–By an Act of Congress on May 20, 1862, patents were issued for homesteading purposes.  From the General Land Office of the United States, Salt Lake City Territory, Leonard obtained a land patent – certificate number 3370... It called for the said acres of land in Henneferville, Utah:

“Southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter,  the ninth east quarter of the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northeast  quarter of section 14 in township three. North of range four.  East of Salt Lake Meridian in  Utah Territory containing 160 acres.”

Grover Cleveland, President of the United States 12 May 1888.
Deed recorded 6 September 6, 1893, at 10:30 A.M. by John Boyden, County Recorder.
From book U.S. patent no. 1, page 273, Summit County Court House.

This acreage contained the mountain’s point, also a canyon later called by the populace “Leonard’s Canyon.” Leonard seemed to hear the call of this canyon. It was bounded on three sides by majestic mountains, covered by sage brush. The place was quite rugged and lonely, [with] beautiful rock formations close by to the east – the picturesque “Witches Rocks”. On the side facing west is a pretty red rock formation. These rocks held a terror for the family. They were infested with deadly poisonous rattlesnakes. Family members had to be on the lookout for them at all times. Many [snakes] were killed, but they just couldn’t seem to ever get rid of them all. It was also the habitat of the large blow snake, however these were not poisonous, just a nuisance.

The three room house, made by this family of hand-hewn logs hauled by team and wagon from nearby canyons, was located a little ways in the mouth of point canyon. A lean-to on the northeast side was added for his clock repair shop. White plaster was used for the chinking. The main center room was the kitchen with a bedroom on each side. There were windows on the south and east sides with a door on the northeast to enter the lean-to. The front door was in the center and a wide wooden platform was the main entrance.

By the north wall stood a stone used for cooking and heating. A tin smoke pipe was connected from the stove to the chimney. There was a wood box by the stove; a bench with a wash basin and buckets of water with a dipper. The roof was covered with dirt. The walls inside were white washed and six inch wooden floor boards were always kept clean and shiny. The furniture was plain and simple but comfortable. The beds, made of wood, stood in one corner of the bedrooms. They were always dressed up with straw mattresses and patchwork quilts. The ticks were renewed with new straw each year at threshing time. The pillows were made of factory stuffed with fowl feathers.

When it rained all day and night the roof leaked and the straw ticks would be wet and soggy. They were emptied of their straw and it was placed on the floor and boarded into a corner where it was stirred and turned every so often in order to dry it out so the ticks could be refilled and placed back on the beds, by night time. A spring of cool drinking water was located not too far up a mountain from the house. This was later piped, with a wooden pipe to a barrel. Here the overflow ran down a small ditch into a larger ditch on down and under the railroad tracks and into the Weber River.

The log farmhouse was very picturesque. It also looked peaceful and was full of hospitality. Many a teamster, hauling coal by wagons from Grass Creek and Coalville mines to Ogden and other towns, would stop overnight with them. They always kept a room for the men to stay in and sleep. Leonard’s brother, Absalom, built a log house close by them and then later built a log house in Echo.

Leonard and his son, Thomas, cleared a small tract of land near the Weber River bottoms where they planted a small vegetable garden for the family. Cattle and sheep comprised most of his farm livestock because he had more mountainous range land than irrigated. Water from Echo Creek and the Weber River was used for irrigation. It was a lot of hard work to keep the dams and ditches in working condition. Every spring the flood waters would wash away most of the dam and fill the ditches with debris.