Laramie and Glenrock cemetery crews use specialized tools for frozen soil

Loni Wilson spends her days managing Greenhill Cemetery in Laramie, Wyoming, where the constant upkeep of grass, irrigation systems, and headstones defines the daily routine of municipal groundskeeping.

Grass Management And Cemetery Maintenance At Greenhill

The operational demands of running a historic municipal burial ground extend far beyond conducting services. “The grass never, never stops growing,” Wilson said of the property. During the peak summer months, two riding mowers operate forty hours a week. Crews navigate around headstones positioned beneath a dense canopy of old cottonwoods. Beyond mowing, the daily workload encompasses pruning shrubs, maintaining access roads, fixing irrigation lines, straightening tilted headstones, and raising graves that have slowly settled into the earth.

Greenhill has maintained burials for the Laramie community since 1881. The city established the forty-acre property after land negotiations that began with the Odd Fellows in the mid-1870s. Today, the cemetery functions as a public green space surrounded by the University of Wyoming campus, where mule deer travel the dirt paths and pedestrians walk beneath the pines. Wilson has worked as the groundskeeper for fifteen years, transitioning into the role despite holding a degree in graphic design.

Frozen Wyoming Soil Requires Specialized Thawing Tools

Subsurface conditions change drastically when freezing temperatures arrive in Wyoming. Summer softens the soil, but winter conditions drive frost four to five feet deep into the earth. When the ground freezes solid, digging a standard six-foot grave requires heavy equipment and specialized thawing tools. Wilson utilizes a defroster that burns through roughly a foot of frost per hour under adverse conditions.

Mechanical excavators handle the primary digging, but operators face tight margins in established burial rows. “There’s only so much room between grave spaces,” Wilson said. Workers must keep walls straight and corners tight while removing large underground rocks. If a backhoe shifts off angle, workers must resort to manual labor. Greenhill utilizes specialized shovels with handles extending about twelve feet to allow crew members to reach the bottom of the excavation safely from the surface.

At Glenrock Cemetery, crews have altered their approach to frozen earth. Neil Harper, who retired this spring at age 65 after more than two decades working at the cemetery, noted that crews abandoned heaters in favor of a different method. Workers cut a precise perimeter around the grave footprint using an excavator. This perimeter cut stops frozen earth from breaking away beyond the intended dimensions while keeping enough solid ground intact to support heavy lowering machinery.

Decades Of Stewardship And Community Perceptions

Harper spent twenty-some years maintaining the Glenrock grounds, where the oldest documented headstone dates back to 1894. He rejected the notion that working among graves is inherently unsettling. “The cemetery is not a spooky place, and it shouldn’t be considered a spooky place,” Harper said. “It is a very sacred religious spot. It’s probably the last place in town that’s going to be haunted.”

That sacred view occasionally intersected with public misconceptions. Harper recalled an instance involving a visitor from Riverton who arrived convinced she was being haunted by a traveler from a historic wagon train buried near Deer Creek. The visitor consulted old maps and voiced fears that the creek was eroding the unmarked grave, asking what steps she should take if she unearthed human remains during a search. Harper issued a direct warning regarding accidental discoveries. “Lady, if you’re out there and you dig something up — a body — you don’t move it,” Harper told her. “You don’t do nothing. You get the police, the sheriff, somebody.”

Both cemeteries rely on strict measurement protocols to manage their acreage. Glenrock maintains established pins along cemetery rows, allowing workers to measure outward from fixed points to determine exact burial coordinates. Maintaining exact boundaries prevents errors during both winter and summer operations as crews balance ongoing grounds upkeep with the strict demands of interments.