The west seems to be marked with numerous lonely graves. Many I have seen were marked by rocks being mounded over the gravesite to prevent animal damage. Near Deming, NM, is an RV park ( google it at Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park). It was built on a working cattle ranch of about 7000 acres by rock hounders and has gradually grown to what it is today and passed thru numerous owners. Straight north of the park about a quarter mile in open barren desert is one such grave. If it ever had any kind of cross or monument with a name, it was long gone years ago. I lived in that park for over 2 years. A friend, Les Wink, showed me that grave or I would never have found it as it is just flat scrubby desert but it was near one of our ATV trails. Les kind of looked after that grave and some of the Parks women have been known to carry flowers to it. Les and others in the park were some of the original rock hounders that started the park.
I went on another ATV ride with Les and some of the old timers to visit one of their friends grave. Their friend had always liked the view from a certain spot over in the southern foothills of the Cooks mountain range that begins just north of the park and had asked to be buried there. He and Les had loaded their ATV,s with shovel, cement, and water and went there one day and built a small concrete box and lid, level with the desert floor. They put a small brass plaque on it with his name. When he passed away he was cremated. All lhis friends gathered together in the Parks recreation hall for a small ceremony and then formed a caravan of ATV,s winding its way over to the burial site where they placed his ashes.
Les's wife passed away while I lived there in the Park. Les had her cremated. It was summer time when she passed away. Many of their friends amongst the old time rock hounders were snow birds, they only spent the winter months at Hidden Valley Ranch, so the actual burial was delayed a few months.
The Park is located on the northeast side of a long high ridge. We called it rattlesnake ridge although I think the map calls it something else. Les's wife had asked to be buried at a certain spot on the ridge over looking the park. Les built another small concrete vault at that site. When winter arrived and all their old friends were there, we had another little ceremony there in the recreation hall. No preacher, just a close friend that had known them both for years. Very few tears, mostly just stories and tales about Mary Jane, most of them humorous, told by old friends. Then Les placed her ashes on the front rack of his ATV and led a slow caravan of ATV,s down thru the park and winding up onto rattlesnake ridge.
Along the top of rattlesnake ridge are various small rock cairns that supposedly mark the last resting places of other people who wonted to be buried there but no names or markings identify them.
A few miles northeast of the park lies the melted adobe remains of old Fort Cummings. It was the only all adobe fort ever built in the west and what were once its walls are now just slightly raised mounds. It was manned by the buffalo soldiers and on a slight ridge above the fort site are some more lonley desert graves. Fort Cummings guarded Cooks springs, one of the few reliable sources of water on the southern route to California. Cooks Canyon runs west from the old fort site and historians record it as one of the bloodiest passes along the southern California trail. Over a period of about 30 years, it is estimated that 400 people lost their lives in those few short miles. Some more lonley unmarked graves are there in Cook's Canyon.
If you own an RV and travel west, Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park is an interesting place to stop over for a few days.
I went on another ATV ride with Les and some of the old timers to visit one of their friends grave. Their friend had always liked the view from a certain spot over in the southern foothills of the Cooks mountain range that begins just north of the park and had asked to be buried there. He and Les had loaded their ATV,s with shovel, cement, and water and went there one day and built a small concrete box and lid, level with the desert floor. They put a small brass plaque on it with his name. When he passed away he was cremated. All lhis friends gathered together in the Parks recreation hall for a small ceremony and then formed a caravan of ATV,s winding its way over to the burial site where they placed his ashes.
Les's wife passed away while I lived there in the Park. Les had her cremated. It was summer time when she passed away. Many of their friends amongst the old time rock hounders were snow birds, they only spent the winter months at Hidden Valley Ranch, so the actual burial was delayed a few months.
The Park is located on the northeast side of a long high ridge. We called it rattlesnake ridge although I think the map calls it something else. Les's wife had asked to be buried at a certain spot on the ridge over looking the park. Les built another small concrete vault at that site. When winter arrived and all their old friends were there, we had another little ceremony there in the recreation hall. No preacher, just a close friend that had known them both for years. Very few tears, mostly just stories and tales about Mary Jane, most of them humorous, told by old friends. Then Les placed her ashes on the front rack of his ATV and led a slow caravan of ATV,s down thru the park and winding up onto rattlesnake ridge.
Along the top of rattlesnake ridge are various small rock cairns that supposedly mark the last resting places of other people who wonted to be buried there but no names or markings identify them.
A few miles northeast of the park lies the melted adobe remains of old Fort Cummings. It was the only all adobe fort ever built in the west and what were once its walls are now just slightly raised mounds. It was manned by the buffalo soldiers and on a slight ridge above the fort site are some more lonley desert graves. Fort Cummings guarded Cooks springs, one of the few reliable sources of water on the southern route to California. Cooks Canyon runs west from the old fort site and historians record it as one of the bloodiest passes along the southern California trail. Over a period of about 30 years, it is estimated that 400 people lost their lives in those few short miles. Some more lonley unmarked graves are there in Cook's Canyon.
If you own an RV and travel west, Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park is an interesting place to stop over for a few days.
