Then, in 1860, in an effort to make Susanville a real town, Isaac Roop donated the land on the hill above the Susan River where the Susanville Cemetery is today, and it all changed.
In November of 1860, twelve-year-old Perry Craig decided to go duck hunting. He walked to Roop’s Millpond, near Hobo Camp on the Susan River, and found a small boat. Perry rowed the boat out onto the pond to look for ducks. When he sighted some of the illusive birds, he stood up in the boat and took his shot. The kickback of the gun knocked Perry into the water. He may have been an excellent shot, but Perry was not a very good swimmer. On that day, in the Fall of 1860, Perry Craig drowned, and became the first person to be buried in the new Susanville Cemetery. Perry’s grave is not marked.
And so, it began. In 1864, a fence was built to enclose the property, and in 1879, more property was added to accommodate the increase in’ population’, and a new fence built. In 1881, water was brought to the cemetery through iron pipes, and people began beautifying the graves of their loved ones.
Digging a grave is not an easy task, but in the winter, it is even more difficult. The frozen ground made digging almost impossible using simple hand tools. Sometimes the grave diggers would build a warming fire where they had to dig, and as the soil softened, they could get below the freeze level. But in the deep snow, it was not possible to even know where to dig. Without landmarks, the grave sites were obscured.
To solve this problem of nature, officials would sometimes decide to clear the snow from an area in the road at the cemetery entrance, and then bury the deceased there. In the Spring, when the snow had melted, the casket could be moved to its proper plot. Unfortunately, according to some sources, a few of the bodies never were removed from the entrance. Perhaps the family could not afford to pay gravediggers a second time. Perhaps they died also, or moved away, or just didn’t care. Perhaps the deceased was indigent. For whatever reason, those burials still remain in their original position.
Throughout the cemetery there are beautifully crafted gravestones, made by highly skilled workers. These headstones are sometimes accompanied by footstones. The headstones were placed at the person’s head, and the footstones were placed at their feet. That way, you knew just where they were buried. This was especially important when burying someone nearby. Most of the footstones have disappeared over time, as they are small and easily moved, and usually are simply marked with initials or the word ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’.
These old headstones contain a lot of important information, especially for those researching the past, but they do also contain mistakes. These errors are usually due to the fact that the deceased’s family really didn’t know the correct dates or if Aunt Maude was actually Aunt Maud.
Sometimes mistakes were made by the stone carver. The mistakes were literally ‘written in stone’, and impossible to fix. The entire headstone would need to be discarded. So, they were left as written. Still, these stone carvers were amazing. The delicate and artistic work took years of practice, and the work was all done with a hammer and chisel until modern air compressors brought ‘sand blasting’ into the business.
The gravestones are also the most delicate part of the cemetery. In most cases, once the information is gone, it can never be replaced. The stone may look sturdy but is very delicate. It should not be leaned on, cleaned, rubbed, or even touched. There are trained professionals who know how to properly care for the grave markers. Through time, the weather has taken its toll on the stones and vandals have done even more damage.
The stone from the quarry at the end of Susanville’s Quarry Street was used to make many of the stones, and this material suffers greatly from the elements. As you look through the cemetery, you can see what looks like small rocks. These were once grave markers that have been damaged or weathered. Their information is gone.
Today, the Susanville Cemetery is a beautiful place to visit, and a beautiful place to find our county’s history. The symbolism shows just what was important to these people, and the flowery poetry of the early days gives us a look into the grief felt at the loss of those who used to live as we do today. A visit to the cemetery helps us to find just what is important in our lives.
