Phillip Garner, farmer in Burch Creek, Ogden area, was well-acquainted with “Old Jack Big Ute,” and “Bush Head.” Hill nearby was favored campsite for Indians.

Copied from pgs 60-61 of A Gardner Family’s Heritage of Love: Hyrum Elihu Garner and Mary Virginia Bigler.  By David H. Garner: Author and Compiler.  First Edition: August 2004.

Being an unselfish pioneer, [Phillip Garner] was public spirited and gave freely of his time and service by furnishing teams to assist the immigrants to Utah. A farmer by nature, he was one of the first to take up and farm land in what is now known as Burch Creek. It was on this farm that the first alfalfa was grown in this part of Utah.

The Garner-Stephens Ditch was so named because of the service he rendered in its construction, thus bringing water to farmers in that area.

When he moved on the farm, the Indians camped on the hill nearby, and came in numbers from 2 to 500 for weeks at-a-time. He was well acquainted with Old Jack Big Ute, a large Indian, and Bush Head. Uncle Phil (son of Phillip) said he had witnessed their war dances and powwows at night many times.

One time. Uncle David (son of Phillip) got into a mix with two Indians as follows — the Indians turned horses into the field. He ordered them out, and a fight ensued. [No more details provided.]

[pg 66]

Henry’s younger brother, Phillip Garner Jr. was an early farmer along Burch Creek. He was bom May 5, 1850 in Ogden near the site of the Ogden Union Pacific Depot.

Ten years after the birth of Phillip Jr., Phillip Garner moved his family to a large ranch in Burch Creek, where young Phillip lived most of his life.

These were the days when the early settlers had frequent contact with the Indians of the region. Phillip Jr. and his brothers Joe [Joseph Lafayette], Ace [Asael Smith] and Johnnie [John Albert] used to play with the Indians while living on that ranch (near what is now 40th and Harrison). This gives some notion of the climate in which the Phillip Garner and Mary Hedrick family lived. Phillip Jr. related that “We would run horse races with the Indian boys. When we would beat them, the older Indians would taunt the Indian boys by calling them ‘squaws.'”

A collection of documents, excerpts, and photographs relevant to the so-called Weber Ute people of Northern Utah. Not a complete history — research aid only.