Micro located in the cemetery. Bring your own pen & tweezers. Do NOT disturb or deface any graves.
Please make sure container is closed securely and re-hidden as well or better than you found it. Maintaining the difficulty rating depends on you.
History:
The signing of the 1874 Brunot Treaty with the Ute Indians opened Lake City to settlement for the first time. In February 1874, Alferd Packer was in the area. In August 1874, Enos Hotchkiss discovered a gold mine at Lake Shore and built the first structure in Lake City. News of the Hotchkiss discovery spread quickly and prospectors rushed to the area.
Lake City became the supply and smelting center for the area mines. By 1875, there were 5 general stores, 2 bakeries, 2 blacksmith shops, 2 sawmills, 3 restaurants, a livery stable, a millinery store, a shoe shop, 5 saloons, 2 meat markets, a stage stop, a post office, and a newspaper. Soon, a school, 3 churches, 3 smelters, a telegraph, hotels, banks, billiard rooms, brothels, and dance halls were built. By 1877, Lake City had a population of 2500 with an additional 2000 at the area mines. On September 20, 1877, Susan B. Anthony addressed the Lake City citizens on women's suffrage. For more Lake City history, see Colorado Spirit Quest #420 – IOOF Cemetery.
The first Lake City death, William F. Ryan, occurred in January 1876 prior to a cemetery being established. Ryan’s burial location is unknown. Later in 1876, City Cemetery, also known as Old Cemetery or Lower Cemetery, was started on several acres of a hilly pine tree covered mountain side. City Cemetery did not have any formal organization or records and many of the graves are unmarked. Burials took place on a haphazard basis though there are identifiable sections for catholics, italians, blacks, and paupers. Paupers row is a stark row of unmarked graves which runs along the entrance. Black residents were consigned to a small area in the north west corner.
Among, these burials is Ellen Williams, a former slave, born in 1790. Williams came to Lake City in 1877 and died on September 16, 1900 at the age of 110. Williams obituary stated: "The birth of this woman occasioned no interest to White people except that she represented a few dollars worth of property to her owner. More than a hundred years later her hands are folded over her breast by kind-hearted White women, while the casket is covered with the choicest flowers of the town, words of genuine sympathy are whispered to the weeping daughter and a funeral sermon is preached by a White minister…The world is getting better." The Williams family was well liked and thought of in Lake City.
The oldest known grave at City Cemetery is Ben House who died of lung congestion on October 23, 1876 at the age of 28. House came to Lake City from California in the spring of 1876. At age 17, he served with the 8th US Cavalry during the Civil War. In Lake City, House worked as a professional gambler dealing faro and died at the San Juan Central. Rev. George M. Darley preached the funeral and afterwards wrote: "At the grave I read the Scriptures…prayed…They stared at the preacher that could say a kind word of a gambler...It won many who will hereafter listen to the Gospel, because Ben got a good send-off!" In his biography, Rev. Darley explained "No good citizen has any defense to make or apologies to offer wrong-doing. Yet every Christian, while hating sin, should love the sinner."
City Cemetery reflects a wide spectrum of Lake City residents: butchers, bakers, prostitutes, laundrymen, teachers, attorneys, church leaders, actors, gamblers, musicians, and miners. However, City Cemetery was generally considered "lower class" than the IOOF Cemetery.
c1877 by Barnhouse & Wheeler
Lake City Stage c1880
Miners c1880 by T. E. Barnhouse
Information primarily taken from "Cemeteries of Hinsdale County, Colorado" by Grant E. Houston (1996) and "Pioneering in the San Juan" by George M. Darley (1899).
Please take some time to reflect back on the lives of these pioneers and the effort it took to make Colorado such a great state!! The only guarantee in life is death. Where will you be?
The Colorado Spirit Quest (CSQ) is a series of caches placed by many individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have “walked” before us. There are hundreds of cemeteries in the rural and mountain communities across Colorado. This series will provide a history tour of these cemeteries. If you are apprehensive about cemeteries, avoid this series.
The CSQ endeavor is an enormous and relentless task. It will only flourish if there is a multitude of volunteer cachers willing to place these caches. Each person that places a CSQ cache is responsible for its maintenance.
Thanks to the current volunteers: Greasepot, Taylorgeotracker, Ivy Dog Parents, Team Boogity3, Grand High Pobah, Boborr 80909, Imusttravel2000, Buzz Lightyear I, Sandhill 49er, MrVolkswagen, Isisfan, Rockymtn8iv, Fork-L-Man, Outdrlvr201, Condor1, 2Cachedivers, arthurat, smilz787, Kyotmoon, Mountain Roamer, SugarPug, Team Tiger Pride, ernie66, drnetwork, Team w-bar-v, Dynamite Rabbit, DustyKat, mtnbirders, RustyBeerCan & Marma, grymreaper, nteclpr, Moose1 & Mama Moose, Joe Friday, 3cacheteers, 3cacheteers, Dasha Aussies, KB0UMW, hiking_fool, tripping, res71cue and 1Mrs1Ogre, and nickgatt, kingbee, The misgnoners, rbradu, shashyaz&foxy, Bugranger Lyonden ut., Any Direction, Sewnssew, and The Meandering Monkeys.
06/27/2019 By amydroyalty There are some very interesting old gravestones here. The holes with uncapped rebar sticking up out of them are quite the hazard, though.
06/20/2019 By AF BEE Traveling from Gunnison to Gallup taking the scenic route, targeting new counties, Delorme pages, highly favored and birthday caches...this was the first, thanks for sharing some interesting local history!
05/24/2019 By jbc_Xplor8ion Beautiful cemetery and day to be outside. TFTC!
10/30/2018 By HikingSeal This saga continues from my DNF for No Rest for the Wicked V which is about five miles north of this cache.
When I couldn’t find that one, I had to come into Lake City to find another to check off the county. This seemed the easiest of the possibilities as I pulled up outside the cemetery gates it was still lightly snowing as it had been at the last cache. I was initially fearfully the gate was locked. As I stood there debating if I should hop the low fence, I finally saw how to open the gate.
I walked carefully toward the cache. I’ve had close calls with injuries in the past from tripping over headstones in the dark while searching for caches in cemeteries.
Finally I go to the area of the cache. Because I was searching in the dark with a headlamp it took a few minutes to find. I’ve never been so happy to see a matchstick tube in my life. Got it signed while bending over blocking the now heavily falling snow from getting the logged wet. By the time I got back to my rental car, there was a half inch of snow on it. Driving a few miles brought me out of the storm entirely. Heck, Cerro Summit that had six inches of snow/slush on the outbound trip was only a wet road. Gotta love snow squalls
Anyway it was a fun trip to check off a county. Thanks for the easy cache to help me do it.
Just realized who the owner was. This is the second time you “saved” me from heartache. The first was when we met at GeoWoodstock in Denver and you taught me many illuminating things about Munzee. Thanks again!
08/22/2018 By getoffmycache A quick find while in the area. Tftc.
08/21/2018 By Moonpie10 Found on a cool clear morning. TFTC
07/31/2018 By TheHuntingHuffs On around robin trip to get some counties hear in western Colorado. This is a neat old Cemetery. Not sure what all the markers are for, but it's neat to walk through and old Cemetery like this. Thanks for placing it here! TheHuntingHuffs Cutty's Resort Coaldale, CO
07/27/2018 By Chick-A-D I really like spirit quest caches. Always interesting history of the area. Thank you for hiding this cache. My sister came with me to find this one while on vacation in Lake City. She does not geocache...except with me or her husband. Where I come from this would be a size small, not a micro. But great hide. Thank you.
07/20/2018 By Vin Fiz Found along with tsumommy. TFTC!
Colorado Spirit Quest #419 - City Cemetery
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