53.13444, -114.47722

I managed to get out last Friday and do a bit of actual exploring thanks to Dale Redekopp. It felt good. I did not take enough photos for this post as I am out of practice. I was on crutches walking through this cemetery and was paying too much attention to my walking and not enough on material.

About one thousand Black American settlers from Oklahoma, from about 1908 to about 1912, came to Alberta. Amber Valley is the most well known settlement in Alberta. Some settled in Keystone, now Breton, Alberta. It did not last long. After WWI many moved to other places and other opportunities. This area would have been very isolated back then.

This cemetery is a short distance off the highway beside a township road. I have literally driven by this on the highway dozens of times without ever seeing it before. There are only three marked graves, two of them from the 1980's. The plaque lists the original settlers.

"In memory of Molly

Beloved wife of

W. M. Hayes

Born 1865

Died May 24, 1928"

She is listed on the plaque. This is the only settler marked grave with a headstone.

The grave below has no headstone. The small rectangular stone on top has the initials M H on one side. I suspect the stone might belong to the Mollie Hayes grave. There are no other names on the plaque that would have these initials. You can see the outline of several graves in this small cemetery. Their markers are lost to time.