The Elk Mountain Cemetery has been called several names over the years. It has been referred to as the Elk Cemetery, Lower Elk Cemetery and the Trull Cemetery. There has also been reference to the Fairplay Cemetery or Borghi/Jackson grave site as the Trull Cemetery, so some confusion still exists when researching older burials and records.
In the Historical Guide to Routt County there is a short listing for the Elk Mountain Cemetery. It states: Elk Mountain Cemetery, located near the Fly Gulch turn off, this early cemetery contains the graves of many Mystic settlers who died during the 1918 flu epidemic. Mystic, named by Fred May, 1901 settler and rancher, after his home in Mystic, Iowa. Located at the head of Trull Creek, a school operated from 1928 until the early 1940's and was referred to as the Elk Mountain School. Fly Gulch was named by Faunt Fly for his father who homesteaded here before 1890. The name Trull, named for the pioneer family who homesteaded the area in the early 1880's. The George Trull Ranch became a major stop on the road to Hayden. Although a townsite was laid out, it was never developed, but the Trull home served as a boarding house, stage stop, saloon, store and post office. Travelers and residents are said to have had some "wild times" at Trull. In the 1920's the Elk River Grange Hall, built down the road from Trull, became a community center for meetings, dances and funerals until the late 1950's when it was torn down. Two schools operated in the area; the Fly Gulch School was a summer school and the Fairplay School served both the Trull and Lower Elk River communities from the 1890's until the early 1950's. A small pioneer cemetery is located on the hillside near the Fairplay School. (this is the Fairplay Cemetery)
The Fairplay 4-H Club has been working on this site for several years and continue to work to maintain this site. The National Assoc. for Cemetery Preservation, Inc. gave a presentation to this group in 1991. The Fairplay 4-H Club adopted the Elk Mountain Cemetery as a Community Pride project. They applied for a grant to help identify grave sites, install headstones and install a gate and sign.
As with many of the early grave sites, the early markers are not to be found. In some cases there are a few fieldstone markers but the graves are not identified. Many of the early wooden markers have long since been lost to the severe weather of this region.
Land records show that Isaac G. Voice got a homestead exemption for 160 acres in 1890. This exemption was patented in 1893. For the next several years this property was deeded to several owners. In 1894 to Coleman, 1896 Coleman to Coleman, 1904 Coleman to Clark, 1905 Clark to Clark Land & Stock Co., in 1919 it was deeded to L. L. Brown. Brown deeded it to H. E. Robinson and from him to Leo & Lois Robinson in 1967. At this time it appears that a portion of this site is also on property owned by D. Sherrod. They are continuing to resolve this problem as the property lines do not match with the survey. It is the intent of both parties to deed their ownership to the cemetery association and possibly expand the site for future use.
ROUTT COUNTY CEMETERY: #RT792
COLORADO HISTORICAL SITE: #5RT792
LOCATION: 150 ft south of RCR#44
BURIALS: 75 burials with 55 inscribed stones from 1888 to 1992
CONDITION: 429 ft x 132 ft in good condition, enclosed with a metal fence
USGS QUAD MAP: MAD CREEK, CO 7.5 1962 UTM 13; 335970 mE 4489260 mN
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: T7N R85W 6th PM NW 4, NE 4, SE 4, NE 4 SEC 29
© 2004-2008 Roger & Joyce Cusick
National Association for Cemetery Preservation, Inc.nacpinc@hotmail.com
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