Pipe Springs National Monument

We have always wanted to stop and check out Pipe Springs National Monument. When my parents came in October we finally got a chance to go. Ben is related to Ansor Winsor, who is one of the pioneers who helped establish the church's tithing cattle ranch. When we arrived we heard they were doing tours of the fort, also known as the "Winsor Castle." We went right over and were glad we did. The inside of the fort was neat. It served not only as a fort to provide protection but it also was the living headquarters for those who assisted with the ranch. 

The Courtyard and cat walk are beautiful. One of the walls of the fort was actually built over Pipe Springs which helped it stay cooler in the summer months. The spring would bubble out of the sandstone underneath the floor of the parlor and then was directed into a trough in the Spring room. The water from the spring stayed quite cold and kept the spring room cool and was used for cold food storage and for the production of butter. They used it to store milk from the 80-100 cows that were milked each day. The women and children each would churn up to 40 pounds of butter and produce 60-80 pounds of cheese a day! The food helped feed the families on the ranch and the rest would go to St. George to help feed others in the church helping build roads and buildings.

From the spring room the water would then run down into ponds outside the fort.

We did a little hike up to the top of the hill behind Winsor Castle. We were able to see part of the telegraph. Pipe Springs was actually the site of the first telegraph station in the Territory of Arizona. The fort also served as a refuge for polygamist wives who's husbands were in trouble with the law. If law enforcement came to the fort the women and children would have to leave the fort out the back door and run up the hill to hide.

The girls were also able to complete the Junior Ranger program. They took the oath and become Junior Ranger's! We love adopting animals at each of the national parks and we were also able to adopt a Long Horn. Jocelyn choose to name him Winsor.