At Pipe Spring in 1859, Thales Haskell, a 25-year-old Mormon frontiersman, arrived about noon hungry, tired, and thirsty, treated himself to a good drink of water, ate breakfast, rested, and found plenty of feed and good water at the place. In the living memories of the Paiute people, pioneers, and the National Park Service, water has always been available there. The amount flowing each day changes with rain, snow, or drought. Although it was not enough to start a settlement, the dependable spring could keep a clan, large family, or livestock ranch alive amid what explorer John Wesley Powell called a barren wilderness of rock. In this oasis, every story flows from the year-round presence of water.