Weekly Trinity journal., 1877-06-09
OUR PIONEER DEAD.

teries-the cities OF the dead-and reading
the record of those who rest 50 quietly
within their grounds. But in our village
cemetery there are many, alas too many,
nsmeless graves, with nothing to give
clue to whom il is whose ashes lie buried
there. Yet a stroll through the silent
cities, the cities whose population grows
day by day snd year by year, recalls, as
we come TO the names of those whom we
know in life, but perhaps had forgotten,
recollections of the oIden and golden days
when they too, like ourselves were engag
ed in the battle of life. 1t is a sad
thought that SO many of the graves are
nameless, that so maLy of the pioneers of
Trinity sleep upon the hillside, while
their very names have faded out of men,
ory In the land they helped to rescue
from the dominion of nature. For The
unknown graves are iuoStiy those of the
early dead of those who persisted before
the time when the enduring tablets of
marble and granite began to feck the
green hillside. The rude boards and
crosses which friendships hand reared 10
guide the feet Of those who might come
in after years in search of the last resting
place Of some loved and lost one, have in
too many cases crumbled before the ST.
lent power Of the elements and either dis
appeared altogether, or become 50 defaced
and oblterated that they are useless for
any purpose of identification. Few stones
Of marble or other lasting material were
brought over the mountain prior to the
construction of the wagon r0ad, and the
pine head boards have yielded long since
10 the destructive powers Of the soil aud
atmosphere, or where they remain are
become so worn and deiaced that the
characters of the inscriptions is hardly
traceable. OF the early dead in our Gem
etrries there were few, if any, who were
laid away by the loving hands of kin
dred. The pioneers of Trinity, as of 9th
er parts of California, came over the
mountain and over the sea to battle with
fortune alone. Most of them were young
men, flushed with youth, hope and am
btion, who had not yet formed those do
me>tic ties which bind men to life. Those
who had formed such ties, did not care Ia
bring their wives and little ones to an un-
known land TO face unknown dangers,
but came singly and alone. When Death
came among them it found them in the
land of strangers and it WAS the hands ot
strangers which laid him away in their
last narrow home.
One of the characters Of Sir Walter
Scott's beautiful writings was known Ms
"Old Mortality" The mission he chose
led him through the'kirk yards of Scot
land where, with malet and chisel he
deepened such inscriptions on the tomb
stones as grew dim with age and expos
ure 20 the action Of the elements. 1t was
with him labor of love performed un
asked, and continued wear by year. Sum.
mer and Winter WAS all the same to
him, and at last the people learned to ex.
pee: and watch for the visits of "Old
Morta lity," on his self imposed annual
task. When wandering in the silent city
we have often reca He'd this character Of
the great writer TO mind, and wished that
some one here would assume the role of
Old Mortality to keep alive the memo
ries of our pioneer dead. Even now the
field for his labor is oper-the old head
boards of fifteen and twenty years ago
show Enthusiastically the ravages which
time has made, and but few years
more, and they too will become illegble
The cemeteries which have always
been under care, are not so bad in the re-
gard we have mentioned as are the public
grounds in which the first of our pioneer
dead were inferred. In the Masonic.
Odd Fellows and Catholic grounds there
has always been some one in charge, who
replaced the fallen boards and otherwise
cared for their preservation. Neither
are these cemeteries so old as the one ded-
icated to public use. The first dead of
Weavervile were buried in that part of
town on the same ridge where the Cntho
lie Church is built. But, partly for SAN
itary considerations, partly for the reason
that the ground was too rich to be given
up to purposes Of sepulture. the present
location was fixed upon as early rs 1854,
and those first buried in town were re
moved to the new place, where all subse-
quent interments were made. The Ma
sons and Odd Fellows selected contiguous
plats for the sepulture of members of
their respective Orders, and proper care
was taken of these plats from the first.
Not so with the public cemetery. AL
though many were laid away for the last
sleep during its first years, it was not un-
Ill as late rs 1861 that it was incl0sed-
prior TO that time some of the graves were
surrounded by the paling work yet TO be
seen-Others were upon the open com
mon. Only this year was the cemetery
placed under the particular care of any
one, and the good results of so doing are
already apparent. We think it would
| add much To the beauty and interest OF
tho public cemetery TO have, rs far as
practicable, the old inscriptions which
tell the fate of many Of the pioneers of
Trinity, renewed, which. we think, could
be done at no great expense.
EXTINCT SEA.-The recent railroad
surveys in San Diego and San Bernardo
no counties have established some curl