The Carrizo Springs Cemetery is located in SW Baca County in the middle of a pasture atop a small rise near Potato Butte Mesa. The cemetery dates from the time of the old town of Carrizo Springs 1887-1889/90. There are seven graves at the cemetery spread out across the top of the rise. It is recorded that the cemetery is home to:
- Harry Teal- was shot in Carrizo Springs for being belligerently drunk and threatened a cafe owner in an effort to get some breakfast.
- Jim Musset- cause of death unknown
- Two young girls of the Veer Family- cause of death unknown
- George Brenton- a cowboy working for the Reynolds Cattle Company at the time of his death, he was a resident of Las Animas, CO. He drowned at the forks of east and west Carrizo Creek during a time of fall cattle work.
- Unknown – an old man who poisoned himself. (possibly EC Cabler?)
- EC Cabler – cause of death unknown
The most well-known grave, and the grave that has made the Carrizo Springs cemetery famous all the way to the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is the grave of George Brenton.
The graves at the cemetery are a bit unique in that five of them are built over with stacked rock. It is thought that this was to help protect the graves from animals. It should be noted that not all of the graves are covered in rock, some just surrounded in rock. And there is probably a layer of rock under the grass and dirt that cannot be seen. The graves are fairly unusual in the amount of work it would have taken to construct them. Carrizo Springs did have a rock quarry right by the town. Much of the town was built from rocks from this quarry, and they would have had ready access to rock to build the graves as well.
The only two graves not built up around the graves are the two small graves thought to be the graves of the two Veer girls. They are covered in rock and marked so that you can see them, but they do not stand up off of the ground.
To Read about The Story of A Cowboy Funeral at Carrizo Springs Cemetery Click here
A Place Called Baca, Ike Osteen, 178-183, 1979
A History of Early Baca County, JR Austin, pgs 37,19-2,1956
Cowboy Funeral Picture, Harve Kett, Aug 9, 1891