July 10 The Grave of Susan O. Hail

July 10

The Grave of Susan O. Hail

Died June 2, 1852 Age 34 years, 5 months, 12 days. Legend says that

this pioneer died after drinking water poisoned by Indians. Erected and Dedicated by

Hastings Outdoor Club, July 30, 1933. From Susan Hail's

Gravestone

Here, where the wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail

cross Barrows Road,

a plum thicket

and a single Russian olive divide the

short July corn from a field left to

brome.

Just above the thicket,

atop a mound, round as a silo,

the Hastings Outdoor Club

has placed an iron railing to guard

the marble slab of Susan's grave.

Twenty-seven of us are here,

distanced by 143 years and an iron

railing.

The wide sky is hot

and weighs on us

like a wool blanket.

The thicket has no ripe plums

and the old Russian Olive, no olives.

There is no wind, and past the hill,

two fields over,

a gasoline engine growls to life,

driving the pump on a center pivot.

It's too late for the plum,

too early for the Olive,

a dry wooden cross lies broken

and no matter how clear,

how pure the water is,

the pump can't arc it far enough

to wet this mound,

to bring Susan up through the marble

to lay her pioneer hand on this rusty rail,

to lift her wooden cross,

to tell us all what it means

to live,

to die on this land.