A Thousand Years of Gardens
Posted by: brwhiz
N 36° 51.738 W 112° 44.375
12S E 344933 N 4081009
This Historical Marker is mounted on a steel post in the garden on the grounds of Pipe Spring National Monument about 15 miles west of Fredonia, Arizona.
Waymark Code: WMFT7Z
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 11/27/2012
Views: 3
A Thousand Years of Gardens
The plants you see all around you here are just the latest generation of spring-fed cultivation--gardens in the desert that stretch back more than 10 centuries.
The ancestors of today's Kaibab Paiute used water from this spring to grow small-scale gardens of corn, beans, and squash near here. They also gathered and ate many seeds and greens from a variety of native plants
Deseret Hospitality
Let the people...plant vineyards and orchards...[and] treat the passing strangers with respect.
President Brigham Young, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1847-1877
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Mormon pioneers here irrigated as many as 10 acres to grow turnips, carrots, beans, corn, grapevines, pumpkins, and an orchard of apple, pear, and plum trees.
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When travelers in the late 1800s stopped here for water and food, the fruit and fresh produce from Pipe Spring's irrigated garden added welcome variety to a frontier-era diet dominated by bread, potatoes, and meat.