Sunday, October 25, 2020

10/18 Pipe Spring National Monument

 This is not a big place, but it is not too far off the main highway and worth an hour stop.  The visitor center was closed, but there was a ranger at the entrance passing out pamphlets and directly us to the historic Pipe Stem  spring and farm area. Basically, this is a spring that came out of the base of the hill you see in the distance.  It was heavily used by Native Americans. 

However, after Brigham Young settled Salt Lake City, he sent Mormon "pioneers" out to other areas to find places for Mormons to settle.  They chased off the Indians and built this farm. 


An interesting cactus.  I will have to look up its name.

To prevent the Native Americans from using the spring, the Mormons built this sort of fort around the spring.

There were also outbuildings where some settlers lived and at times were used for barns.

The walls are original, but they had to reconstruct the ceilings. 

Pretty sturdy buildings!

This is the entrance to the fort around the spring.

The water from the spring has been piped into the building and entered this trough.  Originally, there was a much heavily water flow, and this room was used to store cheese and things like meat produced from the farm.

This shows the length of the trough.  After the water left the building, it was used for irrigation and for cows that produced the milk for the cheese.
 

 


There was more to the story of this farm and fort, such as it having rooms for rent where Mormons hid their plural wives while they were pregnant and the first telegraph station in Utah.

Below is a depiction of how the farm might have once looked.


1 comment:

  1. I am enjoying your posts. Can't go any where this year because of covd.

    ReplyDelete