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41 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, December 16, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 16, 2004 Digging up the story of the soldiers’ cemetery By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune When Jessica James was 12 years old, she heard an intriguing story about a small cemetery containing the remains of 13 soldiers in Red Rock Canyon east of Lost Creek Lake. That was about the time the Prospect product became a volunteer for the Southern Oregon Historical Society, a worthy cause she continues today. Now 21 and a Rogue Community College student whose interest in local history hasn’t faded, James wants to find out whether the tale is fact or fable. "This was something I’ve always wanted to research," she says. "Some friends up in Prospect had told me about it. It was a story they had heard." James, who has written several articles for SOHS’s magazine and plans to write about the tale of the soldier’s cemetery, isn’t convinced it exists. Advertisement Or that it doesn’t. But the history sleuth intends to dig up the truth. She already has found several written accounts concerning the cemetery. She found it in the 1978 Oregon Cemetery Survey, published by the Oregon Department of Transportation. It reports there are 13 soldier graves with no dates some eight miles up Red Rock Canyon from the Cascade Gorge, she says. And she found a May 27, 1966, article in the Mail Tribune by a correspondent in Shady Cove that also reports that the graves of 13 unknown soldiers are in the canyon. "The story, handed down through the years, is that the 13 were among a company of soldiers who rode out from Jacksonville in pursuit of a band of marauding Indians, chasing them up into the wild canyon country," according to the article. The newspaper story goes on to note that, although there are no markers, "small American flags, enclosed in glass, stand a mute evidence that these are indeed the graves of soldiers." Further, the article says the graves were "rediscovered" in 1939 by Trail resident Allen Rodgers who was on a trip into the canyon for the state geological society. The fellow was looking for mining locations for state maps, it explains. As a good history detective, James checked with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industry field office in Grants Pass. Created in 1937, the agency represents the geological community. There was no record of Rodgers having worked for them. Nor was there any record of a geological study for Red Rock Canyon. Hmmmmm. Jeff LaLande, a local historian and archaeologist for the Rogue River National Forest, is dubious the cemetery exists. Over the years LaLande, in addition to talking to numerous old-timers, has pored over historic accounts of the 1855-56 Rogue River Indian Wars, which included outbreaks in 1851 and 1853. "I’ve never seen anything from that period that makes any reference to such an event or place," he says, then adds, "And it certainly would have been a notable event." He also knows that even place names can be deceiving. Consider Dead Soldier Meadow, a dozen miles northeast of Red Rock Canyon. The meadow is at the head of Dead Soldier Creek. But no one, at least no one who was sober, ever shed any tears over that particular soldier, he observes. According to his book, "Prehistory and History of the Rogue River National Forest," the soldier in question was a whiskey bottle. Numerous whiskey bottles, actually. Their contents were finished off by sheepherders and hunters around 1900, he says. Eugene resident Frank Walsh, 80, a retired teacher who has studied the Rogue Indian wars, also questions the existence of the cemetery. He has compiled a list of 21 Army soldiers and 49 volunteers killed during the wars. "There was no action up there that I know of," Walsh says, noting he also checked with another historian on the coast. "We couldn’t verify that at all. A dozen or so soldiers killed would have certainly stood out." Both veteran historians hope James can solve the cemetery mystery, even if it proves to be a rural myth. James, who hopes to become a teacher, plans to give it the old college try. She recently tried to hike into the likely area with friends only to retreat because of bad weather. She plans to return later this spring. Meanwhile, she hopes anyone with information on the Red Rock Canyon graves will drop a note to the SOHS Research Library, 106 N. Central Ave., Medford, OR 97501-5926 or send an e-mail to [email protected]. "I’d really like to do a paper on it," she says. "I’m hoping someone has some information that can help find the true story about the soldiers’ cemetery." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail himat [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities