A Legend Returned Home

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

A legendary and long-departed area resident was given a fond homecoming celebration on Saturday, March 26. Nearly 58 years after his death, and two years after a grisly grave robbery, the fondly remembered old prospector, Art Coleman, was returned back to his remote Gold Butte gravesite.

More than 50 people from the Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley communities travelled the rough dirt roads to the remote Gold Butte townsite, 45 miles south of Bunkerville, on Saturday morning. They came to pay respects to an old west legend and to finally set things right again in Gold Butte.

In the spring of 2014, it was discovered that a small grave site at Gold Butte had been vandalized and raided. The site contained only two graves: that of Coleman (1876-1958) and his life-long friend and business partner William Garrett (1880-1961). The two had spent the latter part of their lives living together in a small wooden cabin at Gold Butte; the only residents left in a once bustling mining camp, long after the boom of the early 20th century had played out.

With no regard for the imporatance of that local history, someone had dug down into Coleman’s grave, broken through the rough pine-box coffin that was buried there, and stolen most of its contents. The violated grave was reportedly photographed by a traveller through the area and sent anonymously to a regional media outlet in Las Vegas where the incident was widely reported.

Logandale resident Lindsey Dalley, who is also Chairman of the local group Partners in Conservation, said that he remembered being appalled at seeing the photos in the newspaper.
“We were just disgusted that something like this would have happened,” Dalley said. “It was just not respectful; having the grave lie open that way and in that condition; and we felt like something needed to be done to set things right again.”
At that time, Dalley spoke with Metro Sergeant Bret Empey, who had been the one to investigate the crime scene.

Disturbing a known gravesite is a felony offense and the action brought a full criminal investigation. Empey had gone over every inch of the site for evidence. In addition he sought for a motive in the crime: a reason why the grave had been disturbed.
“We didn’t find much,” Empey said in a 2014 interview. “There were no rumors flying around of buried treasure. (Coleman and Garrett) had no family to speak of. They both died paupers. So we had to assume that this was done just to take the human remains from the site. That’s what was missing.”

Empey said that he had gathered up what little of Coleman’s remains were left in the open grave. Altogether they fit into a manila envelope, he said. The envelope was then turned over to the Clark County Coroner for further investigation.
Once the site was released after the investigation, Dalley got permission for someone to go out and clean up the area. It was actually Logandale resident Dustin Nelson who accepted that task.

Nelson is no stranger to the Gold Butte area. He has deep ancestral ties to the region going back generations. and enjoys visiting the area often with his family. He is also actively involved with public lands issues, writing a well-known web log called SaveGoldButte.com and serving as a member of the PIC board.
“I was out here exploring shortly after I heard about the incident and we decided to stop by,” Nelson said on Saturday. “When I saw what had been done here, I just felt like it wasn’t right to just leave it like that, for people passing by this beautiful area to have to see this horrible sight. And it was a wrong that I felt was entirely within my power to fix. So I decided that I was going to come back and set it right.”

Dalley said that he had engaged in conversations with BLM officials in Las Vegas who were in a bind over the situation. With the incident occurring right around the time of the agency’s clash with Cliven Bundy and his followers, BLM officials were concerned about the safety in sending personnel to the site, Dalley said.
Furthermore, the BLM was unsure how to proceed in this matter at all. An incident like this was far outside of the normal realm of usual land management issues, Dalley said.
“They talked about turning it into an archaeological excavation of the area to do a full investigation,” Dalley said. “But I told them that would be a mistake. I mean there are still a lot of people around who remember these two old guys. It doesn’t really qualify as an archaeological issue. So I finally convinced them that this was a local problem and that they just should let us help them take care of it.”

Within just a couple of weeks after the incident had been reported in regional media, Nelson travelled out to the gravesite with one of his young sons to clean up. He brought some wood and tools and he repaired the breach in the old wooden box. Then he filled in the hole and cleaned up all the debris that had been strewn around the area from the grave. When he left, it looked like a respectful gravesite again.

Dalley continued to follow the ongoing investigation at the Clark County Coroner’s office. Toward the end of last year, when the investigation was complete, he arranged for PIC to take possession of Coleman’s remains. The small envelope of remains were then stored for a time at the Moapa Valley Mortuary while arrangements were made to return them to the gravesite.

Finally, on Saturday, that was done. Dalley and a few others met early in the morning and travelled out to the site. Using hand shovels, the group uncovered both of the graves. When they got down to Nelson’s repairs of Coleman’s grave, Nelson himself deposited the envelope of Coleman’s remains, along with a copy of the Coroner’s report, into the existing pine box.
Garrett’s grave had not been disturbed and was still securely covered by a thin slab of rough, locally-mixed cement that had been placed over the coffin at the time of burial. All this was left undisturbed.

But to prevent a similar future incidence of vandalism, the group placed two large vault lids over each of the graves. The heavy lids were constructed of reinforced concrete, 6-8 inches thick. They were generously donated by Moapa Valley Mortuary for this purpose. Each one took a crew of a dozen men to lower down into each grave. Both graves were then covered again with dirt and the surrounding area smoothed and left clean.

By 11:00 am, a larger crowd had gathered at the site for a rededication service for the two graves. The service was held under the direction of the Bunkerville 2nd Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with bishopric member Duane Magoon conducting.

Nelson gave a brief eulogy relating some of the history of the two men. As he had grown up hearing stories about Coleman and Garrett, Nelson said he had often wondered what had kept these men out in this remote area for so long.
“It certainly wasn’t the dreams of getting rich,” Nelson said. “I speculate it was the off chance that these two men struck up a friendship that both knew was worth its weight in gold; and an appreciation for remote country that offered what no city skyline or society dinner party ever could. If you have watched the early morning sun bathe these hills in nature’s brilliant golden pallet; or watched the last color slip away from the cliffs of the Grand Wash in the setting sun; you need no explanation. And if you haven’t, you wouldn’t get it anyways.”

After Nelson’s eulogy, Dalley was called on to give a brief prayer re-dedicating the grave site. Then the service was over.
The crowd lingered for a long time afterwards, exploring the area and gathering around to listen to older attendees relate their memories of the area and their experiences with Coleman and Garrett. Local history books, old photographs and other published histories were available for people to review and learn about the heritage of the Gold Butte township.
Before the crowd had dissipated, a truck arrived at the site pulling a trailer upon which was a real piece of history. It was an old 1929 Model A Ford pickup truck which had belonged to Art Coleman himself.

Coleman had left the truck in his will to Vanda Jacobs, wife of Slats Jacobs who was a long-time rancher out on the Arizona strip. The Jacobs had been neighbors and friends to Coleman and Garrett in that vast country.
The Jacobs family had kept the old truck all these years. It was Vanda’s son James Jacobs who, hearing about the ceremony to be held Saturday, had loaded up the old antique and brought it all the way out to Gold Butte to remember Coleman.
The truck, which more than half a century ago had frequented the dusty roads through Gold Butte, was still all in one piece and in remarkably good condition.
“If I had just a few more days to work on it, I probably could have even got it running again,” said James Jacobs.