Cove Fort, Utah

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Cove Fort

Cove Fort is a fort and historical site located in Millard County, Utah. It was founded in 1867 by Ira Hinckley (an ancestor of Gordon B. Hinckley) at the request of Brigham Young. One of its distinctive features is the use of volcanic rock in the construction of the walls, rather than the wood used in many mid-19th century western forts. This difference in construction is the reason why it is one of very few period forts still surviving.

[edit] History

The site for Cove Fort was selected by Brigham Young because of its location approximately half way between Fillmore, then the capitol of the Utah Territory, and the nearest city, Beaver. It provided a waystation for people traveling the Mormon Corridor. A town would have been constructed at the Cove Fort site, but the water supply was inadequate to support a sizable population. Another key factor in the selection of the site was the prior existence of a wooden-palisade fort, Willden Fort, which provided shelter and safety for the work crews who constructed Cove Fort.

The fort is a square, 100 feet on each side. The walls are constructed of black volcanic rock and dark limestone, both quarried from the nearby mountains. The walls are eighteen feet high and four feet thick at the base, tapering to two feet thick at the top. The fort has two sets of large wooden doors at the east and west ends, originally filled with sand to stop bullets, and contains twelve interior rooms.

Telegraph Office

As a daily stop for two stagecoach lines as well as many other travelers, Cove Fort was heavily used for many years, often housing and feeding up to 75 people at a time. In addition to providing a place to rest, the fort had a blacksmith to reshoe horses and oxen and to repair wagons wheels. With its telegraph office and as a Pony Express stop, it also acted as a regional communications hub.

[edit] Restoration

In the early 1890s, the church determined that the fort was no longer required and leased it out, selling it outright after the turn of the century. In 1989 the Hinckley family purchased the fort and donated it back to the church. The church restored the fort, transported Ira Hinckley's Coalville, Utah cabin to the site, constructed a visitor center and reopened the fort as a historic site. The site provides free guided tours daily starting about 8am through one half hour before sunset.

Cove Fort is approximately one mile north of the western terminus of Interstate 70