Marilyn Burch is worried what consequences annexation will have on Greenwood Cemetery, located just south of Mandan in an area ripe for residential development.

Burch brought the matter before the Morton County Commission at Tuesday's meeting. But while the historical significance of the cemetery is far reaching, what caught the commission's attention is the county will be responsible for any special assessments that will likely follow the annexation.

"The city is trying to annex land in the area and I'd sooner see it go somewhere else. They're talking about putting in a water tower and lift station out there," Burch said. "It was one of the first cemeteries around here. If the land can't go to the county, I'd like to see it go to the Fort Lincoln Foundation."

The cemetery has been abandoned for many years and is in a state of disrepair, according to Burch.

"The cemetery adjoins my folks' property. As children, we played in that graveyard during Halloween. I don't know how many bodies are out there. They've identified 33 or 34 names, but I think there are more souls out there than that," Burch said. "What's happened out there is unreal. Graves have caved in. I'm worried about all the development."

Burch approached the State Historical Society a few years back, but was told the organization doesn't work with cemeteries.

County auditor Paul Trauger said the county mows it once or twice a year and rents out the property for haying. He was uncertain if the city could put special assessments against the abandoned cemetery.

The 40-acre cemetery was established in January 1882, the first legally organized cemetery in Dakota Territory west of Jamestown. It was abandoned in 1977, though Trauger said that no one had been buried there after 1900. Some of the graves were moved to Mandan Union Cemetery.

"We did an extensive study of the cemetery. We hired a guy 10 to 15 years ago who used radar to find grave sites. We feel that we have the area in which the graves are pretty well fenced in," Trauger said. "We have a book with the names of those in the graveyard and where they are supposed to be buried, but it's pretty hard to read. From what I've been able to tell, most of the people buried there were working on the railroad they were putting through at that time. We couldn't exactly pinpoint where everyone was buried."

Trauger added the main cemetery was about 10 acres. Another 10 acres was set aside as a Catholic cemetery but had never been used.

"There were 10 to 15 stones (cemetery markers) out there. But then someone attempted to plow it up. We tried to put it back the best we could … that was about 25 years ago,"Trauger said.

Commissioner Matt Erhardt said Greenwood is sacred ground and shouldn't be desecrated. He maintains the county has a legal authority to look over the property and made a motion to refer the issue to the state's attorney to see what the county's legal rights are. The motion passed unanimously.

City administrator Jim Neubauer said that the city has yet to take any action to officially annex property in south Mandan adjacent to 19th Street. The city has entered mediation regarding the proposed annexation of property in north Mandan adjacent to the new junior high property.