Ogden Valley settlers are ordered to abandon farms and build homes closer together, near Eden, due to Indians “getting so bad”

From the Autobiographical sketch of Ether Enos McBride.

[Ether Enos McBride was born in 1848.]

In 1862 we moved to Ogden Valley and there were lots of Indians there. It was a beautiful valley, covered with grass and we could mow hay in almost any part of the valley. We had to cut our hay with scythes, as there were no mowing machines at that time. A good many people moved into the valley that year,

Huntsville got to be quite a settlement as there were a great many Scandinavians settled in the north end of the valley. Where we settled people took up land and settled on their farms but in 1865 the Indians got so bad we were ordered to abandon our farms and build closer together so as to protect ourselves. So we surveyed a place and brother Richard Ballantyne picked the place, got a surveyor named Jenkins and we started a little town. Richard Ballantyne with others named the place Eden. Then we had to vacate our farms and move into Eden, It seemed as though we were never going to get settled but now the valley is one of the most prosperous parts of Weber County.

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.