Many early North Ogden residents walked great lengths for different reasons

Ruth Perkins came to Utah in a handcart company in 1855. She married Stephen Treanne and they built and lived in a dugout on the Pole Patch for several years. She took her baskets of eggs and butter and started out for the market, hoping to sell them in Ogden. She walked as far as Salt Lake to sell her produce.

People also remember Jessie Reed as a great walker. He built his house on the Pole Patch near the mountain and was the first school teacher at the Pole Patch school. He walked to, and returned from, Ogden in the same day quite regularly.

Some people didn’t walk from city to city to earn a living; they walked from their homes to the mountains. Many farmers hiked up Ben Lomond to their mines after they harvested their crops. The ore they mined helped supplement the farmers’ income. They built signal fires near the top of the mountain to let their families below know they had made it safely.  Sometimes, the snow was so deep, it was necessary to dig the cabin out before using it. 

Many people, past and present, walk many miles to conquer peaks like Ben Lomond just for the adventure of it. In 1913, Charles Jones organized an expedition to erect a flagpole at the top of Ben Lomond Peak.  The flag could be seen from the heart of North Ogden for many years.  Included in the expedition were Charles Jones, William Hall, and Henry C. Hall, all from North Ogden.  For several years, beginning in 1924, a group of people climbed to the summit under the leadership of William Terry.  They traveled by horse or automobile to the Mount Ogden Stake Mutual grounds and followed a trail on foot up the steep incline, making the climb in four or five hours.  The Cutler trail is a steep 5-mile hike to the peak.  The Ben Lomond trail is longer (7.6 miles), but easier to navigate.  Many North Ogden residents make it a yearly ritual to navigate the steep climb to Ben Lomond’s Peak.