Origin of bones remains mystery

Shaunta Grimes and Ed Koch

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

Archeologists digging on the site of the Old Mormon Fort last year made an amazing discovery -- one that shut down the reconstruction project for a short period.

Before construction could begin on preserving the first permanent building erected in the Las Vegas Valley, archeologists were hired to find the old walls of the fort. With four feet of fill dirt dug up from the property, the original wall footings were made visible.

But besides finding what they expected to locate, the diggers also unearthed something they did not expect -- the bones of what is believed to be a teenage Paiute Indian girl, said Steve Weaver, the state parks department's chief of planning.

The state and officials of the local Paiute tribe decided to move the girl's bones to another site to allow work on the fort to continue, Weaver said.

It never was made clear whether the bones dated back to the time of the Old Mormon Fort settlement or were buried there later when settlers like Helen J. Stewart had a ranch on the site in the early 20th century.

In fact, when the bones were discovered, state officials and the local tribe attempted to keep things quiet. But with such an unusual find on such an expensive state project, the story hit the newspapers and television within days.

Little was released -- or perhaps is even known -- about the girl or why she was buried at that site, which apparently is not part of a sacred Indian burial ground or a white settlers' cemetery.

"Basically, the bones were reburied as close to the original site as possible," said Richard Arnold, a Paiute Indian who is executive director of the Las Vegas Indian Center.

Arnold would not say where the bones eventually were buried because he and others would like to keep sightseers and other curious people away from the final resting place of the unknown girl.

Although the Paiutes do not have a set ceremony for reburial, a ceremony was held to show respect for the girl, Arnold said.

"We don't dig up our own people, but we do have ceremonies for when a person dies," Arnold said.

Unearthing the remains of an Indian for the sake of preserving one of many western monuments to the eradication of the Indian way of life was yet another in a long series of hurtful blows to the pride of America's first peoples.

Before that discovery, it already was hard for the Indian community to accept that the state of Nevada was spending millions of dollars to preserve a symbol of encroachment on Indian land by white settlers, Arnold said.

"We believe in preserving history, but it would be nice if as much money was spent on us," he said.