PORTAGE, Box Elder County, Utah — On a warm, windy April afternoon, birds chirped a happy song as Rios Pacheco paused under a large overhead sign identifying the Washakie Cemetery.
Located in a remote, peaceful area — three miles west of Interstate-15 and a few miles south of Portage — the cemetery serves as a sacred resting place for hundreds of members of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation.
Before guiding a group to visit the graves of his people, Pacheco — a tribal historian, spiritual leader and cultural adviser — offered a blessing in the Shoshone language.
“They are still here,” he said, referring to the spirits of his ancestors. “We want to be respectful to our people but also to our Creator, because He has given us all this life.”
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