"Undertakers of the state will vie with one another this spring for the biggest mass burial contract in the history of the west.
"Bids will be called soon for the removal of a thousand graves of Indians and whites within the area to be flooded by Columbia River backwater above Grand Coulee Dam, F.A. Banks, Bureau of Reclamation construction engineer at the dam, said today.
"The plan calls for giving the contract to a licensed undertaker. He and a crew of men (preference is to be given to Indian workmen) will dig up the remains along the river shore. Most of the Indian remains will be taken to main Indian cemeteries at Keller and Inchelium.
"Heirs of all white people buried within the reservoir limits have been notified of the removal plans. The bureau will re-bury their relatives in graves near by, or if it is desired to move the remains to burial grounds far away, will deliver the caskets to relatives.
"The bureau last year employed Cull White, early settler and friend of the Indians, to help locate the graves. Some were found in plowed fields. Beause Indians had a habit of camping near the water's edge and burying their relatives nearby, many grave were found in the area which will soon be a lake bottom."
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