Many early Mormons passed through this very valley. It is my understanding that numerous Mormon Pioneers, who died on their way to Salt Lake City, are buried outside the fence of this cemetery. They could not afford plots within the boundaries, so they were placed in unmarked graves. It is quite expensive, but it would be worth using new technologies to locate these graves and properly mark them.
But not only those graves are in trouble. All of Valley View Cemetery is in danger of being abandoned and completely forgotten. There are a lot of people in Dunlap - a mile from the cemetery - who do not know that it exists!
At some point this land, which belonged to Cornelius, was sold. Title to the land has switched hands several times, and unfortunately, it seems to be in the wrong hands now. I am told there was once a road to the cemetery, but it fell into disrepair many years ago and was eventually torn out. It is now impossible, without a serious four-wheel drive vehicle, to reach this cemetery.
It is surrounded by a fence with a gate, but it is sometimes not enough to keep out the cattle. The current owners seem to have a serious lack of respect for the dead, and have allowed the cemetery to become completely overgrown and have also - and I was as horrified to hear this as you will be! - allowed their cattle to graze inside the cemetery's fence!
PLEASE NOTE THAT, UNDER IOWA LAW, IF YOU ARE A DESCENDANT OF ANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS CEMETERY, THE OWNERS ARE LEGALLY REQUIRED TO PROVIDE YOU ACCESS TO THIS CEMETERY. That doesn't mean they have to haul you up there, but it does mean they have to let you through their gates and at least point you in the right direction.
I will soon provide a link so that we all can be a united front in saving this cemetery, the final resting place of several of our most venerable ancestors, not to mention the grave of the Founder of the county in which he is buried!
