Pioneer Woman's Grave - Government Camp, OR
Posted by: dkestrel
N 45° 16.928 W 121° 42.004
10T E 601950 N 5015114
A pioneer woman died on the Barlow Road and was buried in a simple wagonbox casket. A wooden wagon tongue served as a headboard.
Waymark Code: WMJW9P
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 01/06/2014
Views: 13
In 1924 engineers constructing the first Mt. Hood Highway discovered a gravesite here. The grave was marked with an old wooden wagon tongue covered by decades of overgrown brush. When they dug up the site they found the remains of an emigrant woman. After reburial, a cross was placed in honor of this unnamed pioneer woman. People passing the site have placed stones and flowers on her grave over the years, slowly building a memorial cairn as a tribute to the bold and adventurous spirits that crossed the nation on the Oregon Trail.
The son of Steven Coalman, a former Barlow Toll Road superintendent, said "My father remembered meeting a man here who ha just buried his wife. He buried her in a wagonbox made of the wagon, and made a crude fence around the grave. She had been very sick and they had camped there for several days before she died. The man had two small children, a boy and a girl, both under five years of age."
The plaque at the site reads: In memory of an unknown pioneer woman of 184? Dedicated August 23, 1936 and Replaced and Rededicated August 23, 1982 by Multnomah Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Access to this location is from Hwy 35, east on the Barlow Road.
Cairn Location: On the Barlow Trail
Cairn Purpose: Grave Memorial
Types of rock: Basalt
Cairn Condition:
Type if different from above list: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
An original image picture of the cairn captured at the coordinates given by yourself.
At least one sentence to describe your impression of the Cairn, or your reason for visiting if it is more than just waymarking.