Aklavik (Aug 04/03) - Some former Mackenzie Delta residents are not only gone but forgotten.

Their graves sit in eternal disrepair. White wooden crosses lean into each other for support, weeds weave through the white picket fences and overtake the handfuls of faded silk flowers discarded across the graves.

For Aklavik the graveyard is their claim to fame because that's where Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River is buried. But a tourist would have a hard time finding the site.

Aklavik Mayor Evelyn Storr said that is left of the tree that marked Johnson's grave is the stump with his initials carved into it.

The mural dedicated to Johnson was taken down because it was so weathered, said Storr. The tree came down sometime in the past two years, but she's not sure how.

"All I know is that one day it just wasn't there," she said adding a few people do come to visit the site and the hamlet may look into restoring the attraction in the future.

The community doesn't have a dedicated maintenance plan for the site.

"Normally people just clean up their family grave sites and sometimes we use summer students to clean up the grass," she said.

Tsiigehtchic probably has the prettiest graveyard in the Delta thanks to the volunteer efforts of James Cardinal and the view over the Arctic Red River.

Once a month Cardinal goes in with his grass cutters, trims the yard and makes minor repairs.

"Somebody has got to do it," he said.

"How would you like to see your dad with grass up to your waist over his grave."

Although there are "lots of people buried" in the cemetery he said there remains plenty of room for the future.

Erosion is the biggest enemy.

"Some are rolling down the hill because the ground is eroding away. Once in awhile we find some bones and we get together to put them away," said Cardinal.

A maintenance plan

A great deal of planning has gone into the upkeep of the Inuvik Cemetery. This year the town spent $5,000 as part of an ongoing maintenance program, said Rick Campbell, Inuvik's public works technician.

Campbell and his crew mow the lawns, cut the brush, fill in the sunken spots and make sure the winter graves are filled in properly after the snow melts away.

Although he doesn't know how many people are buried there, Campbell said at least 20 acres are devoted to the dead.

"There's enough grave yard for the next 15 years," said Campbell, adding people have been buried there since 1959.

Holman's cemetery is virtually maintenance-free, said Mayor Gary Bristow.

The community and the two cemeteries . one for Anglicans and one for Catholics, are built on a carpet of smooth pebbles, so grass is never an issue.

The Anglican cemetery, which is located closest to the community was closed off more than 20 years ago.

Only one exception was made. Last year when an elder whose husband was buried in the Anglican graveyard was buried beside him, said Bristow.

Now the community uses the Roman Catholic site, which is located a bit of town, overlooking King's Bay.

"We don't really do any maintenance to it. It's pretty maintenance free," said Bristow.

"Over the years the only thing that changes is the weathering on the crosses."

Two years ago brass plates were made to attach to the fading wooden crosses so those buried there would not be forgotten.