Mountain West Bank tackles cemetery cleanup

WALLACE — Tucked back among the trees, nestled on the west side of Nine Mile Canyon, sits Nine Mile Cemetery, the resting place of almost 200 years of Wallace history.  

On Wednesday, the staff of Mountain West Bank and a handful of volunteers tackled the massive job of cleaning the cemetery.

Each year, MWB takes a day off from their regular duties to give back to the community. Over the years, they have completed or helped with projects such as painting the senior center and building playground equipment at Osburn’s Lions Park. 

Nine Mile Cemetery is unique for many reasons. Beyond its historical significance, the cemetery is carved into the hillside of a narrow canyon and feels more like a park than the final resting place for more than 4,000 people.

A who’s who of Wallace area royalty and infamy are buried at Nine Mile, including members of the Magnuson, Voltolini, Bardelli and Rossi families. The cemetery also includes Ed Pulaski, as well as other survivors and victims of the 1910 fire.  

Matt Beehner sits on the Nine Mile Cemetery board, working with fellow board members to maintain the 40-acre memorial site, but the task is near impossible. So, when MWB decided to volunteer their services to the cemetery, they were welcomed with open arms.  

“It’s been 10 years since we’ve had anybody volunteer like this," Beehner said. 

MWB branch manager Gina Doerschel had been looking for a worthwhile project, and when she was approached by a member of her staff about the cemetery, she recognized the need.

“We really wanted to make an impact, and it didn’t sound like five to 10 of us could really do that, so we got to thinking how fun it would be if we could get other members of the community to join us," Doerschel said.

Not only did they get a handful of volunteers, but MWB President and CEO Scott Anderson joined them.

The group spent roughly eight hours at the site, weeding, raking pine needles, picking up trash and cleaning up woody debris.

The group had one rule to follow: Don’t touch the headstones.  

According to Doerschel, many families enjoy coming to the cemetery and maintaining the headstones and gravesites of relatives. Some of them have even turned the curbed graves into beautiful gardens, with blooming flowers and vegetation. 

However, the marked and maintained graves are just the tip of the cemetery. Over the years, Beehner and the other board members have been responsible for mapping out the edges of the cemetery and doing their best to identify marked gravesites.

“In 2005, just going by headstones there were about 2,500 people buried here,” Beehner said. 

But his research efforts on Ancestry.com and reviewing death certificates turned up a higher number.

"There’s over 4,000," Beehner said.

The disparity between the number of clearly marked graves and the number of people who reportedly were buried at the cemetery has fueled Beehner’s work. Because of this, he and the board have been using grants and personal funds to locate gravesites and place markers on them. 

“We’re always thankful to have the opportunity to give back to our community,” Doerschel said. “This wasn’t one of the easier projects we’ve done, but it was definitely one of the most worthwhile.”  

    Mountain West Bank employees Janis Barker, Amber Ruppert, and Tanya Picker were among the people helping clean up Nine Mile Cemetery on Wednesday. Much of the work involved raking up woody debris and pine needles and getting it bagged.