Bingham's Fort

The family that built this fort had already named a canyon that would swallow a mountain. Erastus Bingham's sons found copper ore while herding cattle in the Oquirrhs in 1848 — Brigham Young told them farming mattered more, and the claim went unstaked, but Bingham Canyon kept their name and eventually became the largest man-made pit on Earth. In Ogden, when the Walker War broke out in 1853, Bishop Bingham directed a fort here: each family built its assigned stretch of twelve-foot mud-and-willow wall, and by 1854 seven hundred people lived inside.

What the plaque says

Erastus Bingham, Utah pioneer of 1847 and Mormon bishop, established a farmstead at this site in 1851 and extended the irrigation ditch from 12th Street to this location. In 1853 Brigham Young ordered the settlers of the area, known as North Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to "fort up" for protection from hostile Indians. Bishop Bingham supervised the construction of Bingham's Fort and expanded the ditch to run adjacent to both the north and south walls. Each family in the fort completed an assigned section of the twelve-foot high walls. The walls were eight feet wide at the bottom and tapered to three feet at the top. The base was made of rock. The walls were made of mud, reinforced by poles and woven willows. The gate of heavy timber was large enough to drive a team through. By 1854 Isaac Newton Goodale recorded 562 people living in the fort. Of the 21 forts on the Wasatch Front, Bingham's Fort was known for its large population. Within the fort, Goodale laid out lots. Houses were erected 66 feet from the walls to provide space for livestock. Several mercantile houses and Sam Gate's molasses mill operated in the fort. A schoolhouse served as the center of community life. Shoshone Indians lived in the fort during the winter of 1854-1855 due to their shortage of food. By 1855 the final dimensions of the fort were 60 by 120 rods, about 45 acres. In 1856 when peace prevailed, the fort disbanded. The settlement grew and was known as Lynne. The fort walls were completely taken down in 1888. In 1890 Lynne became part of Ogden City. The pioneer ditches, Bingham's Farm, and Bingham's Lane (2nd Street) were still in use in 2005.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ogden Union Station — 2.6 mi
  A grand 1924 train depot turned museum complex
• Snowbasin — 7.3 mi
  One of the country's oldest ski areas and a 2002 Olympic downhill venue — world-class terrain that somehow still skis uncrowded.
• Hill Aerospace Museum — 9.9 mi
  Over 90 military aircraft displayed indoors and on the tarmac
• Powder Mountain — 13 mi
  The largest ski resort in the United States by acreage — a famously uncrowded "PowMow" now remaking itself under Netflix's Reed Hastings.

More markers nearby

• Site of Mound Fort — 1.0 mi
• Pleasant Green Taylor — 1.5 mi
• Martin Henderson Harris — 1.7 mi
• Farr's Fort — 2.1 mi