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The Town of Riverton received patent #939224, granted by the U.S. Government, dated 29 May 1924, consisting of the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section twenty-nine in township one north of range four east of the Wind River Meridian, Wyoming {SE 1/4 of NE 1/4, Section 29, T1N, R4E of WRM}. This tract contained 40 acres and reportedly cost $1.25 per acre. At this time, Calvin Coolidge was President of the U.S. This patent was not recorded until 18 Mar 1966. The Town of Riverton transferred this land to Mountain View Cemetery in a plat dated 05 Jan 1924.
The Riverton Review, dated 30 May 1923, reported the new cemetery was "high and dry and beyond all danger of seepage water." There was no means of irrigation but the town authorities planned to "transfer the old wooden water tank from its present location to the top of a low hill in the tract and fill it from the irrigation canal that runs along the edge of the grounds." They felt this would provide adequate water and pressure for sprinkling the grounds. The Review also stated "the problem of fencing the tract, removing sagebrush and otherwise beautifying it offers an excellent bit of endeavor to be undertaken by some club or other civic organization." Whether this was done by some organization or club is unknown.
Once the cemetery was founded, Ernest E. Davis of Davis Mortuary agreed to look after the sale of lots and the care of the cemetery. Deed #1 belongs to Florentius Martinez for his child Florence Martinez. E. E. Davis kept the records for the cemetery until the cemetery district was formed.
The formation of the cemetery district was placed on the ballot in Nov of 1956. It was figured that a one-third of a mill levy would be required for the district to have ample operating money. The property owners voted 1399 for and 241 against and the non-property owners voted 550 for and 76 against. The original members of the cemetery board were E. E. Davis, Viola Andrews, Roy Bailey, Forrest Duvall, Cliff Cantrell and Cora Tonkin.
By May of 1958, a new underground watering system was installed with a dual source of water, one being the canal and the other a well owned by the cemetery. In 1959, a garage building and office were built. Curbing was also being installed. By May of 1960, new high-capacity sprinkler heads had been installed. It was also decided a brick home for the cemetery sexton would be built so 24-hour supervision of the cemetery would be possible, therefore controlling a vandal problem. In May of 1962, the present archway was donated and dedicated in memory of Harry F. Farnsworth. In May of 1963, Erma Wisner donated two spruce trees in memory of her husband Mark Wisner that were to planted near the entrance. In the fall of 1963, paving of the roads further improved the cemetery. Over the years, many trees have been planted and improvements continue to be made.
The original cemetery consisted of sections A, B, C & D. Sections E, F, G, H, I, J, K & L were plated later but the date is unknown to me. Sections M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U & V were plated in Jun of 1958 and contained 5.64 acres. This was replated in Jan of 1967 and then contained 6.11 acres. The West Addition, including sections AWA, BWA, CWA, DWA, EWA, FWA, GWA & HWA was plated in Jun of 1972. The Teton Addition, including sections TA, TB, TC, TD, TE & TF was plated in Jun of 1978 and contained of 4.824 acres. This was replated in Jun of 1982 and contained of 4.838 acres. The Centennial Addition, including sections CA, CB, CC, CD, CE, CF & CG was plated in Jun of 1991and contained 5.36 acres.
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