You know how you see a sign on the road of someplace you've always wanted to stop and see? Well, coming home from BYU Education Week, we decided to stop at 'Cove Fort'. It's a really cool place that Ira Hinckley was asked by Brigham Young to build. It was a safe place for travelers to stop and for the telegraph and mail. Places were built about 35 miles apart, as that was a days horse ride for the mail carriers.
This is a photo of Ira Hinckley & wife. What amazing, stalwart people they had back then. It took a group of men 6 months to build the fort, and then his family came by wagon, in November, from Coleville, Ut. It took them 2 weeks to get there.
This was the little original cabin where the Hinckley family lived in Utah and was moved to Cove Fort.
These are the original doors. They have rocks in the middle so that the arrows couldn't go threw. Although, the fort was never attacked.
These trees are the same Black Locust trees planted by Ira Hinckley. He planted 5 trees grouped together and they grew into one huge tree. They now have to be propped up a little because they are so old.
The dining room where everyone ate. They would have lots of travelers stop.
Of course, Dad loved all this old stuff!
This was the telegraph station were messages were received, then passed along the line.
The telegraph was charged by this battery system!
The little cheese press (almost like Dad's) and other things that may look familiar, sitting in an old sink. The water had to be hauled in and there was no drain. Boy, do we have it nice.
They used this little thing called a weasel, to wind up yarn in 1 yard lengths. Every time it went around 1 time it made a popping noise. Hence came the saying, "Pop goes the weasel"!
You've all heard the saying, "Sleep tight". This is where it comes from. These ropes had to be tightened every night so that the bed didn't sag.
This was the tool to do it.
The headboard looks like it has a nice design, but it really is a rolling pin.
It was used to flatten out all the bumps in the straw bed! Yep, hence the saying:
"I'm gonna hit the hay" when going to bed.
The walls were made out of lava rock and about 18" thick. This was a gun hole.
The fort was designed with 4 rooms on each side. One side was the living quarters for family and guests. The others were used as work rooms where the laundry, cooking and telegraph were done.
They grew beautiful gardens for their food.
So, if you ever get a chance to stop here, it was pretty cool and worth your while.
