The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Nela Ward of Bozeman and Kaiya Cardwell of Molt go head-to-head in a contest to see who can cut six fence pickets down to length first.
The row of stone bollards makes an uneven line to avoid historic graves
MCC crew members give the stone bollards a final wash of diluted mortar Tuesday morning, July 12 before moving on to work on the grave fences.
The broken remains of a Hostetter's Stomach Bitters bottles lies next to the grave of Minnie Neal, near the spot it was uncovered during removal of the original fence around her grave as part of the restoration process. Hostetter's Stomach Bitters hit the market in 1853 and was a popular curative among soldiers following the civil war, likely due to the fact it was 47 percent alcohol. Although it's difficult to precisely date the bottle found at the grave, sales of Hostetter's began booming in the mid to late 1860's. With Minnie Neal's grave dated 1869, it's likely the bottle dates to Lincoln Gulch mining era, and may have been left behind by the person who built the distinctive fence around her grave.
A temporary sign notes the fence repair project
The MCC crew prepares the sites for the stone bollards.
MCC crew lead disassembles one of the historic grave fences to be restored.
A crew with the Montana Conservation Corp spent five days at the old Lincoln cemetery in Lincoln Gulch this month to help Lewis and Clark County Heritage Preservation Officer Pam Attardo with a pair of projects in the historic site.
Setting to work July 9, the six-person crew – four teenage girls and two adult crew co-leads – spent the next three days building a series of stone bollards delineating the boundary of the original pioneer cemetery dating to the 1860's under the guidance of Mary Webb of Preserve Montana.
The small stone structures, resembling a smaller version of the cemetery's old stone gate posts, are intended to help prevent any additional modern burials in the old cemetery. With so many unmarked graves in the pioneer section of the cemetery, Attardo said it's important to prevent new burials there, since someone could inadvertently be buried on top of a historic grave, something that has already happened at least once.
Although she's done masonry as part of her job, Webb admitted she's never exactly created stone bollards before.
"It got more challenging at the end," she said. "All the good rocks were taken, but it worked out."
The bollards trace an uneven line along the western edge of the pioneer cemetery as they were adjusted to avoid several graves. Attardo said the MCC crew really stepped up to get the job done.
"We had a couple of really hot days. But I'm amazed at how well all of them came out. We were able to build them in three days.
By July 12, the group got a start on disassembling and restoring the historic fences that surrounded three graves dating to the 1860s. The fences saw significant damage over the winter of 2017-18.
One local legend says at least one of the graves belonged to a 'dance hall girl' who's spirit would dance on her grave. Ben Roth, one of the MCC crew's adult co-leads, was curious about the local stories after several members of the group, who were camped in the gulch below the cemetery, claimed to have heard the tinkling of bells coming from the hill above them in the middle of the night.
The identity of the occupants of two of the fenced graves have been lost to history. The third has a marker bearing the name Minnie Neal, but so far there's no information about her. Hers is one of two graves that had hand carved diamond points on the fence pickets and posts, indicating someone put extra effort into building them.
Webb, who has been doing restoration carpentry for several years, said these are the first cemetery fences she's restored. "The fact you're working around a grave mound is kind of weird," she said. "You don't want to really disturb anything."
Sitting among the shrubs and old graves, Jenna Wagner of Billings was busy coating one of the replacement pickets with linseed oil, while the other girls worked on cutting them down to the right length. Wagner said this is her first year working with MCC, and she didn't expect to find herself working in a cemetery. "I thought we'd be more on trails instead of cleaning up cemeteries, but honestly this has been pretty enjoyable," she said. "A lot of the locals have come up and really appreciate it, so we're doing something that really makes a difference. It's cool."
Meanwhile, Roth was busy taking apart one of the other grave fences, taking care not to damage the original hand-forged nails. He said one of the important aspects of the MCC Youth Corps is that it helps kids understand the importance of preservation, and how important conservation and preservation is to the state.
One of the locals who stopped by that day was Eddie Grantier. He'd seen a report about work and stopped by to see it for himself. He said he appreciated the fact there was now a visible dividing line between the old and new sections of the graveyard. He spent some time sitting with Attardo, looking at the roster of known burials and providing her with tidbits of information about the people there he had known before making his way up to look at the work they were doing on the fences.
Ultimately, the MCC crew didn't have time to help complete the fences before their hitch at the cemetery came to an end. That task will fall to Webb and Attardo, who will finish recreating and replacing the unsalvageable original fence posts and pickets. Attardo said they expect to be back this fall to complete the restoration project.
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