This is an unsettling park because of the dark history with both the original occupants and the Mormon settlers. There is a wonderful spring that runs year round and provided water for the Paiutes and the wildlife - still gushing today. Then the Mormons arrived and built a fort over the spring cutting off water for the tribe. They also put up a telegraph line that ran to Salt Lake so the Mormon leadership could monitor the ranch. This was a “tithe ranch” where cattle were sent to pay a tithe to the church, cowboys served time here to pay their tithe and the church used “second” wives quartered here to make cheese and butter - pounds and pounds per day - to send to a settlement where a temple was being built. These “second” wives (or third or fourth) were here to hide from the federal marshals. In their bid for statehood the Mormons officially changed their doctrine of polygamy but it continues today underground in some communities. We spent a night at a Harvest Host where there were huge but not fancy houses nearby that were recently used for multiple wife communities.

The tithe ranch was sold to private investors in the late 1800’s. The construction of the fort is unique and the hike over the ridge behind the complex was pretty.