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Show STO TheSalt Lake Tribune SUNDAY Sunday, October31, 1999 Cemeteries are one ofthefew public places where stone The cemeteries of the West carvers and sculpture artists have been able to practice are a gallery of art history their trade BY RICH TUTTLE SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE From thesouth, the 6-footstone spire standsas a mutedredpillaragainst a backgroundof manicuredgrass spread ing upthehillside. It is approximately2 feet wide at the base. Theright side tapers gently skywardto about 2 inches wide at the top. Movingtotheeast, the eyeis drawn to a bright splashof abstract geometriccol orsat the baseof a rface. Suddenly thereis a waveof recognition. The back groundhas changed to mountains, trees and the meanderingverticallanesofski runs. The sculpture is a red sandstone snowboard. ‘The snowboard sculptureis both typical andunusual. It is typical becauseit standsin field whereartistic stoneis expected, Andit’s unusualbecauseit is a unique and deeply personal pieceofart, designedto describe a life. ‘The sculptureis a headstone marking the grave of Gregory Andrew Dres.It standsin the Park City Cemetery. The monument tells anyone looking that Dres was an outdoorsman, philosopher, tile artist, a kind and gentle man, and that he waskilled in an avalanche. Most people would neverthink of a cemeteryas a placeto browseart. In r e, cemeteries are often $ offear and foreboding. But historically, cemeteries are one of the few publicplaces where stone carvers andsculptureartists have been able to practicetheir trade and display their rk, Carol Edison, Folk Arts Coordinator for the Utah Arts Council, says cemeter- Left, carved stone depicts drapery folded Michael J, Miller / TheSalt Lake Tribune DariaRos: in MountOlivet. The Rossi piece depicts a mother and child City Cemetery. Above, and is carvedfrom light gray granite using the reductive method, which meanstheartist started with a large stone andcarved awaythe waste. But both cemeteries have examplesof the sandstone marker ument Company, says people can stroll throughany cemetery and see how carving has changedover years. “Whenthevalley wasoriginally set- ies in Utah andthroughout the Intermountain West canbe a vast resource tled, stone cutters used native rock and sandstone,” Ellerbeck said. “When the railroad cametothe valley in the 1880s, “Utah art,” residents wereable to importstone from other places.” At around the same time, the technology has an incredible heritage of stone says Edison, “becausethe pioneers wantedto demonstrate that they in- tended tostay right from the earliest set shewasassignedtotake rubbingsofold Western headstones. “Someoftheearliest immigrants who cameto Utah werestoneartists from Eur Edison said. “I became so familiar with someoftheartists, I could tell who carved thestonejust by the style of the lettering, Theold art is great, and the new art showshowtrends andmaterial have changedoverthe years.” In theSalt Lake Valley, both theSalt was done wrong,” she says who is her brother snd also a Mormon, feels differ vily They forgot about us,” says Hubigee, standingatop the tribe's last serap of land: a cem eflery seratehed out of a lacre wath of dusty hillside above the present-day ranch that once Was his town, “I feel like I've heen tossed out or thrown Awity Tribal member Bruce Parry says the property the Mormon churehsold wasa patchwork of Indian: and church-owned land, but many Indians had failed to record theirtitles. Hence, the church believed it owned all the landthat wassold. Healso says tribal members were given the chance to buy the land be: forethefires were lit Parry, also a Mormon, says it was not until laterthat the church learned that some of the land it sold nay have belonged to Indian families. “The church felt quite bad about what happened, and went out and bought that 184 acres leyin the springtime. The group roamed northto hunt game in Idaho and foraged for nuts as far west as Wells, Neva da Both Ellerbeck and Edison believe ingtheart in cemeteries is the cultural attitude about death. “T take schoolchildren on toursof the cemetery,” said Ellerbeck, “and they haveno problem with getting up close, looking at the stones and touching them. grave of a young woman named Hope Fuelling demonstratesthe rangeofartistic expressionavailable. Thomas Tannerwasa professional stone in the Salt Lake City Cemetery along the Wasatch Front. Sometimes the artist would sign the work, but the signa- that includes a hammer,anvil, stonecut- After the 1863 massacre, authorizingthesale to an area ranchingfamily, though others whohaveresearchedtheincidentsaytheinitial decision to the decade beforetheir 1873 conversion, that group contin: burn the town likely was made bychurch officials on the local ued to roamabout northern Utahand dodgeU.S.govern: mentefforts to lock them ona reservation wilds des thdanta of God's chosen people, we withthemt r to share faith and farm: ing lifestyle. After a coupleof failed at tempts to establish a farming community, Sagwitch’s people finallysettled at Washakie in 1880 on a parcel owned by the Mormonchurch. They quickly began to homesteadsurround: ing parcels, which led to some of the first individual Indians holding title to Western lands. “You ended up having Indi ans owningland because they were LDS,” says author Chris: ¢ the paperwork the homesteaders. ‘Thesettlement continuedto grow into the middleof this tury, and at its peak was hometo about 350 Shoshoni. At the ranch center a school and church whereservices were conducted primarilyin theIndians’ native language. Tn 1999thefirst Indian bishopof the Washakie Ward was appointed. It was a prized hoff notes there was a period this century when Washakie was knownasthe only wardin the Malad Stake where 100 per. cent of its members paid tithing (10 percent of income) to the church. “The conversion seemed to be absolute, as opposedto some Indian groups whowere[will ing] to join any churchthat was helping them at the time,” says Christensen. Stull, theIndiansstruggledto ekeoutaliving on the arid range, and many left for more lucrative jobs when World War Il brokeout. Christensensaid by the 1960s the town's permanent population had dwindledto three families. “The churchdecidedit was nolongera viable community andthey adopteda policy, whereif theyfelt a homehad been abandoned,they'd send a letter to them telling them to comeget their possessions,” says Christensen, “(Then] they would torch the house to clear the land because those houses their church membership.” Thatincludes Pubigee, who them being madeinto more like the white people.” Pubigee, limping from a combat woundsuffered during the Korean War,slowly makes his way among the moundsof earth that hold the crumbling bones ofhis Indian ancestors who invested so heavily in MorBesidesthe graves, the only tracesofhis pastlife at ‘Hey, nobody's been here for three years. It’s ee it’s going,’ says Chri sel they soldit,” hesays. recognitionfor the Indians’fi delity to the church; Brinker: tribe, which remains 90 percent Mormonthough manydo not regularly attend services. “Somefelt betrayed and probably voted with theirfeet,” says Christensen. “But I don’t know ofany who renounced but the people who run it is no good,” he says. “That's what I “It wasn’t making money. So Photo courtesy of Mae Parry about cemeteries.” Most cemeteries are open from dawn to dusk, seven daysper week. Many, including those in Salt Lake City and Park City, offer maps andself-guided tours. monism. explanation. The manbelievedto be Chief Sagwitchsits for a picture with his wife. history.” She said, “You can learn, about history, religion, work, tragedies, and what was importantto people. There's ‘also beatitifutart;tent ity, rumination aboutlife, and a good essence is quick to note he only attends Brinkerhoff offers a different witch could see his people's no- “Cemeteries are repositories for cultural church “whenI haveto.” “The word of the God is OK, thoseculturaltraits, assumed: But as the Salt Lake pio- children are exposed to theart in ceme- teries, there would be less vandalism. “White guys, not aware of level. neers flooded northto fence ips hureh members, who tures are below groundor have eroded. Mckay signed the paperwork ancestors were among madic lifestyle was doomed. Membership in the Mormon. church was their best chance to avoid being corralled at Fort Hall with the region's other In dians. ble artists have workin cemeteriesall werebuilt on church property.” Brinkerhoff says thenchurch President David 0. those in the Northwestern Band who refusedto go, and for wid farm the remaining of northern Utah, Chief weathering and damage,butit was re- placed with an exact replica. Carol Edison says a numberofnota- for the original Eagle Gate. When he died, his co-workers carved an elaborate liveat the Fort Hall Reservation near Blackfoot, Idaho. Pu. bigee’s ting tools, and complex decoration. The original stone was moved to the LDS Church Museum to protectit from. Lake LDS Temple and carved the eagle somesurvivors went north to US. variant requiredof for trout in the mountain streams around the Cache Val that oneof the barriers to people enjoy- stone carver. He workedontheSalt Ellerbeck, “but now families want a stonethatwill communicate something about theperson'slife.” Astonein Park City marking the Trading Heritage for a Home Two centuries ago, all of s home to the North ) Shoshoni, They harvested edible roots and fished downtown Salt LakeCity. depictinga snowboard carved the lion on the Lion House in er ‘Steve Griffin / The Salt Lake Tribune years.” He also says that the type ofinformation that people want on a monumenthas changed. tensen, who noted Mormon missionaries helpedthetribal members many of whom did nk or write English Idaho Player and William Ward. Ward also Butadults are morehesitant.” Edison agrees that culturalattitudes are a barrier. Shealso believes that if more harderstonelike granite canlast for 1000 we have now,” he says, “I don't know what else they could have done,” northernUtah and Southern resort in the background, @ headstone stands in the Park City birth and death with somereligi bolismandpossibly a quotation, and Mount Olivet cemeteries @ Continued from J-1 Amongthem are Charles Lambert, W.W. Cemetery. “Tt used to be that a monumentgavethe havespectacular examplesofold and Washakie Shoshoni struggle for identity tery. tery. Right, with the ski “Sandstone and marble havea life span ofabout 100 years,” he says, “but erosion has taken a toll on the old stones. Many ofthe original stones have deteriorated so muchthat theywill soon be lost. But Edison developed aninterest in the f early artists 20 years ago, when As the Park City Ceme- of carvingtools changedso that harder stonescould be cut. tlement.” Lake City cnt MichaelJ. Miller / The Salt Lake Tribune Ascroll andfloral design marks a gravesite at the Salt Lake City Ceme- of HopeFuelingis at workdonewith stone native to Utah and availableto earlysettlers. MikeEllerbeck, ownerof Salt Lake Mon- forart lovers. overa rectangularpillar at the Salt Lake new stonesculpture. One of the newest ved by a Georgia artist named Still, the church was not solely responsible for the town’s demise; some property aroundthe town corewaslost because Indian land owners hadfailed to pay taxes, ‘The charcoal remainsof the town marked an antagonistic endto a deal between the two groups. After nearly a century ofassistance,the Indians were left to fendfor themselves as members of white society. Somesaythat was always the goal. “In a way, they weresuccess: ful in acculturating heace! Indi ansinto socie' s Janet Smoak, curatorof rtifac for theUtahStateHistorical Soci ety. “By the end, who knows whogot moreoutofthebargain? The church hadcarried them monetarilyfor a long time . [don't know if 1 would argue either [side] was shafted, but the Indians fee! different Indeed. “Giving up who youare in the name of God is not right,” says Patty Timbimboo-Madsen, daughter of Helen Timbimboo. Fiercely Faithful Timbimboo-Madsen will not disavow her Mormonism,but shesays she has some problems with how the church has han. died her people, It is not an un common attitude among the know.” Tribal members havescattered from California to Utah to Oregon. While they are technically eligibleto settle at Fort Hall, Brinkerhoff says when their ancestors put theirfaith in Mormonism more than a property has changed hands since the churchsoldit in the late 1960s. It is now owned by the Kingstonclan,a wellknown polygamist group. “It's like a bad dream,”says Pubigee. Brinkerhoff says it is time for Mormon leadershipto wake century ago,it helped to sever ties with theirrelatives to the north. up. Today, Northwestern Shos- honi see themselvesas both Indian and Mormon.Thatis not how otherIndians view them. “The Fort Hall people don't see them asIndians,” Brinkerhoff says. “They kind of see Washakieare his old school. house and church. Both are behind anelectric fence. The “They need to get up and apologize and admit they have aresponsibility to these peo: ple,” says Brinkerhoff. “I grew upas Mormon. I was always taught restitution you make restitution for your wrongs.” PUZZLE ANSWERS Puzzles can be found on page J-2. SEE ek Onno goonh Answer (Top to Bottom): Firing , Dance, Phone,Line. (HUTt hela)tel La HSH let Malley ae lalelite) olalmlAlslelels Mim leleltlely) ooon ReaAAC NOON 0080 AON AANA |