Colorado had some unique aspects pertaining to its settlement and early history. Many of the towns, on the prairie as well as in the mountains, had a difficult and fast-paced life. The harsh, arid conditions on the prairie and the rush for gold in the mountains incurred a great many deaths where it was inconvenient to give what traditionalists might consider a decent burial in an established cemetery. Many had this luxury, many did not. So, if markers were place on the gravesite, they may not have lasted through the harsh conditions for long.

Many of the graves from the smaller and more remote areas did survive, perhaps only from some record left behind in the form of a newspaper or family, civil or cemetery records. Many individuals have labored hard over recent years to find and record as many of the gravesites as possible. They left behind additional compilations of these events and cemeteries or other gravesites. We are appreciative of their contributions.

To compile this book, many of these published works were found and of the 283 with direct reference to cemeteries and graves, many were used in this indexing project. Individual graves to  cemeteries of below 2,800 names were recorded. In all over 84,400 individual names were included, specifying not only the burial site of record, but also the publications, referenced by book and page, and the birth and death dates when known. It could well be called a "super index." Once individuals are found in this publication or the Web listing, the cemetery can be found by consulting Cemeteries of Colorado, the book on burial sites. [See adjoining button to link to the site.]

Donald R. & Doris S. Elliott, compilers

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