Global positioning system units will be used to help number and relocate 19th-century Euro-American human remains uncovered at the digging site for the Mandan southside water project.

Early studies indicate the remains are part of the Greenwood Cemetery near Mandan's Heart River.

City Administrator Jim Neubauer said county, city and state officials now intend to move the graves to within the boundaries of the known Greenwood Cemetery starting Monday. "It's expected to take about a week," he said late Wednesday afternoon.

The affected property has been fenced, and "no trespassing" signs are posted, according to a news release issued by the city Wednesday afternoon.

The public has been asked not to loiter around the site to allow for the respectful and legal identification and reburial of the remains.

The news release states Earthworks professionals have mapped and applied Global Positioning System coordinates to all identified locations so the original location of each burial site is recorded.

Schlosser Excavating Inc. will hand dig each site and Earthworks will inventory the remains to determine if there are any identifying markers.

These actions were taken after pieces of a pine box were exposed Sept. 3, during site preparation for the water storage reservoir. Digging at the site had started Aug. 25.

Excavation for the project stopped, and the North Dakota Department of Health and North Dakota State Historical Preservation Office were contacted.

The location also has been tarped. Neubauer said it is difficult to give a definite number of how many graves are affected. He said they could be found in sporadic locations. "One could be here and two could be there. We will know when the hand digging begins. There may be 27 tarps there, but it doesn't mean there are 27 graves there," he said.

The release said the city's focus since the discovery of the remains has centered upon proper identification and reburial of the remains.

Neubauer said in previous interviews that city officials knew it was possible that graves could be found there. That's why a study was done to monitor the site for burial grounds before crews started excavating.

According to the release, the remains will be reviewed and inspected by the North Dakota State Preservation Office.

They will be placed in new vaults provided by Weigel Funeral Home and buried within the existing Greenwood Cemetery boundaries.

The new locations will be numbered and recorded with Morton County and the North Dakota Department of Health.

"There really is no written record to say who these graves belong to," Neubauer said.

He explained that the GPS system is being used to record where the graves are located and will coordinate where they are reburied.

According to the memo released, there was no evidence of burial locations recovered during previous shovel probes at the digging site before the project started.

The 4-million-gallon water project will replace a 1-millon water storage tank on Collins Avenue in Mandan that is 70 years old. It has been severely leaking and in need of repairs.

If all proceeds smoothly in the recovery and relocation of the remains, Neubauer said work could resume on digging for the water project the week of Sept. 22. He qualified that probing will continue for any other possible grave sites.

"They are pulling off other topsoil all over other parts of the area." he said. "We will carefully start stripping the soil."

(Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 250-8264 or leann.eckroth@;bismarcktribune.com.)