The Trail of Faith
to the Memorial Marker of Marshall Bare
by Douglas and Aldene Poole
The Lord's hand is constantly
involved in finding genealogical information for those we work diligently to
locate and whom we testify are helping us, from the other side, to find their
information. Locating Mr. Marshall
Bare's memorial marker is another example of the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
"Spirit of Elijah", at work among us living.
The background:
In the summer of
2011, Aldene and I with two others, Elder Andrews and Emily, a TA (teaching
assistant) from the BYU-Idaho Family History Center, drove to the head of Birch
Creek in Lemhi county, Idaho, along Idaho Highway 28. Our goal was to ride our ATVs to search in
the desert for a cemetery that Elder Andrews had seen, off in the distance when
he had been fly fishing at Birch Creek. After
about an hour of fun hilly desert riding we found the cemetery, which was
called the Barzee Cemetery. We carefully
cleaned around the headstones and took pictures. After which we did a little more exploring, were
taught fly fishing by Elder Andrews and went home tired and dirty but happy. At home we edited the pictures and added the internment
information and pictures to the Internet on findagrave.com.
We know there are
many other graves of miners and settlers in the desert from the early
days. Most are not maintained or even
marked therefore are hard to find and even harder to identify.
The guided
discovery:
At a ward party in
the spring of 2012, we sat at a table with a couple from our ward. During the conversation of the evening we
mentioned looking for graves in the Birch Creek area. We were informed that the brother’s dad had
worked many years in that area and the gentleman, as a boy, had spent sometime
in the area. He asked if we had taken
pictures of Mr. Bare's grave. “No, we
had not even heard of it.” He explained
that Mr. Bare had owned a ranch in the Birch Creek area and when he died the
family received permission to bury him on his land. A few years ago this brother had been riding his
ATV with a group and they had viewed the headstone. He could not remember exactly where it was
but thought it was about 1/2 mile up Pass Creek on a hill.
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| Child's Grave at the old Nicholia Town Site |
On June 27, 2012
Aldene and I pulled our camp trailer and two ATVs to Birch Creek, camped at Kaufman
camp area, with the idea that a missionary couple, Elder and Sister Browning,
would come the next day, Thursday, June 28th and we would go riding looking for
burial locations. Elder Browning has a
book, "Between these mountains: History of Birch Creek Valley, Idaho"
by Pearl M. Oberg, which was published in 1956, regarding the Birch Creek area which
tells of many burials. As we rode the
dusty desert roads and trails, we found but one grave site, it was at the old Nicholia
town site, now part of a ranch, but it was not identified. Being a small grave site we assumed it to be for a child.
The rest of the day we rode to Viola mine, 2000 feet up the mountain,
and down Willow Creek but found no signs of other grave sites. We enjoyed our 60 mile ride in the beautiful
high country. We cannot think of a more
enjoyable way to search for grave sites than on ATVs in the mountains. After enjoying cold watermelon that evening Elder
and Sister Browning returned home.
Friday, June 29th,
Aldene and I stayed in the camp trailer, she had her crafts and made birthday
cards for the kids and grandchildren and I had my old computer and edited
pictures of our family we had scanned earlier.
About 4:00 pm we decided to go riding in search of the Bare grave site. Crossing highway 28 we found a
number of old dirt roads and trails to ride through the desert to find Pass
Creek Road. All along the way we were
looking for the grave site. We were
assuming it would be fenced in and have a large headstone, but alas it was nowhere
to be found.
After 14 miles we
came to the start of Pass Creek road along highway 28. As we sat there perplexed, wondering what to
do next we noticed a group of 4 cowboys setting on their horses. They were about 100 yards off the road and
were talking to a man in a pickup. Since
they were in the tall dry sagebrush we dismounted our ATV's and walked over. As
we approached, one of cowboys greeted us and we asked if anyone knew of a grave
up Pass Creek. They all looked a little
puzzled until the man in the pickup, spoke up and said he did not know of a
grave but there was a memorial marker for his great uncle, Marshall Bare, on up
the canyon. We were very excited. Marshall had been cremated and his ashes
spread over the ranch. Marshall loved
the area so his friend, who owned a monument company, made a marker and put it
by the corral. When we expressed a
desire to see the marker he looked as though we were a little weird but explained
that the marker was about three miles up the road by the old branding
corral.
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| Memorial Marker in the Sagebrush |
His directions were
to follow the road for about three miles and then turn south, left, just before
the corral where we would see a small pile of yellow dirt. The memorial marker would be close to this
dirt pile. After thanking him for the
information off we rode, coming to a fence with metal panels which we thought
may be the corral but it was only at 2 miles.
So we continued and at 3 miles we saw a real corral. Seeing the little trail about 300 feet for
the corral we turned left and drove to the small pile of yellow dirt, got off
the ATVs and looked and looked and walked all around but could not find the
marker. Finally I took my ATV and drove
up the old dry creek bed to see if I could notice the memorial up the hill, no
luck. As I was gazing around, Aldene
waved me back; she had found the marker about twenty feet from the dirt pile in
the only direction I had not looked. Aldene is the spiritual one, always has a
prayer in her heart as she searches. After
explaining to the Lord, that it was getting late and if it be his will that we
find the marker please direct her. Moments later she walked out into the
sagebrush and came upon the marker. It
turned out to be a flat marker hidden in the sagebrush. Not on a hill, at most on a little bump, with
no fence or protection. We brushed, washed, and trimmed back the sagebrush
before taking pictures of it and the surrounding area. We will put it on findagrave.com, as a
memorial marker of someone that was cremated.
We will also check on new.familysearch.org and make sure the information
is there for a relative to find and do his temple work, if it is not already completed. As you may have noticed stories get changed as
they are passed on; from a grave with a headstone, on a hill, 1/2 mile up Pass
Creek to reality; a memorial marker of a cremated person, 3 miles up Pass Creek
on the flat about 30 feet from the creek.
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| WE MISS YA PARD |
As you follow the
steps and the timing that lead us to the marker, may the Lord open your
understanding and strengthen your testimony of his hand in family history work.
