Miles Goodyear

Miles Morris Goodyear (February 24, 1817 – November 12, 1849) was an American

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

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

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 force the purchase of Fort Buenaventura. The resulting permanent settlement soon expanded and was initially called Brownsville, after 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 Benicia and made a gold discovery on the

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

• Mormon Battalion
• Miles Goodyear Cabin

References

Sources

• Kelly, Charles and Maurice L. Howe, Miles Goodyear (1937);
• Morgan, Dale, "Miles Goodyear and the Founding of Ogden", Utah Historical Quarterly 21 (July 1953);
• Critchloe, William III and Richard W. Sadler, "Miles Goodyear's Fort Buenaventura" (1978).