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PANGUITCH — A ground survey has confirmed what Native American tribes and researchers already suspected — that multiple graves of Native children are located at the former Panguitch Indian Boarding School.
The school, which operated from 1904-1909 before being shut down due to rampant illness, is part of a dark era in American history when tens of thousands of Native children were sent to Indian boarding schools as part of a systemic effort to assimilate and strip them of their Native culture, language and heritage. The Panguitch Indian Boarding School was one of over 400 such schools in the US, including eight in Utah.
A survey by Utah State University researchers Molly Cannon and Judson Byrd Finley and historian Steven Lee used ground-penetrating radar and other mapping techniques in and around the former school to confirm the existence of 12 graves. Tribes believe two belong to Kaibab Paiute children and four to Shivwits children.
Members of the Kaibab, Shivwits, Cedar, Indian Peaks, Kanosh, Koosharem and Indian Peaks Bands of Paiutes, as well as the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, said they were devastated to learn of the survey in a joint statement.
"Our hearts go out to the families of these children as we are left to consider how best to honor and memorialize their suffering," said Ona Segundo, chairwoman of the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians. "This is but the first step toward healing and reconciliation and we will, in collaboration with the descendants of those children we believe we've identified, determine what our next steps will be."
Today only a single building remains of the former school, which is now the site of a USU-operated research farm. However, during its five years of operation, nearly 150 Paiute children, some as young as 6, were taken to the federally overseen school.
"These children were taken from their families at very young ages, were not permitted to communicate in the only language they had ever known and were forced into manual labor to maintain the facility," reads the joint statement.
Across the U.S. and Canada, Native children and their families who did not wish to attend boarding schools were sometimes threatened with violence. Reports of physical and sexual abuse at the schools were not uncommon, although some have reported positive experiences, particularly at the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City.
During the past couple of years, researchers and officials in both countries have dug into the legacy of the schools as the intergenerational impact of the schools receives more mainstream attention. With a number of schools being closed as late as the 1970s, a number of former students are still alive today.
Hope Silvas, chairwoman of the Shivwits Band of Paiute Indians, said tribal members felt the spirits of the children welcoming the search for their graves.
"When we first gathered to find you, far away from home we felt your spirits welcome us with mischief and happiness only we could recognize and respect. Our hearts filled with sorrow and anger to hear of your mistreatment, to forcefully change your spirits into someone you are not," Silvas said. "We will remember you always and how you walked here in life. Our tears will fall as we sing for you.
"May your spirits journey home in a good way to reunite with your family who also wondered where you went."
