Brown Cemetery - Klamath County, OR - Freestanding Arches on Waymarking.com

Brown Cemetery is a Native American cemetery located on a hillside, just north of the Sprague River, a few miles east of Beatty, OR. It was formally known as Masekesket Cemetery, named after an Indian Chief from the Klamath Tribe (and whose grave marker's name is spelled MosenKosket), who was one of the negotiators during the pre-Modoc War conflict at the Lava Beds in 1872.

Sadly, there are many infant and child graves throughout the property. Most of the graves here are from the turn-of-the-century, a time when health care was non-existent for these native tribes and death came frequently and at a young age. There are also many unmarked graves with small, blank, marble headstones or a white-painted piece of wood standing in front of the grave. I also found it interesting that all grave markers here are placed in front of the body and not behind the head, like traditional plots.

I found three grave sites of interest: The first being Amanda Cowen, who died at 106 years of age (she was disputed of being much older) and who was the oldest living tribe member of both the Klamath and Modoc Tribes; The second being the grave site of Merlin Chocktoot, who's headstone inscription reads:

MERLIN CHOCKTOOT
BORN DEC. 18, 1920.
ASSASSINATED DEC. 6, 1941.

And lastly, the grave site of Chief MosenKosket, who this cemetery was originally named after (and spelled differently).

There is a large section in the middle portion of cemetery containing grave sites of Brown family members.

There is a centenarian located in this cemetery and can be visited and waymarked here: Amanda Cowen

There are approximately 100-150 graves in this cemetery, many of which are unmarked with only a small, wooden headstone or smaller, marble or metal grave marker designating the plot as being inhabited.

As with any Native American cemetery, any visitor to this place MUST RESPECT the history and people here. This is a sacred place that has many local connections throughout the area, through the descendents and through the land that once belonged to the Klamath and Modoc tribes.

DIRECTIONS TO BROWN CEMETERY:
This cemetery can be hard to locate if you're not paying attention. Follow this road route for the quickest access: From the town of Beatty, turn north onto Godow Spring Rd. Proceed a few miles then turn right, going east onto Sycan Rd. After a few miles, Sycan Rd becomes a dirt road that forks right, becoming Ferguson Mountain Rd. Continue south on this road. You will pass a yellow train car with snow removal equipment on the front and boarded up with windows. This section of the road was once the OC&E Railroad. This road will eventually curve around the hillside and up the hill to Brown Cemetery.

Type: Gateway Subtype: Municipal/Regional Entrance Location: Brown Cemetery

Visit Instructions:
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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   10/04/2015 Rkoehn1 visited it