In the Historical Guide to Routt County it states the following: "Yampa Cemetery, located 1.5 miles west of Yampa, on the old road to Oak Creek and part of the Robert Laughlin homestead, this pioneer cemetery served the town from 1884, until it was reorganized as the South Routt Cemetery District in the 1970's."
Yampa was never planned. It simply grew at the gateway to Routt County - site of the most traveled routes from the eastern slope into Egeria Park, Dunckley, Pyramid, Morrison Creek, Steamboat Springs and western Routt County. Peter Simon and Sam Fix located the first claims near the present town in 1881. The Bird family and others settled in the area in 1882. William Birds' son was killed in a gun fight with outlaws in August of 1882 and is buried about 3/4 mile south of the Yampa Cemetery. (see Bird Grave Site) A closely knit community formed among the many families who established homestead claims during the next few years. In 1883 a post office opened at the Watson Ranch and Egeria Park saw the birth of its first white child, Charlie Bird, and the death of its first resident, Bernard Sprunk's wife. The following year the first school opened in a cabin on the Henry Crawford Ranch.
More peaceful events marked 1885 when the first school house was built just south of the present cemetery and 1886 when the first store was constructed on the present townsite by Henry J. Hernage. It was also in 1886 that the town started calling itself Yampa instead of Egeria. The name Yampa was originally used by a small community near the present town of Craig. But when the citizens of that area decided to name their town Craig, the residents of Egeria Park adopted the name Yampa.
Two economic booms contributed to Yampa's growth. The first reflected the prosperity of the large cattle ranches in the 1880's and 1890's. The second was attributed to the success of the lettuce and spinach farming in the 1920's. The timber industry and mining have contributed to the growth of this community.
Land records do not show that Laughlin owned any of this site. If he did it may have been prior to the land records that we found. B. Moore filed a claim in 1911 which was patented in 1918. Portions of the land were sold to Hoffman, King and Saunder. In 1934 Moore sold approximately 3 acres to the Town of Yampa which was the cemetery. In 1944 Moore sold 4.15 acres to the Town of Yampa, noted as cemetery. Yampa transferred the site to the South Routt Cemetery District in 1965.
ROUTT COUNTY CEMETERY: #RT788
COLORADO HISTORICAL SITE: #5RT788
LOCATION: 50 ft west of RCR#21
BURIALS: 680 burials with 680 inscribed stones from 188 to 1994
CONDITION: 435 ft x 500 ft in excellent condition, enclosed with a metal fence
USGS QUAD MAP: YAMPA, CO 7.5 1972 UTM 13: 336220 mE 4449360 mN
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: T3N R85W 6th PM SE 4, SE 4, SE 4 SEC 33
© 2004-2008 Roger & Joyce Cusick
National Association for Cemetery Preservation, Inc.nacpinc@hotmail.com
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