Canton Indian Asylum remembered

By Jon Beringer for The Dakota Scout

Final preparations are being made for the annual honoring ceremony to the more than 120 Native Americans buried in the Hiawatha Indian Cemetery, located on the back side of the Hiawatha Golf Club in Canton, South Dakota.

They were past patients of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians.  They were buried there, mostly without their religious customs, mostly in unmarked graves, from 1903 to 1934, in cemetery land which is now part of the local golf course.

The local group Keepers of The Canton Native Asylum Story organizes this Honoring Ceremony each year so these victims of harsh, often illegal treatment, will not be forgotten.

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