction of Ogden and Weber Rivers. In 1847 it was sold to Captain James Brown of the Mormon Battalion
Mormon Battalion
The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based unit in United States military history, and it served from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican-American War. The battalion was a volunteer unit of between 534 and 559 Latter-day Saints men led by Mormon company officers, commanded by regular...
with a Spanish land grant covering all of Weber County. It was preserved by Minerva Shaw Stone and by her presented to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers of Weber County who placed it on the present site. http://www.echamber.cc/moremonuments.html