SPANISH FORK -- More than 30 years have passed since the last pioneer was buried in a cemetery in the middle of farmland on a bluff east of town.
The small burial ground overlooking the rich Spanish Fork River bottoms may be a half acre in size. Perhaps 60 bodies are interred, although the headstones disappeared years ago, possibly knocked over by grazing cattle.While many have forgotten the Pioneer Heritage Cemetery, other folks, particularly older, longtime residents, consider the small parcel an important piece of history.
Count Dona Stone among those folks.
Stone, a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, visits the cemetery, reminiscing about Spanish Fork's pioneer history.
The pioneer-heritage group wants to preserve the legacy of Utah's settlers -- and the cemetery is a natural project.
Stone's group is happy about a new addition at the cemetery: A wrought-iron arch set above the chain-link fence that surrounds the plot of ground. The cemetery's name is spelled out in the archway.
Spanish Fork's Roy Johns, a retired welder recently elected to the City Council, built and donated the arch to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, which looks after the city-owned cemetery.
"It just seemed like a good thing to do," Johns said.
He also built and donated an arch for the nearby Benjamin Cemetery southwest of Spanish Fork. He had high school students cut out the letters for the sign, which he then assembled and welded.
Johns was also responsible for the wrought iron fence and gate at the city cemetery in town, which he welded, then with the aid of other volunteers, set into place.
The once-neglected pioneer cemetery now commands the attention of volunteer groups who keep the range grass mowed and the grounds cleaned.
"This used to be the ruggedest hillside," Stone said of the cemetery site. That was during her childhood.
Now, steps made of railroad ties ascend the hill to a turnstile and the short trail that leads to the gate.
"I'm glad our forefathers had the strength and initiative to build this," she said of the cemetery.
Early pioneers founded the historic cemetery in 1851, although a conflicting record says it was in 1852.
When the early settlers abandoned the cemetery in 1866, some of the remainswere moved to the then-new city cemetery closer to town.
Much about the pioneer cemetery is unknown, including the names of about 35 people buried there, said La Nora Allred, another member of the Utah pioneer organization.
The names of other early settlers still interred are embossed on a steel plaque set in a stone monument.
Mary Catherine Redd, daughter of John H. and Elizabeth Redd, and others from the Redd family, including her parents, are also buried there.