Cemetery 
Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery
5 Thumbs Up!
Click here to give your thumbs up.
Photo © Clarksville Historical Society
Mormon Island is a relocation cemetery that was created in 1954 by the Army Corps of Engineers. It was used as a replacement for several cemeteries submerged below Folsom Lake when the Folsom Dam was built in 1955.
The cemetery holds the relocated remains of some of the earliest mining camps established after the 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. Remains from Mormon Island, Salmon Falls, Negro Hill, Condemned Bar, Carrollton Bar, McDowell’s Hill, Natural Dam and Doton’s Bar cemeteries, plus five individual graves were relocated to the new Mormon Island Cemetery. The earliest burial from any of these cemeteries could have been 1848, since several of these Mining Camps were first established in that year.
At five acres, Mormon Island (Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery) is one of the largest cemeteries in the County. Approximately one-half of this area is currently undeveloped; however, the area is being saved by the County for future cemetery relocations. This cemetery is currently inactive and only accepts remains for previously-purchased plots. There are 474 occupied plots recorded in the cemetery and 17 plots that have been purchased for future burials.
Time Period Represented: Gold Rush (1848-1855)
Seasons Open: Year-round
Pet Friendly NotesPets on leash only please.
photos
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Racists Graves wrote on October 18, 2011: Calif. headstones marked with N-word replaced http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CEMETERY_SLUR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-18-17-58-35
Eric Thomsen wrote on June 12, 2011: Sorry, "vast majority" may be an overstatement. It's closer to 60% of the total, but that is three times more than the number of bodies the next largest cemetery, Salmon Falls, provided. The original figures can be found here: http://www.spk.usace.army.mil/NegroHillCemetery.html.
Eric Thomsen wrote on June 12, 2011: William: Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery holds the bodies of approximately 380 people relocated from eight cemeteries and five private burials. The vast majority of bodies (about 229) came from the original Mormon Island Cemetery. Instead of giving the relocation cemetery a long, run-on name that included the names of the eight original source cemeteries, I assume it was named "Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery" because of this fact.
William Dickens wrote on June 07, 2011: This area is called Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery. Were these African Americans slaves of Mormon people? Were they Mormons who maliciously replaced "negro" with you know what? Or is it just a coincidence? Why does a church who is stereotyped as being racist against African American's happen to be the name of the relocation center. It seems unlikely that there isn't some sort of an historical reason.
michael harris wrote on March 20, 2010: This photo shows the Negro Hill Burial Ground section where 36 grave markers show the most foul and wicked name in the English language for the early Black Pioneers.