The Chinese played a major role in the develop of Lovelock Nevada as so many were assets to the local gold mines found in the region. Many of the of the Chinese resided in Lovelock where they moved onto other nearby towns. Sadly the Chinese were ostracized, unappreciated and treated very poorly despite the fact that they were hardworking keeping to themselves. One can seem prime examples of such mistreatment such as when China Town was deliberately burned down in Dutch Flat California and 35 laborers were rounded up then removed from Unionville Nevada then loaded on a train just to name a couple locations as an example. 

This Chinese Cemetery may be the last remaining evidence of the existence of the Chinese community within the Lovelock area. The immigrants had their own plotted area within the town known as Chinatown which today no longer existed but was full of shacks and shanties till it was removed during the construction of Interstate 80. Chinatown came to be in the 1880's however it was short lived. The cemetery you see here is about all that remains of it and over the years it became so overgrown with sagebrush that it was forgotten until recent times when preservationist have tried to revitalize it. 

The Chinese spent a great deal of time in Lovelock working on the railroad as most of you are aware tracks were being laid from Utah and California therefore this region resided in between which made it a focal point for the Chinese. While some were laying tracks in Lovelock others were constructing the Donner Summit Railroad Tunnels in the high sierras.  One can see the mark they left in northern California and Nevada.

One can clearly can see the segregation found between burial within the wild west. For example just a few hundred feet away from this Chinese Cemetery is Lone Mountain Cemetery. I understand that the Chinese Cemetery was erected prior but its very easily visible that one burial ground is maintained while the other is not. A prime example of such segregation of two cemeteries side by side would be Dutch Flat German Cemetery and the Dutch Flat Chinese Cemetery. Both are bordering one another however the situations are similar like the potters field you see here.  Just like most Chinese Cemeteries found in the wild west this is another example of a cemetery outside the boundaries of the city.

The Scouts had did some restoration work here because many of the stones were vandalized, piled against the chain link fencing or suffered from years of the elements. Despite that I found about 15 grave sites not everyone of them is marked while other burial plots may have been exhumed. Chinese burial was very simplified their were no fancy gravestones such as with other graveyards found in the wild west. More then often graves were just a fence post, burial mound or wood grave marker with a vase. 

Allot of the Chinese worked very hard to raise enough money to take there loved ones back to China so it was not uncommon to see graves exhumed also found at this cemetery. When the mining booms tapered off many of the Chinese would eventually return to their homelands all the way up until the 1930's. Today the cemetery gets very few visitors although I did find a few incense urns with candles in it that was recently used and it appeared that restoration work was ongoing. However none of the names at any of the grave sites are legible then again their are no visible epitaphs. Everything I came across was broken, shattered or in very poor condition that includes a statue of Buddha. Today we are there voice its not about ghosts it is about making sure that this little place is not forgotten!

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Lord Rick aka AngelOfThyNight
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