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Summarized by Kent Larsen
10 Mormon Pioneer Graves Moved In Tooele
Deseret News 9May00 D6
By Joe Bauman: Deseret News staff writer
TOOELE, UTAH -- The town of Tooele decided to move the unmarked
graves of 10 Mormon pioneers because of cable and water lines and
road construction, and now the remains are being studied by
archaeologists. The remains, which come from an old Tooele cemetery,
used until a permanent city cemetery was established in 1867. The
remains include three teenagers or adults and seven younger children
or infants.
The study is being done by a laboratory at the University of Utah,
where forensic anthropologist Shannon Novak is examining them. The
older cemetery, now known as the Tooele City Pioneer Cemetery and
Memorial Garden, was first used in 1850, a year after the town was
established, and was used sporadically until 1867. The archaeologists
have a list of those buried in the cemetary, and may be able to
identify the bodies using the list and information about the age of
the remains at death.
The remains included a "young female who had an infant coffin placed
on her abdomen," according to Novak, noting that childbirth in the
middle of the 18th century was often dangerous. Anthropologists are
also examining the remains of the coffins in which the bodies were
buried, and Novak notes that the coffins identified so far were made
of pine, evidence against the often-stated theory that the pioneers
used the wood from the handcarts that brought them across the plains
The handcarts were made of hardwoods like ash, hickory and oak.
Tooele used the environmental engineering consulting firm Dames &
Moore/URS of Salt Lake City to excavate the graves. The city hopes to
rebury the remains in the same cemetery by July 24th, the anniversary
of the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in Utah.
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