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Show f - - i : -, t ,:; t. . - ' ' , ' ' I ' ' ".,' 1 ' -1 , '. ' I . w"- " .- -A ' . ' "i f ' I - . r'., K- ''.;'- j ' ' - - ' - v. - ''' ( ' ' . '- ' (', V, ' 'K' -' " . 's ' . ? - - . ' i , r . i r 1 'iv - ' -. !' i'h ' - -- - , 7 - ? ' " " ", . " "" : , , . ? " - - . ' - -v ' I " ' - I 3 f 4 j A surprisingly intact skeleton of what has been identified as a Native American Piute woman, was discovered south of Cannonville on the banks of the Pari a. Eighty-eight-year-old Walla ceOtt of Tropic shows how accessible the gravesite was for excavation by Bureau of Land Management scientists. Native American Old Skeleton Discovered Near Cannonville CANNONVILLE The discovery dis-covery of a skeleton on Saturday morning Mar. 4 along Paria Creek about one and one-half miles south of Cannonville has had the entire Bryce Valley area buzzing with curiosity and speculation. Rita Twitchell and Sabrina Hughes of Cannonville were running run-ning together out to Promise Rock to hike, searching for a shallow spot across the creek when they discovered the partly exposed skeleton about six feet up the east slope of the creek bed. The body had apparently been buried down about six feet, and over the years as the water undercut the area and the shape of the riverbed changed, the edge of the slope began to be exposed, finally revealing the skeletal skel-etal remains. The body had lain on its side with one hand raised to the face and a leather strap or belt wrapped twice around it. Complete answers to the identity iden-tity of the person buried there, obviously ob-viously many years ago, are still eluding those investigating, but by Tuesday of this week, they were getting closer. Photos of the skeletal skel-etal remains were taken by Garfield County Sheriff Chief Deputy John Niemann immediately after its discovery. dis-covery. At first, the remains were thought to be those of Waldo Littlefield, who had died in Hen-rieville Hen-rieville in 1879. Littlefield had reportedly re-portedly been living in Cannonville and went to visit his sons who were working in Henrieville. He became ill and died while there but before his death elicited a promise that they would bury him at Georgetown George-town Cemetery southwest of Cannonville. Can-nonville. His body was being borne to the cemetery for burial, but when Paria Creek was reached, the water remained too high to cross and enough time went by that they were forced to bury him where they had stopped. They left, agreeing agree-ing to return to keep their promise to finally bury him at Georgetown. Some say this is the source of the name for Promise Rock. But, for some unknown reason, they never returned and his descendants never knew where to find him. With the discovery of the skeleton, skel-eton, folks who had lived in the area for many years remembered the story about Waldo Littlefield, thought surely he had been found and began to seek his descendants. Lula Moore, Henrieville, who was acquainted with Spencer Stevens Ste-vens of Adamsville, Waldo's great-great-great-grandson, notified him of the discovery. He in turn contacted Kay Ream and Charlene Money of Las Vegas whom he knew had been researching the history of their mutual ancestor. They remembered that some 25 to 30 years earlier their grandmother Delia Mae Littlefield York had taken them to the area she believed to be the site where Waldo was buried. The ladies arrived in the area about the same time on Friday that Doug McFadden, archeologist with the Bureau of Land Management in Kanab determined that the skeleton was that of a much smaller person, not a grown man. Local folk, intrigued by the find, began to search their memories memor-ies again. Robert Ott of Cannonville Cannon-ville and 88-year-old Wallace Ott of Tropic both visited the scene. The elder Ott remembered that the area had been a sheep-shearing ite for a number of years from the early 1900's well into the 1930's. He recalled that a teenage boy had been reported missing from the sheep shearing camp in the ,1930's and extensive searching for him had taken place over a long period of time. Further inquiry was being made to relatives in Parowan as to whether his remains had ever been found. Then, on Tuesday, McFadden McFad-den returned with another BLM expert, Matt Zwinger to continue ' their investigation. They began carefully excavating the remains, removing the soil until only a three inch shelf of soil remained over the skeleton, then digging gently around it. They determined de-termined that the skeleton, bleached (See SKELETON on Page 7-A) SKELETON From Front Page after a year or two exposed to the sun, was that of a very small older woman. She had been buried with a cast iron pot, and an enamel cup. They also found a few glass buttons. but-tons. The knees were drawn up, and because of the wear to her teeth and the position of the body (not buried with the head to the west and the feet to the east as in most Christian burials) decided that she . was a Native American, probably Piute. The two were optimistic . that they might be able to identify her and return her to her people. Coleen Comp, who lives at Kodachrome and Karen Barker of Henrieville who teach an after-school after-school enrichment class at Bryce Valley took their 14 students to the excavation site where the two BLM scientists gave each a chance to climb their ladder and view the excavation site. They explained the history involved and their scientific : and culturally sensitive methods for handling such discoveries to the excited ex-cited youngsters experiencing a unique opportunity. |