The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-05-17
CITY OF THE DEAD.
Thirty Thousand Persons Inferred
in the City Cemetery.
The Proposition TO Close the Old and 0per
New Cemetery Variously
Viewed.


council to pass an ordinance refusing any
more burial permits in the City cemetery
created great anxiety among the thousands
of persons who have friends inferred there.
Had 1t been proposed to remove at once
the inferred bodies from the old to new
cemetery there would have been protest
that would have partaken of the nature of
riot, but the more considerable plan of
providing new burial ground outside of
the city, and the refusal of further burial
permits in the cid after the new had been
provided was, with some exceptions,
viewed as practical proposition in the in
terest of the sanitary condition of the city.
This conversion could be made gradually
and without seriously wounding the finer
sentiments that always cluster about the
abode of the dead,
To secure the views of City Sexton G. E.
OHenback, HERALD reporter called at the
sections house and found the very well
preserved keeper of the toombs to be in
prime condition, showing that his nights
are not troubled with COLLINS of the de-
parted perching on his bed posts. In fact,
the surroundings seem to have given him
new grip on life, and whatever perturba-
tons there might be in viewing the pro-
cessions of hearers, these are more than
mitlgated by the exotic fragrance of the
well-ordered greenhouse.
When put on the witness stand the city
sexton confessed to be new in the bust
ness" and the tenor of some of his answers
would bear him out as to the truthfulness
Of the confession.
When asked to impart to THE HERALD
readers his views on the movement now
organizing for the abandonment of the
cemetery for burial purposes the sexton
said:
~ presume that the information came
from remark dropped by members of the
city council. l don't suppose there's much
In 1t. There were certain parties who
came up next day to make improvements
on their plats, but they said if that was the
case they thought they wouldn't
How many acres does the cemetery con-
tainl"
81 do not know, though presume there
are about 300 acres"
"How many persons have been buried in
the cemererym
I'm the neighborhood of 30,000n
"When was the ground first used as q
cemeterYm
The sexton looked up an old record and
replied: 1.-The first interment was January
6th, 1S47"'
"Who was the first occupantl"
The child Of Melissa and George B.
Wallace
"Who was the next!"
few days betw cen them.'
"What portion of the 300 acres has beer
surveyed and sold as burial lots!"
81 should judge one-half."
"How much money has been expended
on the improvements of the grounds up II
date9"
mo record has been kept. We have
three large reservoirs and a greenhouse
all put up within the last three years.
hAnw MANY DHrGOua vPra hurj al lae
year?"
1--WE hsvn't got them all here There
were /, 225 in the CITY,"
"Are there cemetery trustees!'
mo, it is run by the city council"
"Does it pay running expenses?"
mo. there was in the neighborhood o.
5000 expended last yearl"
"Is that exclusive of fees!;
LAST year the sexton got ell the fee!
and there is no way of telling what the.
were. That is changed now; The city get
the fees.n
What do the fees amount toln
~ have only been here thirty days, aut
the interments have boon away below IN
average: we had only two interments in III
last two days.
business little slack" observed til
reporter.
''Who gets the money for burial sites?"
1.-THE city gets that; last year it amounte
to S4,18!" 49,, ..,,,
( "The fees are for digging graves"
: "What is the price for excaVating cofi
receptacel"
2 The average price is about S3.''
D mot much money in thatln
The sexton assented that it was prett
, tough digging.
: What is the average price for buri
q lotsl''
"About s95; there is square rod in
lot"
. "How many othsr cemeteries are thei
u in the cityl"
''There is Mt. Olivet, owned (as l under
u stand it) by a stock company, and ii
. Hebrew cemetery, which adioins the Cit
cemetery, of which | am the sexton undt
g an agreement that was made at the tia
y the land was sold them by the city,
What do you consider the land in u
@ City cemetery worth that has not alread
n been converted into burial sites2n
''It is above the water line, aud unit
II they get water on it, it is not worth vel
"a much"
(which are some of the finest monl
ments in the cemeteryp
: "Those of the Brixens, Donalsons, Ii
10 ties, Dinwoodeys, Edwards, Brown
y Gaines, Shows, Grants, Wells, Roundy
u Connors, Eldridges, Sharps aud Ia
lors."
"What is your opinion of this propo
ton to close the city cemetery for burr
IL purposes and starting one away from Il
. cityl'
y 81 think the time will come when it w
1t. be done, but l don't think it will be
o. from fifteen to twenty years"
n The sexton kindly pointed out the bea
4 tiful grounds which appear to be nice
kept.
C. When asked how many men were ell
or ployed as landscape gardeners, and on t
I'd roads and walks. he said; Twelve
Of fourteen
g. The sexton furnished THE HERALD NJ
g. with q copy of ex-Sex ton DUNES repol
se which in this connection contains some /
le teresting figures.
le The total number of deaths which ha
ID occurred during the year 1891 which a
D. recorded is 1915; this includes still brit
IN which number So of the 1916; 635 we
e males and 5Sl females. The ages a
n divided as follows:
ot Under one
ls One year to three years Observation-Disclosures
IN Five years TO ten years --------....----
% Ten years to twenty years ------........
- Twenty years TO fifty years ...,----.
Fifty years 10 seveuty-hve-
Seventy-five to Einety
rs Over ninety wears