veterans buried within. Curving narrow paths, most of them having evolved through use rather than any formal construction, allow passage through the cemetery. A brick foundation, in very bad shape, at the northwest corner is the only remnant of what was possibly a caretaker's shed. Approximately 175 graves have been identified at the cemetery, of which 125 are in the western half, in an apparently random pattern. In contrast, the 50 graves to the east are primarily Civil War veterans, buried in two long rows with government-issued markers, the only aspect of the cemetery indicating any planning. Among the other graves, only 25 have markers identifying the deceased. Some are surrounded by iron fences or stone walls, while others are indicated by small cobblestone coping or are just depressions in the ground. History In the late 1870s, shortly after Colorado became a state, prospectors began crossing the Continental Divide at Independence Pass in search of silver deposits in the Roaring Fork Valley. Many set up their tents about below the pass at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and its tributary Castle Creek, the first area they found suitable for large-scale settlement. It was called Ute City at first for the dominant local Native American tribe. A party of prospectors came to the new settlement in 1880 from Texas. One of them, known as Colonel Kirby, had taken ill with "mountain fever" (today known as brucellosis) on the trail near Red Mountain, and died shortly after reaching the party's destination. None of the few inhabitants of the growing community had yet died, so the site of the current cemetery was chosen for the burial, land then owned by Charles Hallam, owner of the Smuggler Mine. Kirby's body was exhumed the following year to be taken back to Texas and reburied in his family plot. In the meantime the settlement had continued to grow and taken the name Aspen from the abundance of that tree. Town officials realized that they would need a formal burying ground as it grew. They wanted to find a more outlying location than the land Kirby had been buried in, but never did. Burials thus continued on the site, known then as Evergreen Cemetery, without any management, maintenance or oversight from the city. Early wooden or stone markers often fell victim to the severe mountain winters at the cemetery's Many of the early burials were miners