A Trip Back In History ....

It was a terrible night ... headache, tossing and turning, nightmares ... which caused me to finally give up and GET up.  It was overcast and I was sure it would rain, but not a drop came from the sky over us.  As the sun came up however, you could see the telltale fuzzy black stripes in the sky as the clouds let loose far away.  It made me smile!!

I had lots of plans for my last day in Benson, including more properties to see.  Instead, I stopped in at the local pioneer cemetery on 7th Street, aptly named the 7th Street Cemetery.  You might think this morbid, but really it's more about the people who came here and made history.  I'm sure they never thought of it that way however.

The Hi Wo family for example, who in 1896 purchased a mercantile store and operated it until 1989, assisted many of Benson's citizens during the depression.  All of the family members are buried here.

Here lies Ida Rath who died at 25 years of age.  There are several here who died young, making you wonder why ... what happened?

This cemetery is not kept up, although the City Council is trying to at least replace wooden crosses with granite headstones, denoting only names and dates.  

This one makes me wonder.  It seems Mr. Moss had two wives ... one born in 1896 who died in 1908 and one born in 1898 that died in 1910.   He must have felt the same about both, as their headstones are identical.

Surprisingly, there was a major flood here in 1896, in which many women and children died.  Most are buried in this cemetery, which may account for the many 25 year olds.

This is Roy Fourr, Company B, 31st Infantry who died in Siberia.  The last words to his parents are below:  What is the use fooling with those Dutch. Let us all go and we will whip them in three or four months.  

Many of the plots have fences ... really nice fences.  I'm sure there are also many graves that have no indication of their locations, so please walk with care.  

This is Amelia, born in England in 1868, wife of Christopher Boak.  She died at age 25 also.  These were brave pioneers to come all the way from England to the end of the wild west.  I imagine most were looking for riches in the mines.

This one really makes you wonder.  There are five children, all having died on the day they were born, which was one year apart.  Such tragedy they endured, whether the mother was a wife or a crib girl, it was pretty tough to live in that era.

Remember the three Mexican men who came to town on the same day a robbery was committed and a horse stolen?  They were hung in the nearest lumber yard building, boxes built and buried outside the cemetery.  Meanwhile, the gulch between the rich and the pauper sides enlarged until local people finally rescued the three, who everyone really thinks were innocent, and gave them a proper burial inside the cemetery.

I bet Eddie Fox was a character.  He was a well known comedian and clog dancer (who knew they clogged???) and was buried here in 1906.

I think it's a shame that this cemetery isn't kept up.  If I lived here, I would be out every day pruning, cleaning and sprucing the place up.  It's the least we can can do for those brave, adventurous people who came before us.  I closed a couple of gates, pulled a few weeds and replaced some wayward flowers.

At 3:00 I had to return to the SKP park for the afternoon's entertainment.  The Tucson High School Steel Drum Band came to play for us, and they were amazing!!  These were the advanced band, mostly seniors who will graduate and not return to play again.  

That is unless the Instructor needs a truck driver, in which case two extra previous band members came along and joined in the fun!!  They have just been accepted to play at Disneyland, and I'm sure the MANY donations given by this wonderful group of people, will take them far, if not pay for the entire trip!!

My thanks to wonderful friends Lynn and Dave Cross who took me in and showed me the ropes in this Escapees Park.  You can be as involved as you like and be busy every day, or you can spend your time investigating the local history like I did.  I have to say I think this is the friendliest park I've ever been to and will definitely be on my return list.

This morning early, due to predicted wind storms and severe fire danger, I'm heading back to the Pima County Fairgrounds to say goodbye to the Chance Family.  It appears I might be there a couple more days due to weather also.  It's been perfect, but of course when I'm on the move, it goes bad!!  See you there!!