What You Missed EWGS Meeting June 2, 2012

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This is a lousy picture of John Caskey the historian from Greenwood Memorial Terrace Cemetery. His topic was on why so many Civil War Veterans are buried in Greenwood Cemetery, but he actually covered why so many are buried in the Spokane area. Spokane did not even exist during the Civil War, but the main reason was land. In 1862 the homestead act was passed giving land to anyone that could live there for five years, and later they changed that to three years for veterans. Many never stayed the five years, but after they learned to dry land farm near Ritzville many homesteaders stayed and prospered. Spokane also had FOUR transcontinental railroads, not many cities in all of USA had four transcontinental railroads, and the railroads lowered the rate for immigrants to attract settlers. The one fact I thought was interesting was that more Civil War Veterans are buried at Greenwood Cemetery than at the GAR cemetery on the coast specifically for Civil War Veterans