Herriman City was founded in 1861. It was mostly a dry farming and
ranching community, with the original town layout being about 8
blocks by 8 blocks square. If you drive around the old area, you
will see some residual older houses, though the "old" Herriman City
is becoming difficult to find. In the last few years, this area has
grown significantly and almost every street has construction of new
homes going on.
Herriman City was named after Railroad mogul Edward H. Herriman.
Edward was a major player in railroads back in Buffalo New York,
and when he came to Utah, he purchased the Salt Lake and Los
Angeles lines of the Union Pacific. Just after the golden spike was
nailed in, Herriman then invested in a small electric streetcar
prototype that was later installed all over Salt Lake City (think
trolly square). Upon his death in 1909, Edward Herriman's wife had
to pay 5% (almost $800,000) in estate taxes. The state being smart,
took these massive funds and put them aside to build the current
state capitol. In 1939, Edward Herriman's son went on to found Sun
Valley Ski Resort in Idaho.
The Herriman city cemetary is one of the better kept cemetaries
of the Salt Lake Valley. It has been expanded in the last couple of
years, and now has a central Island with two beautiful bronze
statues and some plaques commemerating the armed forces. However,
if you go to the North Side near the caretakers building, you will
see some grave markers which are almost 100 years old.
Rumor has it that this cemetary has had several appearances of
ghosts including a well dressed man and woman in the vicinity of
the north east corner. When I was there, the only thing to note was
lovely sunrise, but perhaps (check the Magna cache) it was because
they knew that something was really gonna spook me later.
This is one of a series of spooky Utah geocaches that stem from
urban legends about haunted places. The information contained here
in may or may not be true (or only partially true), and is designed
for thrills and chills. As with all the geocaches in this series,
please stick to normal waking hours to do these (say between 6 am
and 10 pm unless otherwise noted), and please do not disturb those
living/dead nearby. I’m sure you know this already, but please be
discreet. Lastly, have fun - I hope you don’t get spooked
easily!
For those fo you playing the cachunuts Coin Quest
game, this is a qualifying cache.