LOVELOCK - Life Scout Eric Plimpton has thought of a way to preserve some of Pershing County's history and generate a little tourism for the county.
While out scouting for deer this year, Plimpton said he came across many graves in remote areas of the desert. These gravesites were in various stages of deterioration. He began mapping the graves and decided to make the restoration of at least some of the graves his Eagle Scout project.
The project has four phases, he said. Identification, restoration of the graves, registering the graves on a geocaching website as sites with historic significance to bring caching treasure hunters into Pershing County for tourism, and finally to pass off the gravesite maps to other scouts for future projects.
Plimpton said he would work with local hunters and ranchers to identify known sites. In addition to mapping the sites, Plimpton said he would work with a group of older scouts from troops 890 and 99 to restore one or two of the grave sites.
"They will have the map if any of them want use it for their Eagle Scout project," Plimpton said.
The gravesite maps will also be made available to the Pershing County Cemetery Board, Pershing County and the BLM, Plimpton said.
"I think this is wonderful. I love anything that honors the deceased," Pershing County Cemetery Board Chairman Lauri Cerini-Jones said.
One of the graves Plimpton has decided to restore is that of Alexander Brown, who was born in 1838 and died in Kitten Springs in 1893. He said that a wooden fence around the grave has some wood slates that need to be replace and he plans to paint the entire fence to protect it from weathering.
Plimpton said that he would need white paint, new lumber and a new metal plate with a stake to identify Brown's grave to complete the project. He plans to solicit donations from the public to fund the project. His father, Todd Plimpton, said he thought the projects would not be very expensive.
Plimpton has seven gravesites already on his map and plans to have more before his project is finished.
"I think when the word gets out about this, the hunters and ranchers will be able to contribute to this project also," Pershing County Commissioner Carol Shank said.
If anyone has knowledge of remote gravesites they would like to pass on to Plimpton they should call his father's office at 273-2631.
In his presentation to the Pershing County Cemetery Board, Plimpton said the overall purpose of his project was to help restore Nevada family history, build historical interest in Pershing County and to attract tourist through the geocaching of the graves.
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