Abandoned or Lost Cemeteries, Teller County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/teller/cemeteries/lost.txt Donated to the Colorado Archives by the Pikes Peak Genealogical Society, 11 September 2002 Questions may be directed to: Cemetery Project, Pikes Peak GS, P.O. Box 1262, Colorado Springs, CO 80901 See the USGenWeb copyright notice at the end of the file. ___________________________________________________________________ Abandoned or Lost Cemeteries The following are abandoned cemeteries in Teller County with no marked graves and no known records of those buried there. If any markers or names exist, the cemetery has its own page. Unless otherwise noted, information is from the 1985 "Colorado Cemetery Directory." Arequa Cemetery: According to Jan MacKell at the Cripple Creek District Museum there may have been a cemetery at the old mining town of Arequa. The site is now under tailings and the cemetery may have been moved. GAR Cemetery: This cemetery of Civil War veterans was located about half a mile west of Victor on land owned by A.A. Stern just west of Sunnyside Cemetery. Established in 1892, the cemetery held 46 burials when they were moved in the 1920s or 1930s. Thirty-eight were moved to Mount Pisgah Cemetery in Cripple Creek and the remaining eight went to Sunnyside Cemetery. Indian Burial Ground: An Indian burial ground was located about three-fourths of a mile northwest of the town of Florissant in Section 2, Township 13 South, Range 71 West. Grave of Mr. Johnson: Single grave, date unknown, reported to be in the northwest quarter of Section 14, Township 13 South, Range 71 West, currently in the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. In June 2001, Florissant Fossil Beds personnel, including the head ranger, had never heard of this burial. Research by Walt Stark in 2002, including a survey on foot, had, to date, failed to turn up any clues to the identity of this person or the location of the grave. Love Cemetery, aka Beaver Creek Cemetery: The community of Love was platted in 1892, but the area rapidly declined after 1901. Once on public land, the location of this cemetery is unknown, although it was probably near Love, which was in the southeast quarter of Section 23 of Township 15 South, Range 69 West, just northwest of the reservoir currently there. This cemetery is not to be confused with the three Beaver Creek cemeteries close by in Fremont County. In 2002, Mrs. Thelma Rathke Sheridan remembered that two babies of her father-in-law, Henry C. Rathke, were buried there one by his wife Margaret and one by his wife Berniece. Also, "one or two Waters babies" were buried in Love Cemetery. Current Beaver Valley Ranch caretaker Carleton Brown hasn't seen a cemetery on the property near the remains of Love. Love was the last community to officially debut in the Cripple Creek District, acquiring a post office in 1894. The tiny village was named for a nearby rancher's spread, located at the extreme east end of the Cripple Creek District. Although small, the community supported a school and a store. Most members of the community were ranchers, with the occasional miner taking up residence as well. Dairies and sawmills in the area also provided employment. Love was remote enough, however, that members of outlaw Butch Cassidy's notorious Wild Bunch also felt secure in procuring a hideout there shortly after the community was founded. The post office was discontinued July 5, 1902 (historical research by Jan MacKell). Midland Cemetery: From Highway 24, turn south at Divide on Highway 67 and drive 5.2 miles. The buildings on the left are what remain of the gold-rush town of Midland. In 2001 residents had never heard of a cemetery in the area. There were reportedly about six graves dating from 1892-95, but the location is unknown and records are unavailable. Rural Cemetery No. 1, aka Colbert Cemetery: When long-time Teller County resident Betty Burns moved to her home northwest of Florissant in 1961, she recalls being shown stone markers with a fence on a bluff near her home. She was told by Myrton Wright (1896-1985) and another person that they were the markers of a family who had died when their house was set afire during the night. Reportedly, the man of the household had found gold and hidden it behind a brick in the chimney. Either he revealed his secret while drunk, or the children of the family let it slip, and rogues came during the night and torched the house to get at the gold. Burns remembers markers for the parents of the Colbert family, as well as markers of two or three children. She also remembers the chimney of the house still standing in the early 1960s. However, by the 1990s, the markers, fence, and chimney were completely gone. In 2002, she pointed out the bluff where the markers were. According to GPS-derived geolocation (accurate to within 10 meters), the coordinates are 38ø57 08.4 N and 105ø17 23.7 W. From Highway 24 at Florissant, turn north onto County Road 1, then left onto County Road 31. Turn right onto Wildhorn Road and drive about one-third of a mile. Turn left onto a private road and the bluff is on private property to your right. "Colorado Cemetery Directory" says this was an early cemetery and the last burials were made in the 1920s, but that no trace remains. If the Rural Cemetery No. 1 and the Colbert Cemetery are indeed the same cemeteries is unknown, but they are said to be in the same area. Dates of the Colbert family's residence and deaths are unknown. Grave of Unknown Child: The single grave of a child, name and date unknown, is reported to be near the town of Florissant in Sections 1 or 2, Township 13 South, Range 71 West. No further information is available. Grave of Unknown Man: The single grave of a lumberman, name and date unknown, is reported to be near the townsite of Midland, about seven miles south of Divide. No further information is available. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. 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