[or-roots] Snohomish Cemetery vs City Hall

Thu Mar 16 19:28:34 PST 2006

I got this email on another list I subscribed to.  It is about city hall vs. Snohomish Cemetery.  Sounds like the cemetery won this time.

Eugene

From: "Carroll Clark" <w7iml at gte.net> 
To: PSRoots-L at rootsweb.com 
Subject: [PSRoots] SNOHOMISH CEMETERY FOLLOW UP: 
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 21:18:08 +0000

I gained the permission from The Editor, Becky Reed and the Staff Reporter Jenny Zuvela of the SNOHOMISH COUNTY TRIBUNE to copy to WASNOHOM & PSRoot Bulletins the following articles regarding Snohomish Cemetery and the newly proposed relocation of a new senior center for Snohomish seniors.  More items will come out in the future as to what the finalized plans will be for both sites. I thank them for their reporting skills in making these articles possible: Here is what the Tribune has reported, so far.  The Tribune and the Herald newspapers have been relating to the public these concerns.

QUOTED in Full: Snohomish County Tribune Vol 117, Number 11 for Wednesday, March 15, 2006.
Snohomish drops plan to build on cemetery By Jenny Zuvela

The dead can rest in peace for now at the old Snohomish Cemetery the city of Snohomish decided on March 7 to abandon plans to build a senior center over the dilapidated pioneer graveyard because of escalating costs due to the high number of remains found.

It would cost a minimum $575,000 to remove, identify and relocate close to 100 human remains archaeologists found late last year, according to the city.  The City Council voted unanimously to stop pursuing a senior center at the Cypress Avenue property and to instead consider city property on Fourth Street near the library on Maple Avenue.  A less likely location is the Carnegie Building on First Street.  Concerned citizens and descendants of Snohomish pioneers were relieved.

"I think it's the first reasonable decision they've made (concerning the cemetery)," said Carolynn Crawford, descendant of several pioneers buried there.  Crawford and her family have fought the city on this issue for 10 years.  "Look at all the money they've poured into this thing."  After finding 96 spots that contained human remains, city staff reconsidered the process started more than a decade ago to decertify the cemetery and build a community center.

Archeologists also discovered 17 empty grave shafts that were possibly exhumed at some point.  Archeologists found an interesting trench under the former parking lot. It appears a piece of heavy equipment dug the trench, dumped the headstones and bases inside on top of four human remains and re-buried them.

The city suspects this was done in 1947 when U.S. Highway 2 (now Second Street) was built.

"Finding 96 positive results was a huge surprise," City Manager Larry Bauman said. "(The additional work) was far greater than we had budgeted.  Given, the scope of this, we felt it was really more appropriate to hold this property as a historical cemetery."

So far, the city has spent $185,373 in legal fees and archeological work and expects to spend $19,725 more to finish if the city were to exhume and re-bury the remains elsewhere; the total cost of decertification would escalate to $723,600, which doesn't include legal fees if the results were challenged in court.  Officials decided the cost was too high.

Other options are available. In 2000, the city acquired a vacant 1.27 acre site on Fourth Street along with land to build the Ano-Isle library, support services director Brad Nelson said.  The Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad* used to run through the property.  The spot is not big enough for senior housing, which was also planned at the Cypress Avenue location, and the soil could be contaminated with petroleum. But it's worth a try, city officials said.  Snohomish Seniors executive director Karen Charnell said the seniors support building on the alternate site.

The council approved spending $14,000 to test the Fourth Street property's soil for contamination and stability for construction.  The city will begin working with an architect soon to redesign the center to fit the new location.  The public will have a chance to weigh in on those things in about two months during a public hearing, Nelson said.

In the meantime, the city and the Tulalip Tribes are drafting an agreement that will govern the transition of the cemetery from a building site to a memorial, Nelson said.

In the coming months, stake holders will need to determine what to do with the pink house owned by the Snohomish Seniors, what to do with seven burials in the Second Street right-of-way and what the cemetery will eventually become, he said.

Snohomish resident Guy Faussett's family has lived in the area since 1892, he said. Faussett has protested the senior center plans at the cemetery property since the beginning.

"I realize (the current council and staff) inherited a lot of these poor decisions by past mayors and councils, (but) it's the city's responsibility to maintain the final resting place of the city's pioneers," he said. "And there's plenty of property that's not going to stir up controversy."

Senior center member James McAlister opposed the Cypress Avenue plans and believes at least one of his ancestors is buried there.  He said the Fourth Street property is the best location for the seniors.

"If there's any opposition to the senior center being built on the new location, I'd definitely have something to say about that," McAllister said.  The City Council also voted March 7 to provide up to $12,000 to the senior group to cover rent and other expenses for one year while the organization is temporarily located at a church.

The city placed any headstones and bases found on the property, including a pile** that had been on the site at least 10 year, in secure storage until the parties involved figure out their final resting place.

END OF QUOTED ARTICLE by Staff Writer for Snohomish County Tribune, Jenny Zuvela.

COMMENTS : * The railroad running North-South across 4th Street where the newly proposed site for a new senior center to be considered, is actually the NORTHERN PACIFIC Railroad, not the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.

A picture of the Northern Pacific Depot in Snohomish may be seen in the Snohomish Historical Society's 2nd RIVER REFLECTIONS Part II] 1910-1980 era history.  The picture is on page 17 and the location of the depot is at 3rd and Lincoln Streets, right in back of the new $8 million Snohomish Library, where the parking lot for the Library is located.

I know this for I used to go to that Depot when I was attempting to learn "land line" Morse code which produces "clicks" of sound, whereas I had already mastered the International Morse Code which uses tones - also there are at least 13 characters difference between the two codes, making it a challenge to be able to interpret both codes readily and w/o effort when hearing the differences in "sounds".

Another interesting item that I noticed and should have been recognized by city officials and that is: In the 1st volume of River Reflections Snohomish City 1859 to 1910 a history of Snohomish by the Snohomish Historical Society staff, states on page 55 in its last paragraph concerning the history of Indian Cemetery which more properly known, and of record, as "Snohomish Cemetery" as I have said many times in past writings.  Page 55, final Paragraph states "The portions of the property not affected by the highway right-of way still contain a number of graves on both sides of U.S. Highway 2".  What is important in this statement is not only were there still remains, but in the both sides of the former Highway 2, which means that the Pioneer Village on the North side of Snohomish Cemetery is on top of the cemetery and there are several buildings including a log cabin and tombstones taken from the cemetery and placed to look like a real cemetery, for show, when it is not.  There may be remains buried under that area which the archeological explorations hasn't done, and it remains to be seen what will come of that portion -in the past the city referred to it as Parcel C. when the first attempts toward building a senior center on Parcels A and B. were staked off .

**As to a pile of stones - I recall the "pile" or dumped base stones at the base of some trees close to the extended portion of the Snohomish Senior Center building that had been extended 30 ft for Bingo, et al activities.  There were 3 very large sandstone bases with "worked" decor on them, plus 1 marble, appeared to be a sort of pinkish colored marble base stone with the letters T H O M A S in large capital letters across it, plus a good sized thick slab of wood that appeared to be some kind of cover to a grave or coffin. I checked on these ever so often and I noticed that they had been askew but the Thomas stone was readable. Then, as time passed I saw the stones still in disarray but the Thomas base had been turned in such a way that it was not longer visible for the name but the same stone base.  If one goes across the 2nd street access through the north portion (NOT "the middle" as reported by many) of the Snohomish Cemetery, now called Old Snohomish Village, or whatever - a fake Village of buildings, a log cabin from the Machias area closest to Snohomish, plus the exemplary real tombstones, but replaced there to form a fake cemetery.  Are there remains in that portion of that Northern smaller section of the original Snohomish Cemetery, as the Hwy 2 cut was not to include that portion.  The Hwy 2 cut was 80ft wide, and is now known as 2nd Street near Pine and Cypress.

There's more to this Story, but I will submit this, then I will write about some more of the Story when I can find time: namely the cemetery history By Jenny Zuvela with hers and the Editor's permissions which I have gained.

Isn't Genealogy a fun thing to do? Pieces of the "puzzles" keep popping up here and there, but if we are diligent enough and don't lose faith, things begin to come together.  I guess that is why I have come to think of my Motto (my genealogical motto): They Want to Be Found!  Now if I can just apply this to my elusive SCOTT ancestry who left few clues, and not much in writing, but it's OUT THERE somewhere and I have Faith that I will be able to find it - eventually, if I try hard enough and apply enough "expertise" to accomplish that goal.

Sincerely, Carroll in Snohomish (he loves to seek for the Good).

* * * 30 * * *
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/or-roots/attachments/20060317/ed93ae45/attachment.html>