COALVILLE, Summit County — Five people — two adults, a preteen and two infants — were buried side by side in pine caskets more than 100 years ago.
A construction crew came upon the remains, including parts of a pine box and porcelain buttons, in December while digging a new foundation for North Summit Middle School.
The Summit County Sheriff's Office was called to investigate.
"We didn't know what we had," Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said. "We didn't know if this was a fresh grave, a criminal act that needs to be investigated."
A forensic pathologist and an archaeologist determined the people were buried sometime between 1850-1870.
Back then, Coalville was booming because of its namesake.
"Coal, right there in Coalville," Edmunds said. "It was one of the first areas to be settled. Summit County is the first county to be settled in as pioneers came out of Wyoming, coming down Echo Canyon."
The identities of the people probably will never be known, Edmunds said.
But officials will be reinterring the remains at the Coalville City Cemetery on Thursday at noon.
The bodies will be escorted to the cemetery by a horse-drawn hearse, and the Summit County Sheriff's Office Honor Guard.