PIPE SPRINGS

Pipe Spring National Monument in northern Arizona, near Fredonia, is a monument dedicated to the preservation of relics of early pioneer days. Pipe Spring figured historically in the settling of the Arizona Strip country by trail-blazing Mormons. The area was set aside in 1923.

PIPE SPRING

PHOTOGRAPHS "Winsor Castle" they once called the old fort that is the main feature at Pipe Spring, but years before the building was constructed the spring received the picturesque name that it carries today.

It was back in 1856 that a party of white men under the leadership of Jacob Hamblin was sent out by Brigham Young to explore this part of the country and to see what could be done about arriving at a peaceable settlement of differences with hostile Navajos and Paiutes. While camping at the spring-at that time known to the Indians as Yellow Rock Spring some of the party decided to play a joke on William Hamblin, also known as "Gunlock Bill" because of his exceptional accuracy with a rifle, by betting him that he could not shoot a hole in a suspended silk handkerchief at fifty paces. The bet was immediately accepted and Hamblin stepped off the prescribed distance, took quick aim at the target and fired. The bullet hit the handker chief all right, but merely brushed the limp object to one side. Somewhat nettled at the trick that had been played on him, Hamblin asked one of the men to place his pipe on a rock near the spring with the mouth of the bowl facing the rifleman. When this wasdone, he wagered that he could shoot through the bottom of the bowl without touching the rest of the pipe. The wager was accepted and Hamblin won the bet with neatness and dispatch. Because of this feat, the spring was promptly dubbed "Pipe Spring."

Although the Hamblin party is supposed to be the first white men to visit the Spring, there is a strong possibility that it was used as a camp site by Silvestre Velez de Escalante during his epical attempt to go from Santa Fe to Monterey in 1776. It was during that journey that Escalante's travels took him through the Pipe Spring region, and in his diary under the date of October 20, 1776, he reported that "we camped between two low hills rising from the plain near the arroyo where there was abundant water and pasture." To anyone familiar with the region, the description "abundant water and pasture" would seem to apply only to Pipe Spring itself.

Whether Father Escalante actually visited the Spring will probably never be definitely known, but its history following the visit of the Hamblin party has been accurately determined. It was in 1863 that James M. Whitmore made a survey of 140 acres of land,which included Pipe Spring. At the Spring he constructed a small dugout of dirt and juniper logs and established a ranch. For a time the venture proved to be a most successful one. A man named Robert McIntyre was hired to live at the Spring and take care of things. However, trouble arose during the last year of the Black Hawk Indian war which began in 1865. In 1869, marauding Indians appeared and stole some of the livestock. Whitmore and McIntyre went in immediate pursuit, leaving Whitmore's young son at the dugout. Both men were ambushed and killed and the Indians returned to Pipe Spring, but failed to find the boy who was hidden in the dugout. The death of the two men was quickly avenged, as militiamen from the settlements around St. George soon captured several Paiutes wearing articles of the murdered men's clothing. Despite denials of any complicity in the crime, the Indians were summarily executed. Ironically enough it turned out that the Paiutes had told the truth and had merely obtained the clothing by barter. The real culprits in the twin killing escaped.Not long afterward Brigham Young purchased the property from Whitmore's widowfor the sum of $1,000 and in 1869 Bishop Anson P. Winsor came to Pipe Spring to convert the area into a large ranch to take care of the many cattle being given the L.D.S. Church as tithing. His first task was to improve the spring so as to furnish an abundance of water for all needs. Shelter against the Indians was essential, so plans were made to construct a fort. Thus it was that during the winter of 1870-71 the building of the fort was begun. Materials were entirely local, with the stone for the building coming from the nearby hills while the lumber was obtained from the Kaibab Plateau, some 45 miles away. When completed, it consisted of a two-story, red sandstone building with two gates, ten feet wide leading into the central enclosure. While the fort was capable of housing several people, additional buildings were constructed nearby to take care of the overflow. Though not a formidable structure, the fort was reasonably secure against any attacks from Indians, and its water supply was protected by diverting the waters of the spring through one wing of the building.

Here at Winsor Castle, as it immediately became known, these hardy settlers began the task of turning the nearby areas into productive use. The range was excellent for cattle and several hundred of the "church herd" were turned out to fatten. About 100 head of these cattle were used as milk cows and the milk obtained was converted into butter and cheese. In 1870 Winsor was making as much as 70 pounds of cheese a day. One section of the fort, kept cool by the running waters of the spring, was made into a place to manufacture and store the cheese. Much of it was shipped out to other settlements, especially around the Virgin Valley country.

Near the fort were planted several fruit trees to furnish the settlers with needed fruit. These included apple, peach, plum and apricot. Currants lined the fence rows. Elm trees were planted outside the fort and today are exceptionally large and furnish an abundance of shade.

In 1871 there occurred another event of unusual importance in the history of the fort. Coming from Toquerville via Rockville the Desert Telegraph Company brought a line to Pipe Spring, which immediately gave the isolated community contact with settlements along the Virgin River. This was the first telegraph to enter the State of Arizona, and its first operator was a woman named Luella Stewart. The following year Winsor Castle was visited by the Powell expedition and for ten days the party stayed at the fort making observations of the nearby canyons and region. The telegraph was a great help to Powell as it gave him his first real contact with the outside world in some time. Here, too, he was able to obtain supplies of beef, mutton, cheese and butter.

In 1873 a company was formed at St. George, Utah, with a capital stock of $500,000 to operate the ranch as the Winsor Castle and Stockgrowing Company. The company operated Pipe Spring as a cattle ranch until 1879 when it was dissolved and the property distributed among its stockholders.

But the story of the fort does not stop at this point. There is still another chapter to be written, for it was during this period that anti-polygamy agitation was sweeping through the territory. Into the shelter of the fort came plural wives who were sought after as witnesses. At one time there were as many as nine plural wives living at the fort, eight of whom had children born there. Soon after 1890, however, this furor died away and the final pages in the history of Pipe Springs were written as the property was sold and resold several times, finally being purchased by the United States Government. In 1923 it was designated as a National Monument, and is now administered by the National Park Service.

The history of Pipe Spring is not simply the story of an isolated outpost in the settlement of a region. It typifies the development of this region by a courageous people. It is a tale of their suffering and joy, ambitions and ideals that is so much a part of the Westward movement.

Once the crossroads of all travel through the Arizona Strip, it has been shunted off of the beaten path by the construction of modern highways. The nearest town of importance is Fredonia, Arizona, 15 miles away.