The De Borgia Cemetery has served its community for over 100 years. Local businesses and citizens continue to care for the memorials and graves, mindful that the cemetery is a tribute to De Borgia as well as to the individuals buried there. Settlers who worked on the railroad or in the lumber industry are buried in the quiet green plots at the east end of town. Some families—such as the Cooper family—have several generations lain side by side.

George Rupert Cooper was one of the earliest settlers in the area. He represented Mineral County in the State Senate from 1919 to 1925 and again from 1927 to 1937. In his home town of De Borgia, George and his wife Bertha were active investors in the lumber industry. Their two sons, George (Dennis) and Donald (Don) eventually owned sawmills on Camel’s Hump Road. Don and Dennis Cooper spent several decades traveling the world and creating acclaimed wildlife and travelogue films. De Borgia, however, was always their home. George, Bertha, Dennis, and Don are buried near one another in the De Borgia Cemetery.

In 2013, the Cemetery Board invited students from the University of Montana to survey the cemetery in the hopes of finding several unmarked graves. Board member Ellen Matz anticipated the survey would provide a starting point for further research so that all the graves could be identified by name. “Failing that,” she said, “we will just put unknown crosses on the grave so everyone who is in there has a marker.”

The community has always taken care of the cemetery, even as De Borgia’s population fluctuated from over 1,000 residents in 1910 to as few as 79 in 2010. Local businesses have donated a flagpole, fencing, crosses, and sheds. Community members across the region have volunteered their labor to help maintain the property in memory of those who made De Borgia home.

Credits and Sources:

Cousins, Keith. “Nine Graves Confirmed at De Borgia Cemetery.” Mineral Independent, June 12, 2013.

Davis, Deb. Along the Mullan Trail.Publisher unknown, date unknown.

“Donald Edwin Cooper Obituary.” Missoulian, October 17, 2012.

“Mineral County Cemetery District #3 Prepares for Annual Meeting.” Mineral Independent, October 17, 2012.

Mineral County Historical Society. Mineral County History.Superior, MT: Mineral County Historical Society, 2004.

Montana History Wiki. “Legislators Lists.” Montana Historical Society. Accessed September 11, 2015. http://montanahistorywiki.pbworks.com/w/browse/#view=ViewFolder&param=Legislators%20Lists.

United States Census. “Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010.” Washington, D.C.: United States Census Bureau, 2010.

Historic Photograph of Dennis and Don Cooper (first and fourth from left, respectively) in their 1929 class photo at De Borgia School. Photograph courtesy of Mineral County Historical Museum, Superior, MT.

Contemporary photographs of De Borgia cemetery courtesy of Historical Research Associates, Inc.