GC8931B Whitewater Cemetary
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: slade2029 @ | Hide Date: 06/04/2019 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N38° 58.837 W108° 26.182 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
     

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This is one of a series of caches that are associated with the local history.

The unincorporated town of Whitewater was first settled about 1881 as homesteaders moved into the area when the Northern Ute Native Americans were placed on a reservation. The area had good soil and water from Kannah creek and became the principle hub for the area. There are currently 2,263 mines that have been registered in Whitewater, 3 are still active.

GZ is accessed by parking at the locked gate and walking about ¼ of a mile.

The cemetery itself is wild — more than 100 headstones and crosses are interspersed across bare dirt and shale, with cactus and desert plants growing throughout. It's not manicured, but the Whitewater Cemetery holds significance for the local history. There are 13 known veterans buried here starting from the Civil War, their graves are marked by flags at Memorial Day and wreaths at Christmas.

Nearby is a marker placed by the US Marines of Delta. To the right is a memorial with a dog tag from each of the vets killed during the Viet Nam war. Just to the left of the marker you will see listed are the names of all the vets from this area up to the end of WWII.

The cache is not located in or on any of the fenced grave sites, and is not near or under any of the white rocks.

Congrats to CacheKings007 for the "first to fond" FTF.

12/20/2019 By KirkNSpock
Left a coin at the memorial.
- KNS

10/26/2019 By daveandkathy
Picked up some change laying by the big headstone and placed it back on it. Looked around a bit and then found the cache.

08/01/2019 By Greasepot
2:02:00 PM Out with Garlic and Prince Hairy for a quick road trip down to Ouray and Durango. What a beautiful area of the state! .. Thanks slade2029 . On this trip I wanted to spend time hiking in Ouray, so we hiked the Ouray Perimeter Trail - and it is quite the gem! Almost walked away with a dnf, but finally found it!

07/30/2019 By Fork L Man
very long walk nice hide TFTC/bruce

07/23/2019 By Pauleefox
Quick find this morning before it gets too hot to be out here. Tftc

06/29/2019 By blueskiescindy
I have been up here before but didn’t know the history. Thanks to our Veterans buried here

06/25/2019 By whizzkid
found it! sl tftc

06/19/2019 By Charlie-n-Geri
Wind was at least 40 mph so we went to Chicken Pok and when we came back the wind had ceased! We had thought about placing a cache here but never got around to it. Thanks for bringing us to this historical place.

06/18/2019 By gkhill
Thanks for the June Jasmer, Slade2029. It took us a few minutes to find the cache. sl TFTC

06/13/2019 By Linecacher
Out grabbing some caches this afternoon. TFTC SL. :-)

06/13/2019 By fishlogger
had to look in several places before i found it... walked around cemetery a little bit as never been up here before but have heard stories about it... oldest grave i saw was 1890. T4TC, TNLN, SL.

06/11/2019 By rcdok
Good hide! Been thinking about putting one in this area for years. You can see my house from here, but alas we are moving soon. Glad someone finally placed one in this very interesting piece of history. Signed log. TFTC!

06/10/2019 By Rojo464
A nice quick find, TFTC

06/06/2019 By Papabear1950
Very impressive view, and a great way to remember the Armed Forces and the pioneers of this area.
Thanks for the Geocache.