Montrose, CO –  The City of Montrose's State Historical Fund grant application for approximately $10,000 to conduct ground penetrating radar assessments at Cedar Creek Cemetery has been approved for funding. 

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) will be used to assess burial plots in a portion of Section F, of the cemetery. Section F is one of the oldest sections of the cemetery. GPR is non-invasive and non-destructive to burial sites. 

Colorado-based ERO Resources, with offices in Hotchkiss and Durango, will conduct the study. 

Since 1886, records have been kept in various formats. Lack of consistency and discrepancies in the records have led to uncertainty on the location of some burial sites and the availability of unused lots. 

"The City of Montrose seeks to better understand the exact location of remains and cremains to responsibly manage the cemetery and to preserve the graves of early citizens who helped to create the city itself," said Kendall Cramer, City of Montrose grant coordinator.  

The goal of the project is to determine the presence or absence of burials in Section F through archival research and GPR survey. 

The technology will use a 400-megahertz antenna, which will be moved across the ground surface in a tight grid pattern to detect the presence or absence of burials. Energy reflected from the ground back to the antennae creates a profile of the geology and archaeology of that specific transect. 

As the antenna continues to move along the ground in the grid pattern, a cumulative profile of what lies beneath the surface is revealed.  

Results from the study will be released in a public report.

For more city news visit: CityOfMontrose.org.

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