Pipe Spring
Pipe Spring – Take a Walk Back in Time
By John Hiscock
Visitors to Pipe Spring National Monument have a special opportunity to experience the rich and diverse history of the region and site.
Pipe Spring National Monument Superintendent John Hiscock is proud of the joint museum venture between the Park Service and the Kaibab Band of Pauite Indians. Photo by Dixie Brunner.
Visitor Center and Cultural Museum Upon their arrival at Pipe Spring National Monument, visitors enter through the National Park Service/Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians Visitor Center and Cultural Museum. This premier cultural and historical museum project was completed by the Park Service and Tribe in 2003. There is a welcome and orientation lobby staffed by park rangers and including orientation exhibits on the Kaibab Paiute Reservation, the Monument, and remote backcountry experiences of the northern sections of Grand Canyon National Park, and Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument.
The adjoining museum contains 14 professional exhibits presenting Native American and Mormon pioneer artifacts, graphics, photographs and accompanying text.
The exhibits introduce visitors to: the ancestral Puebloan or “Anasazi” prehistory of the site; traditional Kaibab Paiute life ways; Kaibab Paiute relations and interactions with other tribal neighbors; Spanish and Mexican contacts with the Kaibab Paiute in the late 1700’s through mid-1800’s; the arrival of Mormon explorers and settlers in the region and the overall historic context of the Mormon settlement of Utah and surrounding areas under the leadership of Brigham Young; the Ute and Navajo conflict with the Mormons in the 1860’s leading to the building of the Mormon fort (Winsor Castle) at Pipe Spring; pioneer life at what became a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tithing ranch at Pipe Spring; Pipe Spring as a 1890’s refuge for Mormon polygamist wives and their children; 20th century Kaibab Paiute history and the challenge of cultural survival with the loss of their traditional subsistence lifestyle, drastic decline in population, government assimilation programs such as Indian boarding schools and termination of reservations; and, modern Kaibab Paiute success in government, business, preservation of cultural traditions, and support of community and family.
Also, adjacent to the visitor center lobby is a bookstore operated by the monument’s non-profit cooperating association - the Zion Natural History Association - which offers a comprehensive array of books on Pipe Spring and the region, and Indian and pioneer handicrafts.
Winsor Castle tours Ranger guided tours of the Pipe Spring fort, or Winsor Castle, are offered year-round on the hour and half-hour.
In 1870, Brigham Young, John D. Lee and John Wesley Powell were present at the site when Young directed the building of the fortified ranch house for protection of Mormon wayfarers and settlers from potential Navajo raids. Visitors are led through the walled courtyard and historically furnished nine rooms of the massive sandstone masonry structure. The activities of tithing ranch managers, their families, and operators of the Mormon Deseret telegraph station in the fort are brought to life by the rangers.
Ranger talks and cultural demonstrations During the late spring, summer and early fall, park rangers also give various talks on the cultural and natural history of the site, as well as cultural demonstrations.
Visitors might witness costumed rangers demonstrating cowboy horsemanship, Paiute beading, Dutch oven cooking, blacksmithing, rug making, weaving, Paiute and pioneer remedies, and other activities.
John Wesley Powell John Wesley Powell led the famous 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers that included the first passage through the Grand Canyon. In Powell’s second expedition, 1871-1873, he mapped and surveyed southern Utah and northern Arizona. His crew of topographers, geologists, artists and photographers arrived in the Kanab area in late 1871. The first preliminary map of the Grand Canyon was finished in February 1873. A local tinsmith made a tube to transport the map to Salt Lake City for shipment back east.
Powell later focused on ethnographic studies of local American Indians. He visited many tribes, learning their culture and documenting them. While in the area, he also had time to observe the irrigation practices of the Mormon settlers and noted their cooperative use of water resources. These observations helped formulate Powell’s ideas on land and water use in arid regions. Grounds and trails
Visitors can walk the monument grounds at their leisure, visiting the historic outbuildings and ponds, traditional Paiute dwellings, corrals with horses and longhorn cattle, orchards, garden, and a half-mile scenic ridge-top trail.
Kids can become Junior Rangers by completing several activities during their visit to Pipe Spring National Monument.
The historic East Cabin was originally constructed as a Utah or Mormon Militia outpost during the Mormon-Navajo conflict of the 1860’s, and the West Cabin was occupied by craftsmen building Winsor Castle, members of John Wesley Powell’s survey parties, and tithing ranch cowboys.
Visitors will find interpretive wayside exhibits throughout the grounds and on the ridge trail. Limited picnic tables are available on the grounds for small or family groups.
More information Information on the monument, tours and programs, and the National Park Service/Kaibab Paiute Museum is available by calling 928-643-7105 or by visiting the monument’s website at www.nps.gov/pisp.
The entrance fees for the monument and museum are currently $5.00 per adult (15 and under are free). Interagency Annual, Senior and Access passes are also good for admission and are sold at the monument.
