Sacred Ground

The old catholic cemetery at the St. Ignatius Mission on the Flathead Reservation in Northwest Montana.
This photograph was taken before the construction of the "new" Mission Church, which commenced in 1891. Judging by snow on the ground, and the appalling number of freshly dug graves, I estimate this was taken February/March 1889, when according to diary of Father Jerome D'Aste, the Mission was ravaged by an unspecified sickness; this further prompted him to write a letter to the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, in which he described caring for the sick and dying children as "inconvenient".
Photo credits:
St. Ignatius Mission, wide-angle view, undated, Marquette University Archival Collections, Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, Series 9-1, Identifier 11372.
The Girls, St. Ignatius Mission, 1884, F.J. Haynes, Montana Historical Society Library and Archives, Haynes Foundation Photograph Collection, Identifier p0008522.
The Boys, St. Ignatius Mission, 1884, F.J. Haynes, Montana Historical Society Library and Archives, Haynes Foundation Photograph Collection, Identifier p0008521.
Music: Scared Ground by David R. Maracle.