Chase Richards, a young boy scout pursuing his Eagle rank, took a group of friends to
Overton, Nevada and photographed the tombstones in Pioneer Cemetery. He submitted about
500 pictures for the project. And earned his Eagle ranking!
Overton, Nevada is approximately 1 hour northeast of Las Vegas and has an early history in
the State of Nevada. This community was originally settled by Mormon Pioneers sent by
Brigham Young to farm. At the time they first settled in Overton, that community was part
of Utah. When Nevada became a state, Overton was included as part of the new state.
When the U. S. Government approved the Hoover/Boulder Dam in the 1920's, part of the
project called for creating Lake Mead, which would ultimately cover two communities,
Kaolin and St. Thomas. In 1935, the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Reclamation, removed the bodies from the cemeteries in Kaolin and St. Thomas, Nevada, and
reinterred them in other cemeteries. Some of those reinterments are in the Pioneer
Cemetery.
You can see the new photo pages by clicking on the link below, then scrolling down to
Pioneer Cemetery.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/Nevada/county_pages/clarkcem.html
Chase Richards has contributed a great visible record of some of our more historic
tombstones for which we are extremely grateful. Nice job, Chase!
Gerry Perry
Nevada Tombstone Project Manager