Miles Goodyear

Miles Morris Goodyear (February 24, 1817 – November 12, 1849) was an American fur trader and mountain man who built and occupied Fort Buenaventura in what is now the city of Ogden, Utah.

For the next decade, Goodyear worked as an independent or "free" trapper, being unaffiliated with any of the major American or Canadian fur companies.

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.

During this trip, in July of that year, Goodyear visited with the first Mormon pioneer company on the Bear River west of Fort Bridger.

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.

Retaining his remaining horse herd, Goodyear and his family moved to California and engaged in horse-trading and gold mining.

In 1847 it was sold to Captain James Brown of the Mormon Battalion with a Spanish land grant covering all of Weber County.