In telling the story of the Ogden Police Department, it is necessary to first understand the history of Weber County.
Ogden City History is full of Wild West stories, like many communities of the West, its origin is owed to fur trappers who found a lucrative trade in beaver and muskrats along rivers and streams. In the fall of 1824, one trapper from the Ashley Fur Brigade, Jim Bridger (then a boy of eighteen), set out from Cache Valley down the Bear River in a skin canoe to settle a wager among several trappers as to where the river emptied. He reached the Great Salt Lake, tasted the water, and returned to the fur camp to report that the river flowed into a salt bay.
Soon, after the beaver industry declined, most of these mountain men began to leave the area. The departure of the fur trappers coincided with the arrival of exploration and settlement parties. The "Great Pathfinder", John C. Fremont, explored the area in 1843 and made scientific examinations of and charted Weber County. The Fremont reports encouraged men along the frontier and the Mormons to settle in the West.
THE BIRTH OF A CITY
In 1848, Brigham Young sent Lorin Farr from Salt Lake City to colonize the Ogden area and on February 6, 1851, Farr became Ogden's First Mayor. From Irene Woodhouse's book, "Ogden Ancedotes," she described the first organized law enforcement. Her book states the police department was then organized along the lines of the Mormon Church priesthood. The religious standards of the church were carried over for guidelines for the law enforcement practices in those early days.
The Ogden City Police Department had it's beginnings in these early days of the Wild West. The function of the police departments have changed with the times according to the needs of the community. In 1851, the police were advised to report of individuals making trouble. Arrests consisted of hollering too loudly, drunk in public and driving too fast on the streets. What few lawbreakers there were stayed at a local boarding house. The landlady was paid .50 a day to cook and be responsible for them. MORE STORIES TO FOLLOW . . .
(Information courtesy of Ogden City Police Department)
