Howard Ransom Egan

Howard Ransom Egan

Howard Ransom Egan was born at Salem, Massachusetts. When Howard was eight years old the family joined with the main body of the Mormons who had settled near the Great Salt Lake.

In his youth Howard helped his father, Major Howard Egan, with his many ventures. He worked the ranch at Deep Creek, the store at Ruby Valley, and made endless supply trips to the mail and Pony Express stations. Howard started his own farm, at Ruby Valley . . . the first farm in the valley.

Howard was a Pony Express rider. He apparently was assigned at a number of different stations, and actually built several of them himself. Most of his time during the short Pony Express period was spent around the Deep Creek area. He recorded many of his Pony Express experiences which were publish in the book Pioneering The West.

The trail was not strange to him as he was experienced at running the mail stage before the Pony Express started. At the age of sixteen he drove the first mail stage from Utah to California. There were no stations at the time so it was a straight through trip with the same team, camping at night.

The Indians of the great basin were friends of Howard. He spoke their language and spent a lot of time learning how they hunted and what food they ate. He hired many indians as workers on the ranch at Deep Creek. He had a sidekick called Jack who was a Nevada Piute. Howard and Jack had some great experiences exploring, looking for water and even when there was an Indian "uprising" their friendship held true.

Howard settled in Cache Valley, Utah in 1869. He married Amanda Andrus and raised a large family. In Cache Valley, near Richmond, Howard started a successful mine and two sawmills besides working the homestead.