The Billings herald. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1882-1885, 1883-01-11
A VAST CEMETERY.
Horrifying Calculations as to the


y Greely, Col, to the Denver Tribune
A few days since there appeared il
your columns short dispatch rcla
tive to Il skeleton found in a san,
u cliff in digging a ditch near Bensh
on the Platte, and this instance call
to mind the fact that if the numbe
: of these skeletons found in diggin.
bitches in the valley within pas
year is an indication of what is con.
! tained in the ground not dug over
then the old trail to the land O
gold would certainly rival the his.
torical bone-bleachcd path Of the
crusaders to the Holy land. And
why not? If you start anywhere
on the riyer-so far as experience
|, soes-and dig a ditch 10 miles long
and 20 feet wide on the bottom YOU
always dig up dead mems bones.
You naturally begin to speculate as
10 what is in the ground you do not
dig up. In fact, you can't help it.
The idea is forced upon, and you
begin to figure. The river valley is
say mile wide and 600 miles long.
Suppose you count a man to each
20 foot strip Of 10 miles in length
(there arc generally from two to ten
as far as dug over), and without
figuring closely you at once see
your way to an array Of dead for
tune hunters $4,000 strong! who
died, let us say, of disease. of sui
| eide, by accident, the hands of In
dians, struck by lightning, murder
ed for money, Or killed in drunken
brawls, by the war, some with head
boards made Of old pieces of wagon
boxes to kmark the spot where a
grave was made, some with only
buffalo bones stuck on end, but all |
long since scattered and gone, and
many more carefully concealed here !,
and there among the sand hills and !
waste places Of the desert, where the
winds and the drifting sands soon
obliterated all traces of the dark
deeds of blood.
Such are the rcvcrics and specu-
lations of an old timer, who remem-
bcrs strange things that happened
when he trudged up the Platte val
ley along with the well-nigh count
less thousands who beat the old
of 1S59-6O. /
Last winter in constructing the
Ogilvy ,titch below Greeley, from
six to ten skeletons were excumcd
near Cro',- creek, on the Platte.
These had evidently been buried
great while, and were moro than
likely victims of the overland march {
to California in lS49. Some of j
them had cotiins. L
Then, about the middle of the
summer the Beaver and Platte I'm =,
provement company began opera {
tons near the Bensh, and dead ,
mems bones began to turn up with s
the first furrow, and have been a
common occurrence ever since. &
The first man turned up one peace {
'ul morning last June, with his i
1ody-luite an unusual attitude
or respectfully disposed corpse, t
md quite suggestive Of q sudden S
md unexpected thump on the /
lead. Then, with an interlude of t
NO or three months filled up with 4
stray bones and skulls too, scatter t
d for practical classification and u
Identification, comes to light the t
much decayed gentleman of the S
and cliff near Perkins ranch, who Q
undoubtedly met death with his f
,oots on, because he was buried in V
hcm-quite an unusual proceeding
n Christian burial-and the ten 81
oes of the deceased ratified out of Il
hose boots in a dry satire on con- Ii
'entional modes, while the skull l.
With its false teeth and gold plate a
rinned in seeming irony at diabol- g
cal fate. An the man who killed I
i'm, too, and who is most likely D
live to-day, will probably shake in v
lis boots when he reads this ac- a.
cunt, and will curse his unlucky I'll
tars that a blind, stupid ditch be- o.
un no where in particular, could "
ot run anywhere but along the le
ace of that sand cliff, the last place g
n the world which anyone would 81
elect for ditch, and where only ot
;od and himself knew q dead man o1
~. He did a judicious job, and
elected a good spot for his victim,
ecausc if he had planted the man /
lmost anywhere in the ground and bi
nder the stars, among the cactus, SC
mong the grass, among the sage 70