Hedges Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 32.884387, -114.831715
County: Imperial
Record count: 0

Ownership: Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior

Directions: To reach Tumco, take Interstate 8 to County Highway S34 (also marked as the exit to Ogilby and Blythe). S34 lies about 15 miles west of the Arizona border. Head north on S34 for about 8.5 miles. You will come to the intersection of Gold Rock Ranch road. There is a sign here marking the entrance to Hedges - Tumco Mine, as well as the Gold Rock Ranch R.V. Park. Tumco is on the east side of S34, along a gravel road.

Background: Hedges had maintained two cemeteries. There was one within the town limits, and is referred to as "West Neighborhood Cemetery" in the BLM Trail Guide. The other is located outside of town limits, adjacent to the old trash dump. The other cemetery is now being named "Hedges Cemetery" on Google Maps. According to the proprietor of the Gold Rock Ranch R.V. Park, which lies just 1 mile west of Hedges, the former cemetery contains Protestant burials, while the latter contains Catholics.

Hedges Cemetery is not marked on the BLM Trail Guide. I counted 75 graves. None of the graves have inscriptions. This cemetery lies near the old Hedges trash dump, just north of the trail-head. The Hedges trash dump is an eerie sight. Hundreds of thousands of rusted cans (fruit cans, soup cans, bean cans, etc.) cover an acre of land, and in some places with not a piece of earth showing through it. I'm sure that paper products were tossed here also, but over the years have disintegrated, and left only the cans to remain.