Cove Fort was completed on April 12, 1867, by direction of Brigham Young with L.D.S. Church funds as a travelers way station and refuge from Indians. Ira N. Hinckley built and maintained it as a hostelry and residence until 1877. A well within the fort provided culinary water, Cove Creek supplied irrigation, and one of its 12 original rooms was used as a telegraph station. Early in 1861 Charles Willden built 3 rooms and a dugout, known as Willden's Fort, and this was a convenient campsite for President Young and other travelers.