Death Valley Junction Cemetery

While doing research on Death Valley Junction Cemetery I came across the photo above.

It was taken by Mr. Charles C. Puck in 1937 while traversing Death Valley in one of his many expeditions.

Mr. Puck is not as well known as most other early Death Valley photographers and quite a bit of searching is needed to find his treasures.

Huntington and Bancroft libraries have most of his photos either mixed in with C. C. Pierce's photos or not marked at all.

These three graves are not the first in Death Valley Junction's Cemetery, that honor goes to a grave dated 1913. There are many unmarked graves which could be older but we will never know.

I believe Mr. Puck chose these three because of their freshly painted crosses contrasting with Bat Mtn. & Pyramid Peak in the background.

While reading those crosses, headstones, and plaques in the cemetery, I began to notice that a number of the burials were dated late 1935 & early 1936. Three children from one family were taken through heavens gate in November 1935 alone.

A harsh life on a harsh desert left little room for error.