Explore Grand Canyon National Park’s history in the park’s cemetery.
Yes, the Grand Canyon actually has an official cemetery and it’s a great place to soak in some park history. Of course, not everyone that has died in the Grand Canyon have been buried here. In the early days of the area, most people were buried where they fell, if at all.
The park is full of graves of many people lost during the early days. In 1922, Rees Griffiths died while building the South Kaibab trail and is still buried near Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. However, William Henry Ashurst, who died in a landslide, was buried near the slide. He was disinterred twice and later ended up in the Pioneer Cemetery.
The 1928 historic Pioneer Cemetery gate.
Pioneer cemetery was founded about a mile from the small village at the Grand Canyon (where all the hotels are). The village later expanded and now encompasses the cemetery.
Here you can find the tombs of many promontory people in Grand Canyon history, along with some truly unique tombs.
The tombs are nestled in a Ponderosa Pine forest.
The very worn wooden tombstone of Charles Oscar Lovens (1906-1925).
Some of the older tombs are very interesting.
John G. Verkamp owned the first curio shop at the Grand Canyon in 1898. It started out as a simple tent and grew into a large store that is still by the El Tovar hotel today, although no longer run by the family.
Glen Sturdevant was a park naturalist/Assistant Chief Ranger that lost his life on the Colorado River. This is only a memorial; his body was never found.
National Park Ranger Fred Johnson also lost his life with Ranger Sturdevant on the Colorado River.
WWI and WWII memorial to those from this area that lost their lives in combat.
Former Superintendant of Grand Canyon National Park, Richard W. Marks, who served in the National Park Service for 35 years. Many of the tombs are either engraved stones like these or ones with plaques added to them, which really makes this cemetery truly unique.
A prime example that often happens when someone is lost in the canyon, either their remains are never recovered or they are recovered years later.
Elmer Nelson, who came all the way from Uppsala, Sweden, definitely put his mark on the Grand Canyon. We still use the water lift stations that he helped build. The New Power plant is no longer used but is still around, complete with all its machinery. (I think the park should do some tours or something in that building.) Phantom Ranch is still there at the bottom of the canyon and the Desert View Watchtower is still awesome as ever.
A very simple tomb from 1935.
Also, some very important people. Edna Lemons was a Harvey Girl. She worked for the Fred Harvey company that had a chain of hotels and restaurants (probably one of the first chain restaurants ever, if not the first) along railroad lines and was known for its great service and safe environment. The waitresses were known as Harvey Girls, and they worked at the El Tovar Hotel and Bright Angel Lodge in Grand Canyon Village.
I just really love this tombstone made out of petrified wood.
William Wallace Bass worked to develop over 50 miles of inner canyon trails, including the Bass Trail in the mid-1880s. He even built a cable tramway on the Bass Trail over the Colorado River to ferry people and mules across the river. Parts of the tramway still remain, however, the cables over the river had to be removed.
Ada Bass, wife of William Wallace Bass, was the first pioneer woman to raise a family on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
The tomb of Ralph Cameron (1863-1953) who ran a toll gate at the Bright Angel Trail (before the National Park Service took over). He was also a delegate for the Arizona Territory (1909-1912) and a US Senator for Arizona from 1921-1927.
The most depressing memorial at the cemetery, the memorial to those that lost their life on a United Airlines flight. On June 30, 1956, 128 people died when a TWA plane and a United Airlines plane collided over the Grand Canyon, east of the Desert View Watchtower where the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers meet. At the time, it was the worst air disaster on record. The remains of 29 passengers that were not identified are buried here.
Most people don’t visit the Grand Canyon for history, but the Pioneer Cemetery (now called Grand Canyon Cemetery) is a great place to start.
Check out some Sinagua cliff dwellings and petroglyphs in my next update.
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