Spring-fed cultivation in this desert reaches back more than ten centuries. The ancestors of today's Kaibab Paiute used water from this spring to grow small-scale gardens of corn, beans, and squash nearby, and they also gathered and ate many seeds and greens from a variety of native plants. Mormon pioneers later irrigated as many as 10 acres to grow turnips, carrots, beans, corn, grapevines, pumpkins, and an orchard of apple, pear, and plum trees. When travelers in the late 1800s stopped here for water and food, fruit and fresh produce from Pipe Spring's irrigated gardens added welcome variety to a frontier-era diet dominated by bread, potatoes, and meat.