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.
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Written by SYDNEE GONZALES, KSL.com.
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