Ron Paschall, writing for The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif., makes an impassioned plea that someone, anyone help preserve the long-forgotten graveyards along Route 66 in the Mojave Desert.
The Mother Road’s cemeteries lay in a state of disrepair. Located on lonely hillsides, out of sight of the few cars that still travel the legendary road; they are the final resting place for those who came west, searching for a better life. Broken gates, dangling barbwire, and tilted wooden crosses are the first signs of our National Trails Highway cemeteries demise!
Paschall tells about graves being neglected, vandalized and worse.
For Bagdad, even remoteness and the Penal Code has done little to prevent grave robbers from attempting to dig up the remains of these forgotten souls. Tattered cloth mix with sage brush, in a 4 foot hole where a grave was desecrated, leaving one to ponder in this inhospitable place, if the victim lay there exposed? A few stones, cans and makeshift crosses are all that cling to a dying effort to mark these graves. A passing park ranger or occasional sheriff’s patrol car can do little to protect these sites from grave robbers and vandals without other protective measures. To stand in this place, one can’t help but feel the fleeting desperation of souls left behind and forgotten.
So what to do? These cemeteries are in such sparsely populated areas, it is nearly impossible for locals and police to keep watch over them. I’ve driven the Mother Road from Essex to Ludlow several times, and it’s not uncommon for dozens of miles to pass before meeting another vehicle — and it’s often another tourist exploring the route.
Save for surrounding the cemeteries with chain-link fences and razor wire, I see little recourse for cash-strapped local governments that are concentrating on the more pressing concerns of the living. The souls of the “residents” of these cemeteries are no longer of this Earth. The only ones who truly care are the living who remember those departed souls.
And in most cases, they have passed on as well.
Who cares? We hope someone. Would we allow Roy’s Cafe sign to be torn down? Would we see Bartsow’s Route 66 Motel plowed under? One would hope not. By law San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors are responsible for Route 66 graveyards. A Home Depot, a Boy Scout Troop, a car club could join forces to fence, clean and preserve these graves. Are we so busy, we do not care? Some are, hopefully we will find those who have some spare time, some spare change, and a desire to do the right thing for them.
hey, i ride a bike and want to travel route 66. as far as i can. most of the time it’s hit and miss just small sections at a time 66 is marked pretty well but around victorville it gets scatchy. I would like to maek off areas as i go. do you know of good maps. appreceate it. Gary
There are other graveyards that have been neglegted..the one in Trojan has disapeared completely. Some one has undertaken the task of trying to preserve the one in Chubbuck, Archer and the one in Milligan..both towns gone forever. I am starting to put together stuff to rebuild or just remark the graves and the fence surrounding the Bagdad cemetery…things like this shold be kept up..not for the sake of the living..but for the sake of the dead who endured and made what this area is today..it’s history that should be preserved. Unfortunatetly there are no records whatsoever who is buried at these cemeteries. The law2s back then and the record keeping wasn’t a priority for the deceased.
Jehovah remembers all those passed souls, in the resurrection, they will stand again as the bible states “they will hear his voice & come out of the memorial tomes”, those old towns will be rebuilt & restored then also because we need to spread everyone over the earth who has been resurrected.