A search party looks over the area near Taft to determine where the old town cemetery may be located. Left to right are Nick Turnbull, Bruce Erickson, Erika Karuzas, Gus Chambers, Steve Waylet and John Shontz. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent)
August 22, 2018
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August 22, 2018 4 a.m.
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.