Every time I write about a structure being the oldest in Utah, someone comes along to tell me about something older.

It started when I wrote that the Beehive House in Salt Lake City, which dates back to 1852, was the state's oldest building in its original location.

That prompted a response from Ann Evans of Utah State Parks, who informed me that the Fielding Garr ranch house on Antelope Island, built in 1848, is actually the oldest structure in Utah on its original foundation.

And that prompted a response from Diane Parker of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers to tell me about a cabin in Ogden that was built in 1845, three years before the Garr house and two years before Mormon pioneers arrived in Utah.

"The Fielding Garr ranch house has a unique history," wrote Parker. "But I would like to invite you to visit the oldest surviving structure in Utah built by a white man. It is not in its original location, but the Miles Goodyear cabin is still standing and being maintained by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers on the temple block in Ogden."

I drove to Ogden to see it for myself. Not because I doubted Diane Parker, but to check out what a 161-year-old cabin looks like.

The answer: not much.

The restored Goodyear cabin sits on the west side of Ogden's temple square. Nobody lives in it. No one has lived in it for more than a century.

As far back as the late 1800s the house was already existing solely on its reputation as Utah's oldest structure. A lady with pioneer blood in her veins and a fine sense of history named Minerva Pease Stone Shaw moved it to her front yard near downtown Ogden, where for years it sat as a lawn decoration.

Eventually the one-room structure made its way to the DUP Museum lot, where it has remained since 1928.

Originally, the cabin was the centerpiece of Fort Buenaventura — the personal domain of one Miles Goodyear, mountain man extraordinaire, who in 1845 set up camp at the junction of the Ogden and Weber rivers and enclosed his compound with cottonwood poles to deter Indian troublemakers.

An even better deterrent was Miles' wife, Pomona, the daughter of Ute chief Peeteetneet.

After the arrival of the Mormons in 1847 the valley was getting too crowded, and Miles sold his fort for $1,950 in gold, and he and Pomona left for California. In 1849, while prospecting for more gold Miles died at the age of 29.

His house proved much more indestructible. It has been moved an estimated nine times and went through incarnations as a blacksmith shop and a cheese shop before it wound up on Minerva's front lawn.

Its closest brush with destruction came in 1972 when the Ogden LDS temple was built and all else on the temple block was scheduled for demolition.

But as Diane Parker notes with pride, the Daughters of Utah Pioneers were having none of that. "Over our dead bodies," they said, in a manner of speaking.

The result of that showdown can be seen in all its faded wooden glory in the heart of the building boom it started 161 years ago.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.