In 1867 Brigham Young sent a party of Mormons south to Cove Creek under the leadership of Ira Hinckley. The site was selected because of its location about half way between Fillmore, then the capitol of the Utah Territory, and the nearest city, Beaver. It provided a way station for people traveling the Mormon Corridor. At the time the local settlements were being raided by native tribes, primarily for livestock and crops. Cove Fort was built of black volcanic rock and dark limestone found in the area as protection from these native peoples. This different construction is the reason it is one of very few period forts still surviving. The fort was impressive with walls 18 feet high and 4 feet thick but was never used for defense. Shortly after the fort was built Ira Hinckley and a small party of settlers visited a nearby Paiute village to negotiate peace. What they found was a sick and starving people. Hinckley offered them food and medicine if they would stop their raids. Word quickly spread to other villages in the area and soon there was peace between the white settlers and Native Americans. Ironically, the only shot ever fired within the fort was the day one of Ira’s sons, Frank Hinckley, was playing with a six-shooter. It went off and hit his brother, Bryant Hinckley, in the knee. He carried the bullet in his knee for the rest of his life. In the early 1890s, the Mormon Church determined the fort was no longer needed and leased it out, selling it outright after the turn of the 20th century. In 1989, the Hinckley family purchased the fort and donated it back to the church when it was restored. In the following images, beginning at top left and moving clockwise, you can see the post office. Next is the telegraph room. Notice the bottles under the desk. These contained chemicals which provided the electrical current needed for the telegraph. The dining room featured dinnerware imported from New York. They may have been frontier pioneers but they liked their creature comforts. A lovely spinning wheel and a bedroom with quilt can be seen in the next two images. There is a beautiful loom and a set of dominos carved from ox bone. And, my favorite, a magnificent iron stove. The center image is of Ira Hinckley and one of his four wives, Eliza Jane Evans.