Farmington
From the Davis County Clipper Newspaper, Bountiful, Utah
April 23, 1999
Thanks to Mr. Stahle, Publisher, who gave permission to copy this article here
County resident aims to protect |
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BY MEGAN C. WALLGREN Clipper Staff Writer FARMINGTON -- Chief Little Soldier's daughter was buried in 1861 about a half a mile north of where now lies the Farmington reservoir of Weber Basin Water with her infant child, beads and pottery and a horse to ensure her a pleasant journey in the afterlife. In the years that followed, settlers raided the rock slide burial site taking no only the beads and pottery but also her skull and those of two other buried near by. Now, one Davis County resident is concerned that development of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail may further disturb what he considers a a sacred piece of ground. "It's a cemetery, and no one would go for having one of our modern cemeteries destroyed and the bodies disturbed," said George Tripp, an amateur archaeologist who first learned of the site in 1963. Tripp, age 79, approached the Davis County Board of Commissioners at its regular meeting Monday with fears that development of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail will disturb the site or that developers seeking rock for building decoration could demolish the burial site. "There's no question about the value of historic things in Utah, and we've already lost a lot of them," Tripp said. He was shown the site and learned the story of Little Soldier's daughter from the chief's great-granddaughter who has since passed away. Little Soldier's daughter died in child birth as predicted by an old medicine man after she rejected his affections for those of a young brave. |
Though the burial site is on Forest Service land, Tripp asked the commissioners to do what they could to ensure that further development of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail be modified so as not to disturb the site.  SACRED SITE -- Bountiful resident, George Tripp, 79, at the burial site of Indian Chief Little Soldier's daughter in Farmington. Little Soldier buried his daughter here in 1861. Photo by Marv Lynchard Jeff Oyler, community development official in charge of the county trail system, said he is confident that now the county knows of the site, the county can keep development of the trail as far away from the site as possible. Commission Carol Page said she felt these types of historical things were certainly worth preserving but didn't know what action the county could take because the site is not on county land. Tripp is not sure what kinds of artifacts, if any, are left at the burial site. There are no future plans for excavation of the site. Along with the Forest Service and the Boy Scouts of America, Tripp placed a plaque on a rock monument marking the historical place a few years ago. |
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