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Archeological evidence indicates that Pipe Spring was used by hunters-gathers long before the birth of Christ. In about 300 B.C. Ancestral Puebloan People appeared on the scene. By 1250 the Ancestral Puebloans were replaced by the Kaibab Paiute People. Spanish missionaries traveled through the area in 1776 and a Mormon missionary visited in 1858. In 1866 Mormon pioneer James Whitmore established a ranch centered on the spring. He was killed in 1866 while attempting to recover some livestock stolen by Navajo raiders. In 1868 Mormon militiamen built a stone fort at Pipe Spring as a stronghold against Navajo raids. The existing structure, "Winsor Castle," was constructed in 1870, by Mormon pioneers Anson and Emmeline Winsor. They operated a Mormon tithing ranch in support of the construction of the Mormon temple in St. George, Utah.
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