Pipe Spring National Monument, a little known gem of the National Park System, is rich with American Indian, early explorer and Mormon pioneer history. The water of Pipe Spring has made it possible for plants, animals and people to live in this dry, desert region. Ancestral Puebloans and Kaibab Paiute Indians gathered grass seeds, hunted animals and raised crops near the springs for at least 1,000 years. In the 1860′s, Mormon pioneers brought cattle to the area. By 1872, a fort (Winsor Castle) was built over the main spring and a large cattle ranching operation was established. This isolated outpost served as a way station for people traveling across the Arizona Strip, that part of Arizona separated from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon. It also served as a refuge for polygamist wives during the 1880′s and 1890′s. Although their way of life was greatly impacted, the Paiute Indians continued to live in the area and, by 1907, the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation was established, surrounding the privately owned Pipe Spring ranch.
In 1923, the Pipe Spring ranch was purchased and set aside as a national monument. Today the Pipe Spring National Monument – Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians Visitor Center and Museum explains the human history of the area over time. Daily tours of Winsor Castle, summer “living history” demonstrations, an orchard and garden and a half-mile trail offer a glimpse of American Indian and pioneer life in the Old West.
Introduction
Pipe Spring National Monument is an oasis in an isolated and arid region of the Arizona Strip. Blue skies and sunshine abound. In an area of canyons, scrublands, washes and mountains, few native trees obstruct the expansive vistas of the surrounding land. Little impedes the wind sweeping across the land. Through time, the natural resources of this area drew many cultures. Here, water flows from springs the reason plants, animals and people still survive in this dry region. Each culture viewed the natural resources in this fragile environment differently. The Ancestral Puebloan and later the Kaibab Paiute, cared for the resources. They roamed to collect plants and hunt animals, supplementing the crops they planted near water sources. This was their home and they appreciated all around them, living to the changing rhythm of the seasons.
Learning of the water source and lush grassland, Mormon pioneers moved in to claim the land and its resources. Built as fortified ranch house, Winsor Castle was a remote outpost, also serving many of the people traveling across the Arizona Strip. Once owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, few of the inhabitants viewed this place as home. Feelings of sacrifice and resignation existed, as they waited to be called to another location and task. Tired through day-to-day living and survival, few appreciated the stark beauty of this place. In their fight to tame this local environment, many of the natural resources were changed forever.
The natural beauty of this area still exists through breath-taking panoramas. Once a travel corridor to cultures of the past, today’s travelers still pass through on their way to the Grand Canyon to the south and other scenic parks to the north. Some never realize the wonderful hidden resources of Pipe Spring National Monument.
History & Culture
On May 31, 1998, Pipe Spring National Monument celebrated its 75th anniversary. Festivities included guided tours of “Winsor Castle,” living history demonstrations, pioneer and Native American craft demonstrations, old-time tunes performed on banjo and fiddle, Indian dancing and drumming and informal talks about the management and preservation of the monument. Former, long-time Custodian Leonard Heaton would have approved of the free dinner of pit-roasted beef and Dutch oven-baked potatoes served to 400 at the celebration, what he used to call a “big feed!” In a number of ways, the day’s activities were reminiscent of the old Establishment Day celebrations Heaton had hosted at the monument during the 1950′s. Prior to the event, the Canyon Country Quilt Guild demonstrated quilting over a three-month period in the visitor center. Monument staff attempted to track down descendants of the “W” families the Winsors, Whitmores and Woolleys to extend a special invitation. About 1,000 people attended the one-day event, most from towns within a 100-mile radius.
A special exhibit on the history of National Park Service management of the site was produced and on display at the visitor center throughout the year. Once-crumbling buildings have been fully restored and are well maintained. As for the landscape, most remnants of the site’s late 19th and early 20th century ranching activities the old corral fencing and cattle troughs, mud-lined reservoirs, earth compacted by cattle watering at the site are all gone, replaced by verdant growth of shade trees, fruit orchards and demonstration gardens. In place of a caretaker and cowhands inhabiting the Pipe Spring fort, employee housing is discretely tucked behind trees some distance south of the historic area. Rooms of the historic buildings are furnished now with artifacts that speak to the visitor of a way of life that none has ever experienced and few can imagine, life 120 years ago on the remote Arizona Strip.
Aside from the visual differences between the Pipe Spring of 1923 and now, there are other, more subtle differences. Not only a window to the past, this national monument is a window on the present, one through which we can see a nation wrestling on a daily basis with the human costs of Westward expansion. In years past, descendents of Euroamerican settlers sought to commemorate the sacrifices of their forebears, often through the preservation of such historic sites as Pipe Spring.
Today, the country’s collective consciousness has broadened to consider the impact that such settlement had on native peoples, to consider what they too sacrificed, almost always without choice. Since the 1970′s, beginning with the rise of Indian activism in the United States, Pipe Spring National Monument has made a sustained effort to incorporate the story of the Kaibab Paiute people, struggling at times with how this could best be done. More and more, with the support of the National Park Service, the Kaibab Paiute are telling their own stories, leaving the listener to ponder history’s lessons as well as its paradoxes.
Nature & Science
Geology
When viewed from above, the features of the land in Pipe Spring National Monument change color with the rising and setting of the sun and all the hours in between. In the distance, summer storms pass by, filling the skies with dark clouds, changing the distant plateaus to deep purples and blues. On dry summer days the dust devils swirl in shades of brown on the dry plains to the south, no mountains or hills to break their path. Whether dressed in winter whites or surrounded by spring fed greens, the many colors of the rocks and the bordering landscape provide a fitting contrast and an ever changing beauty. These features are intertwined with the history of the area. The homes and travel paths were defined by the terrain and the springs. A trade route for prehistoric people evolved through time and people into an expansion route for Mormon pioneers that, today, is a travel corridor for residents and visitors alike. All follow the path of least resistance at the base of the Vermillion Cliffs and above the deep washes and canyons that drain into the “grandest” canyon of them all.
The water itself travels for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands, through faults and fractures in the layered rock, finally arising to the surface. Beyond its long support for native plants and animals, the springs supported many people and domestic animals over the years. The water fed fields and gardens for all who took up residence. Travelers through the ages relied on the water to sustain them to their destination. Once a water source open to all, the spring was later closed to all but the residents of Winsor Castle, providing a safe water source in case of Indian attack. How would history have changed if somewhere down through time, the location of the spring had been kept secret
Ecology
Animals living within Pipe Spring National Monument are masters of survival. Years of cattle grazing in this area have used up food sources, changing the ecosystem and pushing out the deer and antelope. Desert cottontail rabbits, antelope ground squirrels and other small animals live among the sagebrush and cactus. Some mammals only travel through Pipe Spring’s 40 acres; and others only appear at night. Both leave signs of their passage. Porcupine scratches mark a pinyon or a juniper tree. Footprints of a passing bobcat impress the soft soil. Moth wings remain on window sills after Pallid bats dine. Many birds, such as western tanagers and mountain bluebirds, use the spring and the trees of this oasis as a resting place in their migratory path from one home to the next. Others nest and breed before moving on and some make Pipe Spring their home (Gambel’s quail). With many visitors’ attention drawn to the domesticated animals of the park, sometimes opportunities to view wildlife quietly slip away.
Inhabitants of this area viewed the animals in different ways. For the Kaibab Paiute, the deer, rabbits and other small animals were clothing, tools and food. They learned from the animals and respected them as part of the environment. Pioneers reported their heart stopping encounters with rattlesnakes curled up different places in the house and a coyote coming in a door left open for cooling and sitting by a sleeping child’s bed. Gophers, coyotes and rattlesnakes were a nuisance only conquered by killing them.
According to Paiute traditions, the animals, plants and people of long ago spoke the same language. They taught the Paiute their stories. Each told stories of their origin, characteristics, the life value to be learned from them and the delicate balance of nature. Sadly, the animals, plants and people all had their ways of ruling and each wanted their own way used – wanted to be supreme. Coyote tricked everyone to his way by changing the one language to different languages. Animals, plants and people can no longer understand each other, but their stories are still passed down from generation to generation. The Paiute young still learn the life value each animal and plant has to offer.
Recreation
Pipe Spring National Monument has three historic buildings open to the public year round. Winsor Castle (the Fort) is accessible only by ranger guided tours. These tours are offered every thirty minutes, on the hour and half hour. The East and West Cabins can be visited on your own. Pipe Spring National Monument grounds include a garden, orchard, corrals (complete with longhorn cattle and horses), other farm livestock and a 1/2 mile trail offering impressive views of the Arizona Strip. These can be visited on your own.
During the summer months ranger guided walks, talks and demonstrations of pioneer and Indian crafts and lifeways are offered daily in the cooler morning hours.
Getting There
By Plane
McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada is 3.5 hours west of Pipe Spring (via Interstate 15). The Salt Lake International Airport is 6 hours north of Pipe Spring (via Interstate 15).
By Car
From Interstate 15, turn onto Utah State Route 9 in Hurricane, Utah. Take Utah State Route 59 east out of Hurricane. This road turns into Arizona State Route 389 at the state line. Pipe Spring is 45 miles east of Hurricane.
From Utah Highway 89 and 89A, turn onto Arizona State Route 389 in Fredonia, Arizona. Pipe Spring is 15 miles west of Fredonia.
Getting Around
Pipe Spring National Monument is a “walk-in” park. Visitors first enter the Pipe Spring National Monument-Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians Visitor Center and Museum. The historic structures, garden, orchard and trail head are located 150 yards beyond the Visitor Center and Museum.
Traveler Facts
Contact Information
Pipe Spring National Monument
HC 65 Box 5
406 North Pipe Spring Road
Fredonia, AZ 86022
Phone: 928-643-7105 (Visitor Information)
Fax: 928-643-7583
Operating Hours & Seasons
Summer (June through August): Monument grounds and Visitor Center/Museum are open 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. Tours of Winsor Castle are offered on the hour and half hour from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m..
Winter (September through May): Monument grounds and Visitor Center/Museum are open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. Tours of Winsor Castle are offered on the hour and half hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m..
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days.
NOTE: Pipe Spring National Monument is on Mountain Standard Time all year.
Weather/Climate
Summer: Daytime highs in the mid to upper 90′s F and night time lows near 70 F. Late summer afternoons often bring sudden thunderstorms, so an umbrella or rain gear could be helpful.
Winter: Daytime highs around 40 F and night time lows near 20 F. There can be occasional snow.
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