Twelve Mormon Homes : Twelve Mormon homes visited in succession on a journey through Utah to Arizona.

Twelve Mormon Homes, page 076

surely Bunyan never dreamed of more devilishly ugly Apollyons than the red warriors of Utah."" Although it stands in the friendly Pah-vant country, the fort commands a pass on the old Spanish trail from California to New Mexico, used still by the Navajoes, whose raids give the Mormons much trouble and anxiety. Our dinner-supper was excellent, but neither "wave-breast" nor "heave-shoulder" decked the board. Stewed chickens, clari- fied apples, and cream furnished no texts for "profitable dis- course" from our entertainers, though I marveled at the presence of such dainties in that inhospitable-looking spot. I saw but one woman in the fort, and she had a group of child dren hanging to her skirts. I thought she must have had her hands full to provide bread and meat enough for her hungry guests. The shining cleanliness of the table-linen and glass was worthy of a Quakeress, when she has "given her mind to it," yet I found that every drop of water had to be "packed"; i.e. carried a mile and a half. Cove Creek is led into the fort in summer- though its supply cannot be depended upon, as it frequently 44As a deterrent and protection against Indian attacks, and since there were no settlements between Kanosh and Beaver (a distance of some fifty miles), Brigham Young directed Ira N. Hinckley, resident of Coalville, to proceed to Cove Creek and erect a fort. Hinckley assembled workmen from Fillmore and Beaver and constructed the fort, the only one that remains standing within Utah's borders today. When completed the fort had twelve rooms, six on the north and six on the south side, surrounded by a stone wall twenty feet high and six to eight feet thick. The Hinckley family was residing at the fort when visited by the Kanes, and they continued to do so until 1890. Finally in 1912, the William Kesler family acquired the property and it remains in the Kesler family today. Lawrence C. Porter, "A Historical Analysis of Cove Fort, Utah" (master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1966). 76