Potholes Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 32.817045, -114.512698
County: Imperial
Record count: 41

Directions: The cemetery is located about 1 mile north of the town of Bard, near the Laguna Dam right on the All American Canal. To get there take Interstate 8 to the town of Winterhaven on the Arizona border. Take the Winterhaven exit and get on County Highway S24. Stay on S24 for several miles through the town of Bard. The highway changes names several times. Just outside of Bard, you will pass by a store called, "Cole's Corner". About a mile beyond this you will come to a bridge crossing a canal.

At this point, you should see a State Historic Marker describing the location of the Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer. There are a couple of dirt roads here that lead past the Marker. Take either one of these roads, which should take you up to the All American Canal. You will see signs posted warning people not to trespass. If you choose to continue, turn right when you get up on to the canal. The cemetery lies just a few hundred feet away, almost directly under the power lines.

Background: Potholes was a placer-mining gold area. An article published in the Los Angeles Times in 1902 stated that people had been digging for gold in this area since 1720, calling Potholes the oldest placer camp in the continental United States. To this day, people can still be seen here panning for gold.

Potholes had at one time a population of 4 to 5 hundred miners, most of them Mexican. The placer deposits were worked into the 1930s.

The cemetery was originally placed where the All American Canal runs through. When construction began on the canal, construction workers had to relocate the cemetery. The cemetery today most likely covers a smaller area than its original location. Most of the graves are marked by small mortuary tins with the names no longer readable. All of the original wooden markers have deteriorated. I estimate the current total of graves to be around 300. It could have been more than that at its original location.

Interred in this cemetery are the remains from the Picacho and Castle Dome cemeteries, which were removed to here due to the All American Canal being put through.

Documents

• 
  Potholes Cemetery, Genealogical Society of Yuma, AZ

Burial Records

• Tombstone Transcription, by Interment.net, November 2000, (41 records)

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