Historian John Shontz discovered that the location of the Taft cemetery had been lost over time while researching an article on the St. Paul Tunnel located near the Taft exit off I90. He points to a potential gravesite on a mountain close to the old saloon town of Taft. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent)
August 22, 2018
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Taft mountains hold 'secret' of missing cemetery
The mountains surrounding the legendary saloon town of Taft, Mont., holds a silent grip on its deceased residents. As the massive fires of 1910 swept through the canyons of Mineral County, the blaze took the town with it, including the cemetery. A cemetery with wooden markers which turned to ash and disappeared. Now, nearly 110 years later, the search is on to find the 72 buried souls lost to a century of forest growth and erosion.