Skeletons of Carson pioneers dug up in construction project

The skeletons of six people laid to rest around 100 years ago were unearthed Friday as construction workers dug a utility trench on a parcel of land that was once part of Lone Mountain Cemetery.

Work on the site was stopped until Monday, and officials from the Nevada State Museum have been called in to monitor the rest of the digging at the site. Archaeologists from Gnomon Inc. will map the location of the skeletons Monday.

Dr. Alanah Woody, an archaeologist with the State Museum, said workers creating a utility trench for the Point Office Complex dug through at least six separate remains. She said it was her understanding that the property owner wanted the project to continue with the bodies returned to the trench and reburied. Woody fears, however, that the weekend will draw scavengers to the site.

"People are scavengers," she said. "They just take (bones) for souvenirs. It's hideous, but some people just want them for their mantel. It's disrespectful to say the least."

Phone calls to property owner James Foley, of Carson City, were unreturned Friday.

Separated from the cemetery in 1979 with the extension of Roop Street, the triangle-shaped,1.5 acre parcel between Roop and Moody streets is commonly known as the old Chinese cemetery. While cemetery officials have no records designating the site as a cemetery, one map done for a 1981 U.S. Forest Service study shows the current construction site and Roop Street as being the indigent, baby, Chinese, Japanese and black sections of early Lone Mountain Cemetary.

While the bodies are officially of unknown origin, several historical clues indicated the graves were those of Chinese people.

Very little history on the site exists, and some city officials speculated any bodies that may have been in the cemetery had been moved. However, City Engineer Larry Werner said that during the 1979 construction of Roop Street human remains were found, but were reburied and paved over. Werner was the city's public works director in 1979.

"Crews ran across a couple of bones, but we covered them up and kept going," Werner said. "It was almost like they were mass graves. What would have been worse? To dig them up or leave them alone? Now they're preserved and protected."

The city sold the parcel to James Newman for $180,000 as part of a land trade in 1989, said Carson City Parks and Recreation Director Steve Kastens. However, assessor records show the parcel now is owned by Foley.

Rebecca Palmer, historic preservation specialist with the State Historic Preservation Office, said the state has no jurisdiction over the discovery of historical remains found on private property.

Most state law on the protection of human remains protects Native American graves. Non-Indian graves are protected as archaeological resources if they are more than 100 years old and on public land. Remains on private land are protected by law from removal of the grave only if the intent is to dissect or sell the body.

"It would be nice for private property owners to have guidance as to what could be done with the remains, but the statutes are silent," Palmer said.

Paul Lohman, Carson City assistant engineer, said the office project went through the city's major project review process and the designers of the site were "made aware that there was a potential to expose buried bodies there." Lohman said his plans for the site didn't appear to show any plans for digging in the site where the skeletons were discovered.

Mark Palmer, of Palmer and Lauder Engineers, said his company did utility design plans on the site more than a year ago. However, he said he was unaware of the possibility of burial grounds on the site.