Peter Skene Ogden
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 41° 20.069 W 112° 01.588
12T E 414109 N 4576397
This Utah Historical Marker is located on US Highway 89 at the Weber County/Box Elder County line.
Waymark Code: WMJNN4
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 12/09/2013
Views: 18
Peter Skene Ogden
Peter Skene Ogden, son of a loyalist of the Revolutionary War day who fled to Canada as a British sympathizer, was one of the most courageous and gallant of the fur trappers, traders and explorers of the early west. In the struggle between the United States and Great Britain for supremacy in the Rocky Mountains Ogden was chief field captain for the powerful British-owned Hudson's Bay Fur Company. He was charged with overtrapping the Rocky Mountains to discourage the westward advancing Americans.
In May of 1825, a party of American trappers confronted Ogden at nearby Mountain Green, informed him (falsely) that he was on American soil, and ordered him to leave. Ogden staunchly defended his rights in this yet unceded territory, but was forced to withdraw when 23 of his men deserted with approximately 800 beaver pelts.
Unusual among trappers, Ogden was literate and left an excellent journal of his struggles in Utah, where Ogden City, Ogden Canyon, and Ogden Valley now honor his name.
Utah State Department of Highways