Books

Dusting Off the Old Ones

The Maple Tree Cemetery

We wonder how many of our readers know where the cemetery was located prior to the time it was moved to its present location. In the early eighties the cemetery was situated within what is now the city limits of Miles City. The land upon which it was situated was public land, open to filing. And that is exactly what happened--someone filed a claim on it. This filing on the land, and the subsequent publication of a notice in the paper to the effect that further burials on the land was prohibited, and suggesting that those already buried there be removed and buried elsewhere, seemed to raise the concern of the publisher of the local paper. This publisher made several suggestions as to where a new cemetery could be located--either in section 23 (which is the section upon which the Cross Roads is situated) or in section 25, which corners 23 on the southeast. He contacted the Northern Pacific Railroad officials, and they promised to sell any of their nearby lands for cemetery purposes at $20 per acre. In commenting on the mentioned locations, the editor noted that either of these two locations is not more than two miles from town, which would be about the right distance from town for a pleasant drive. Suggestions were made that the local fraternal societies go together and start a cemetery association. But it was not until June 1883, that land was purchased by a group of local citizens as Trustees for the Miles City Cemetery Association. This land is the site of the present cemetery. It was platted into cemetery lots and named Maple Tree Cemetery. These trustees incorporated the Miles City Cemetery Association in 1888, and handled the cemetery as a corporation until 1921, when it was sold to Custer County. The county has called it the Custer County cemetery since its acquisition. In closing our story to-day, we just want to remark that the statement of the editor rather haunts us--that the location was about the right distance from town for a pleasant ride.