August 31, 1999
Some recently discovered evidence is casting new light on one of the darkest chapters in Utah history.
For years no one has known exactly where the victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre are buried.
Now, crews working on a new monument to memorialize those slain have found some of their remains.
News Specialist
Bruce Lindsay has the story.
142 years ago, a group of Mormons, and possibly Indians, killed 120 men, women and children of the California bound Fancher-Baker wagon train.
The attack occurred at a time when many early Mormon settlers were suspicious of all outsiders.
It's never been made clear just why the massacre happened, or who ordered it.
For more than a century, archeologists searched for clues.
Marian Jacklin/U.S. Forest Service Archaeologist: "THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF WORK WITH METAL DETECTORS AND IN THE AREA AND NOTHING HAS EVER BEEN FOUND TO INDICATE THAT THERE WAS, WHERE THE BURIAL GROUNDS ARE AND WHERE THE BATTLES ARE."
Meantime, the LDS Church is trying to heal wounds still open among the descendants of those who were massacred and the survivors.
Last year, church President Gordon B. Hinckley directed the building of a new monument after he learned that the pile of stones supposedly marking a mass grave was crumbling.
First, archeologists painstakingly inspected the area.
Shane Baker/BYU Archeologist: "IN PARTICULAR, THEY WANTED TO AVOID DISTURBING ANY HUMAN REMAINS IF THEY WERE PRESENT."
They found nothing and construction started this summer.
But earlier this month, crews made a discovery they'd hoped not to.
Shane Baker/BYU Archeologist: "THESE REMAINS WERE UNCOVERED ACCIDENTALLY IN THE COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WERE WORKING ON DIGGING THE FOOTING FOR THE NEW MONUMENT AND ENCOUNTERED THESE REMAINS."
It's the first real evidence of the slaughter.
Archeologists believe the grave was the site where federal troops reburied the victims two years after the 1857 massacre.
Marian Jacklin/U.S. Forest Service Archaeologist: "THEY'D BEEN VERY CAREFULLY PLACED IN THERE, YOU KNOW THEY WEREN'T DUMPED, THEY'D BEEN VERY CAREFULLY PLACED."
Archeologists at BYU say the bones are of at least 29 people - mostly adult men, some women and three children under the age of 15.
Shane Baker/BYU Archeologist: "IT'S UNFORTUNATE THAT THE BONES WERE ENCOUNTERED, BUT IN MANY WAYS IT LAYS TO REST SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS, YES WE KNOW THAT IN FACT THIS IS THE PLACE THAT SOME OF THESE PEOPLE WERE BURIED AND THE MONUMENT WILL NOW ACTUALLY MARK THE BURIAL PLACE OF SOME OF THE VICTIMS."
Members of the Mountain Meadows Association - descendants of the survivors - have never wanted the site to be excavated and are upset that the remains were removed.
Marian Jacklin/U.S. Forest Service Archeologist: "THERE'S NOT A CULTURE AROUND THAT WANTS SOMEONE ELSE TO COME IN AND DISTURB THE BONES OF THEIR ANCESTORS AND ESPECIALLY WHEN IT WAS A TRAUMATIC INCIDENT."
The LDS Church says the association's plans for reburial may heal old wounds.
Glen Leonard/Museum of Church History and Art: "WE'VE HAD A LOT OF FAVORABLE RESPONSE FROM THE OPPORTUNITY THEY HAVE NOW TO GATHER TOGETHER AND GIVE THEM A PROPER BURIAL."
The LDS Church and the Mountain Meadows Association are dedicating the new monument September 11-- the 142nd anniversary of the day the battle ended.
