In 1899 mining engineer W.A Sanders, W.A Thompson, and Minnie Ross Holman applied for a patent to mining claims which took in the northwest end of the town of Douglas, including streets and buildings. The ground consisted of over 50 acres which included 13 lode claims and some mill sites. A committee was formed to protest this patent.
Sanders agreed that if the committee did not protest his application for patent he would deed back "all lots, easement of streets, etc. and other points in which his patent interfered with the town of Douglas." This was later agreed to in writing.
The committee also asked for ground for a cemetery. Sanders agreed to give the people of Douglas "the dry knoll this side of Lawson Creek" if they would not object to his patent.
He also agreed to build a road to the grounds, but declined to put it in writing and said his word was good. Immediately after the meeting, a Cemetery Committee consisting of P.H. Fox, MJ. O'Connor, Rev. Peplogle and W.C. Boyd took possession of the knoll and ran a line from Third Street in Douglas to the area.
Shortly after Sander's verbal agreement the Cemetery Committee hired three men and started clearing a trail, which later became a gravel road, from Third Street in Douglas to the knoll.
The land claimed was "to the left' of the gravel road on the bench from the gulch where the road strikes the bench, to Lawson Creek." The road was approximately one-half mile in a straight line. About 30 feet of planking was done from the end of Third Street to the "Old Indian Graveyard" (Douglas Indian Cemetery) and three small bridges were constructed. Two acres were cleared and between four and five acres were enclosed by a wire fence. This description fits the location of the current City Cemetery.
Though W.A Sanders was a noted mining engineer, it was felt among the citizens of Douglas the Sanders' claims were not valid because he was a resident of Nova Scotia, Canada. Apparently the patent office did not agree. In 1900 Sanders obtained a patent to part of the mining claims. He kept his written word and deeded back the land and buildings, but refused to honor his verbal agreement regarding the cemetery, in fact he denied making it.
Eventually he admitted he had made the agreement but "he wasn't going to buy land and pay out money for it and then give it away." Mr. Sanders was informed that the people of Douglas had earned the cemetery ground because they did not interfere with his patent. They even offered to pay him the government price of $5.00 an acre. He did not feel that was enough. It is not stated what the final outcome was. Sanders did post no trespassing notices as late as 1903 threatening to prosecute any person using the ground for burial purposes, but they soon disappeared. Douglas residents claimed that they had been in "legal and peaceable possession of the premises for about three years."