Peter Skene Ogden

The map above was hand drawn by William Kittson using dead reckoning observation. The left side (in the circled area) shows Cache Valley encampments. The right side shows Ogden Valley encampments. Modern place name labels help with orientation. (click on image to enlarge)

Ogden Valley - More Than Just a Name
By Ogden Valley Chronicles – 24 April 2026

Since incorporating this last year, there has been a concerted effort to change Ogden Valley's name. A Facebook group, 'Name Our New City' has enthusiastically campaigned, conducted surveys, employed analytics and even recruited a new city council member to underwrite the name-change effort. Some have suggested Ogden Valley's name needs to be modernized to reflect the Valley's fashionable development and upscale resort persona, while at the same time paradoxically preserving the valley’s open spaces, rural, agrarian vistas.

Others feel a new name might better depict the scenic and majestic beauty of our mountains, canyons, waterways and world class recreation.

Some apparently feel the similarity of the names Ogden City and Ogden Valley are not only confusing but condescending in comparative association.

In an Ogden Valley News op-ed piece in February, an Eden resident complained that the newly elected city council was “off to a bad start” and “complacent” for not immediately ditching the “lame and ugly name of Ogden Valley,” and that “the mayor and city council MUST get to work and change our name. We the People demand this.”

It is both ironic and astonishing that on the very anniversary of Ogden Valley's 200-year namesake anniversary in 2025, while many valley residents are excited to commemorate and celebrate Ogden Valley's name and it's Shoshone and mountain man heritage, others can hardly wait to divest themselves of such and unbecoming moniker and unpopular past. To all of this discontent, if not contempt for Ogden Valley's historic name...we have but one simple and humble request – “Whoa, take 'er easy there, Pilgrim(s)!”

Before jumping on the name-change bandwagon, here are some things you might appreciate knowing about Ogden Valley's name and its intriguing past:
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• Peter Skene Ogden, his clerk William Kittson and their Hudson's Bay Company fur brigade were the first non-native explorers in the written record to see, describe and map Ogden Valley, along with the rest of what would become Cache and Weber Counties. In their journals they offered firsthand accounts of the valley's - wildlife, vegetation, geology and waterways, including the first written (primary source) description of the Great Salt Lake. They described their interactions with the local Shoshone as they traveled and camped together, learning of their trade networks, lifestyle and customs. Both Ogden and Kittson describe in detail the most infamous international fur trade conflict to take place in the Rocky Mountains (on the Weber River) between Great Britain and the United States as per disputed territorial boundaries.

 

• In 1952, David E. Miller, Professor of History - University of Utah, after having made an extensive study of Peter Skene Ogden and William Kittson's journals concluded their historical importance as primary source records rivaled the 1776 exploration of Dominguez and Escalante, “They [Ogden and Kittson's journals] are to northern Utah what Escalante's journal is to central and southern Utah - the earliest written account by eyewitnesses.”

 

• Other trappers and mountain men who proceeded Peter Skene Ogden in the area between 1825-1850 such as Warren Ferris, Osborne Russell and even Miles Goodyear himself each make note of Ogden's Hole by name, traveling through, trapping, hunting and camping within its towering mountain peaks. On July 12 of 1847, meeting Brigham Young and his LDS vanguard pioneer party just outside of present-day Evanston, Wyoming, Goodyear provided a route description along with a map that included two well-known landmarks that lay on the trail ahead – the Weber River and Ogden's Hole.

 

• In 1849, after meeting with Captain Howard Stansbury about existing names in the Utah territory and possible future names of burgeoning Mormon settlements, Brigham Young was impressed with the trail blazing significance of Peter Skene Ogden's pre-settlement explorations in northern Utah to the extent that in 1851 he decided, instead of Brownsville or Goodyearton, the new city on the banks of the Ogden River would henceforth be known as Ogden City. After all, the names Ogden River and Ogden's Hole (Ogden Valley) had already appeared on territorial maps for over 25 years before.

If this short historical summary has introduced, reacquainted, or at the very least teased you enough with some of Ogden Valley's significant bygone days, you might want to consider an upcoming time travel adventure into Ogden Valley's pre-settlement, fur trade, Shoshone past.

On Wednesday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m., the Hearthside in Eden, OV200 will host its 10th annual “In Search of Ogden Hole” FREE community lecture-presentation featuring- Dr Jay H. Buckley, Associate Professor of History, BYU.  This event offers a rare opportunity for Ogden Valley residents, particularly newcomers, to take a deep dive into the amazing heritage behind the name Ogden Valley. If, in the end, Ogden Valley residents are eventually persuaded to choose another name, which is hopefully not the case, attendees will at least have had the benefit of making a well-informed decision.

Visit Ogden Hole Chronicles on Facebook to discover Ogden Valley's forgotten stories of the Fur Trade and Shoshone era.