Neglected Pioneer Cemetery
In his files The Knave finds that, over a
period of more than a decade, there have been
recurrent efforts to preserve the old Norton-
ville-Somerville Cemetery from the invasion
of weeds and cattle and from the menace of
fire. Occasionally something was done. The
cows were kept out for a while and volunteers
have attacked the weeds. I hear now from
Howard Waldorf that the old cemetery in Contra Costa is again in shocking state. Grass
fires have swept through it and vandals have
battered some of the tombstones to rubble. In
old times' an organiration -— The Federated
Women's Clubs, I believe—saw to it that the
place was maintained as a, pioneer landmark.
"Apparently," says Waldorf, "gas rationing
.halted the effort. To see it now and think of
those pioneering souls buried there on the hilltop above the ghost towns they founded so
far from their native land is a heartache."
Just to the north of Mount Diablo the mining
cities flourished back in the early days. Somersville was named for Francis Somers, who, with,-
James Cruickshank—on December 22, 1859 discovered the Black Diamond vein of coal and located various mines on it. In 1881 Somersville
was a place of consequence. In Nortonville,
named for Noah Norton,- builder of the first
house, there is little left save a coal mine and a
few buildings. The cemetery on the left side of
the valley stands as a remembrance of the two
places. Names on the headstones inform visitors
that the community was largely Welsh-, and here
and there an epitaph in Welsh accompanies
• the name.- One of these, translated, reads: "Now
from my grave Below I make this plea: Since.
I no longer walk on hill nor lea, and am forever from the sight of man, Forget my grave
and just remember me." That grave and the
others have been all but forgotten through many I
