Plains Indian 4 State Trip 2016: “Come See the Crazy Indians”

For over 30 years, until it was closed in 1933 when federal investigators cited abusive conditions, outdated and inhumane treatment and many sane Indians held there, Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians in Canton, Iowa was essentially a federal prison for Indians. There were no medical standards for commitment to the Asylum, little treatment for those that might have needed it, and once incarcerated Indians often had no possibility for parole or release. Referrals of Indians deemed “troublesome” often came from BIA agents. Conditions were brutalizing, and they were there for life. Money was to be made from them as well, as the Canton community advertised “come see the crazy Indians” , asking people to pay for the “show”.

We visited the former site of the Indian Asylum. Mostly demolished, what remains, besides some old farm buildings, is a fenced in area encircled by the 4^th and 5^th fairways of the local golf course. This is where 121 Indians who died while at the facility were dumped in unmarked graves (stone markers were considered “too expensive”). Many multicolored Indian prayer cloths are affixed to the fence and, rather than grave stones, there is one memorial marker erected by family members some years ago. Across the highway here is also an historical marker erected by the State. The cemetery is now protected by the National Registry for Historic Places.

A remarkable thing happened as we were viewing the marker. A passing car did a u-turn and the driver jumped out and asked what we were doing. He then said we were the only people he had ever met who were interested in the institution, and that he in fact had just completed a Masters thesis on it. He was of course a fount of information and led us to the burial site in the midst of the golf course.

Among the stories he related was about one Indian, a married mother with 6 children who was picked up on her reservation for drunkenness, deemed insane and shipped to the Asylum. Her husband went so far as contacting his U.S. Senator seeking her release but to no avail. The senator wrote a letter on her behalf, but the asylum administrators 'lost the letter'. She died at the asylum. Conditions were inhumane and lacking legal means to contest their confinement most of the Indians died there.

He also told us that in the spring or early summer each year Indians from local Tribes as well as others from all over the country (374 Indians ages 2 to 80 from 53 tribes in 17 states were institutionalized at Hiawatha) come for a ceremony. It is called an Honoring and Remembering Ceremony for Native Americans. At the ceremony this year there were prayers and then the name of each Indian buried there was called out and a prayer cloth for each affixed to the fence. At the conclusion a 21 arrow salute was given by members of the archery team from Nebraska Indian Community College.