On May 22 Ogden set up camp at a spot on the Weber River now known as Mountain Green. Also in the vicinity was Etienne Provost,
a Frenchman up from Taos, New Mexico, who was trapping with a license
issued by the Mexican government. Provost, who would give his name to
the future town of Provo, Utah County,
was a neutral bystander in the events that soon followed. When Johnson
Gardner's American trappers camped less than 100 yards from the British
group on May 23 and flew the U.S. flag, the stage was set for an
international incident. Gardner and his men were prepared to fight for
territorial rights; they claimed that the camp was located in United
States territory. Ogden countered that it was in an area under the joint
control of the British and American governments. (Actually, Provost had
the better claim since he had a license from the Mexican government.
The Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 had recognized Mexican rights to land
south of the 42nd Parallel.) On the morning of May 24 Gardner took his
claim to Ogden's tent and ordered the Hudson's Bay trappers to leave.
Ogden naturally refused, and tension filled the rival camps.
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