Old cemetery offers paradise for poets
The Daily Inter Lake
Spring Creek Cemetery in West Valley provides a paradise on earth for poets, photographers, artists, botanists and genealogists.
From crumbling headstones to a splintered old cross enshrouded in thick brush, the 1895-era graveyard touches an emotional cord. Where some find a poignant natural beauty, others see neglect.
"Some people think it should be mowed and kept beautiful," said Jeanine Buettner, secretary for the nonprofit organization that oversees the country cemetery.
She said the cemetery's natural tufted crowns of bunchgrass won't stand up to mowing. However, they have withstood misguided intervention.
"We've had people start fires and burn it off," Buettner said.
Along with complaints about overgrowth, she said she also hears a lot of compliments from people who appreciate the serenity of the cemetery off West Valley Road just off its junction with West Reserve.
Maintenance occurs once a year on the second Saturday before Memorial Day. Volunteers scour the few acres for trash and beer bottles - but don't attempt to manicure the cemetery.
Landscaped by nature, the cemetery shelters a treasure trove for botanists.
"There are some wildflowers there you won't find anywhere else," Buettner said. "That's why we're keeping it the way it is."
Established 113 years ago, Spring Creek Cemetery consists of land provided in equal thirds by Capt. Robert Palmer, the Methodist Church and Mrs. Walter Craft, who later gave her third to the church.
Buettner had no information about Mrs. Craft, but she recalled stories about Palmer building a three-story brick house near the cemetery "as the beginning of Kalispell." The home later burned down.
In 1937, the Methodist Church released its rights to the cemetery to the organization that still holds responsibility for the sacred ground. Buettner said that was about the time the church was moved from the site now occupied by the Stillwater Grange.
"My mother remembered as a little girl seeing it moved to West Reserve," she said.
The organization receives no subsidy from the state or county to maintain the cemetery. It operates only on donations from families of the people buried in the graveyard.
A handful of people meet once a year as required by law to elect officers for the Spring Creek Cemetery nonprofit corporation. Buettner said her mother served as secretary, then she took over the post about 15 years ago.
She said her ancestors - members of the Stiles family - have been buried in the graveyard since the turn of the century. Other plots reflect pioneer families with names such as Nordtome, Miller, Rhodes and many more.
"The first person buried was Francis Terry, daughter of Jefferson Terry," Buettner said.
Her record books show 265 people interred in the cemetery, including 15 veterans. She said the cemetery gains about five to six new graves each year.
Occasionally, old unknown graves make themselves known when large indentations form in the earth.
"Some were never marked or marked with a board that rotted away over time," she said.
A walk through the cemetery - with its large engraved granite monuments mixed with thin slices of stone wiped clean by the ruthless hand of time - recalls the lines from Thomas Gray's much-loved poem, "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard."
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e're gave,
Await alike th' inevitable hour:-
The paths of glory lead but to the grave."
Anyone interested in a plot or other information about Spring Creek Cemetery may contact Buettner at 755-4733.