The Haskell/Baker Wetlands or more commonly known, “Baker Wetlands,” has a multitude of important uses. Some of the easier recognizable functions of the wetlands can be described as a home to a diversified ecosystem and outdoor observations laboratory. To get into the complixities of that environment between 31st Street and the Wakarusa R., one could describe it as a sacred place of unmarked burials of the many children who were murdered and dumped. For many students who have been able to acquire information about the life of previous students, the wetlands becomes more than just an ecological sink of the Wakarusa Territory. It is a place reminding us of the people who struggled for life in a world of confusion and terror. On Haskell campus many stories are commonly told from veteran students to new arrivals of what happened here to distant relatives. Although every generation of freshman is a little more absorbed into the American Culture of Cities and its streets, we still practice an oral tradition. Only on campus will you hear true stories about the way this country has handled “the Indian problem.” Some stories include ‘a thousand missing Haskell students to this date. A lot of which are probably resting in the confines of those Baker Wetlands,’ and ‘the practice of Eugenics on Indigenous people which is a fancy word for genocide,’ or ’stories of the old Haskell jail, which used to be located behind Sequoyah Hall,’ and what about a story of Haskell being one of the only, if not the only, University with a cemetery of students who died at school.’ There is also the story of unrested souls activily scaring students at the dorms on campus. The wetlands is more than a home to diversified species risking their lives to dwell near 31st Street. It is a part of Haskell University and the Indigenous people whose remains are left unmarked and for now undisturbed.
Tags: American History, Baker Wetllands, Haskell University, Haskell-Baker Wetlands
