Columbia Cemetery Restoration - Rossland, BC - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

MAINTENANCE AND RESTORATION
OF THE COLUMBIA CEMETERY

The Columbia Cemetery is Rossland's municipal cemetery. It was well used until the 1930s and after that, maintenance and restoration work has been sporadic. On several occasions, sunken graves have been filled in and attempts made to repair and support vandalized monuments. Unfortunately, attempts to clean up the Cemetery by grass fires in the late 1940s destroyed whatever wooden markers there were. In 1963 a summer work project produced the map of burial sites which can be seen on this side of the kiosk.

In 2008, an improved road access to the Cemetery through Mountain View Cemetery was developed as the original access through Happy Valley was no longer manageable. Since 1985, the Columbia Cemetery has been included in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary Cemetery Function and receives an annual minimum level of maintenance care provided by the City of Rossland Works Crew. The wind storm of 2008 caused considerable damage to the trees around the cemetery and City workers have been working on the clean up. Restoration work today begins with the new directional and information signage. All known grave sites have been identified and some grave sites and monuments need attention.

But perhaps the greatest challenge of the Columbia Cemetery restoration work is to make it easier for people to find the exact location of the burial site they want to visit. This will require the use of Block markers and filling in the missing Block and Plot numbers in the Burial Permit documentation, a huge job as few Block and Plot numbers were entered after 1923. An electronic format of the burial permits with their information is currently available at City Hall and the Rossland Historical Museum. New information is always welcomed. Work continues!
• Rossland Heritage Commission September, 2010
From the sign