The Lewis Cemetery is situated on a portion of the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road Land Grant in Section 23, Township 13 South of Range 1 East in Linn County. The cemetery lies near the southwest corner of the Section and about one and a half miles northeast of the village of Foster.
To reach the cemetery, travel east from Sweet home on US Highway 20. Turn left on Foster Dam road. Continue across the dam and turn right at the stop sign onto River Road. The cemetery will be approx 2 miles ahead on the right.
The cemetery consists of a tract of undulating hillside land of approximately one and one-half acre in extent. The main occupied part has been cleared of trees and brush but the remaining portions are grown up to large young fir trees, salal brush, huckleberry bushes and mingled wild mountain undergrowth. The cemetery is fenced but otherwise little cared for.
The history of this cemetery seems to be considerably mingled with the history of the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road Company. The Wagon Road Company was organized in the year 1864. In the year 1871 this road company appealed to the state of Oregon for financial aid in constructing a wagon road following the course of the South Santiam River to the summit of the Cascades and from thence to the eastern line of the state. In compliance with this request the company was granted “three full sections of land for each mile of road that should be constructed.” **** “And the lands along the line of said road to the extent of eight hundred and sixty thousand acres have under said donation and grant passed to and become the absolute property of said Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Road Company ***”. (Octover 2, 1871.)
In the mean time, in the mountain settlement now known as Foster, sometime about the year 1867 or 1868, a child died. This child was a son of Bob Earl and a grandson of Steward and Elizabeth Lewis who had taken up land in Sections 23 and 26 of this region. With the free and easy customs of the time a grave was dug on Government land near the Lewis home and here the child was buried – the beginning of the present cemetery. Other deaths occurred (mostly now unmarked) and other graves were opened nearby. The tract finally became recognized as the neighborhood cemetery. In the course of a few years, as already mentioned, the Wagon Road Company received its grant of land and among other tracts was included that containing the cemetery.
Thus the situation remained for a long period. Burials continued to be made on what was now Road Company property. In the course of time this property changed hands and passed through various phases of litigation, finally falling into the hands of the Hill interests – the big Railroad owners. Not until very recent years was any attempt made to segregate the cemetery tract. Finally, through the initiative of Mr. H. Pickens, (the field worker’s chief informant) a cemetery association was formed and request for the deed made. This request was granted and a deed signed and executed by Mr. Hill in person forwarded to the Association Trustees giving them the cemetery tract and a right-of-way thereto without cost. The title to the land is now vested in The Lewis Cemetery Association.
The name “Lewis Cemetery comes from the name of the grandparents of the first child buried here.
As already stated the first burial here was that of a child of Bob Earl, and occurred about 1867 or 1868. This grave is not marked. The first marked burial here is that of Laura F. Allen who died March, 1881 at the age of 6 years, 23 days. Following this are Hanna Lewis, June 20, 1884, and John A. Trachsell, 1867-1884. The earliest birth dates recorded are those of Stewart and Elizabeth Lewis, Nov. 3d, and Dec. 22d, respectively, both in the year 1818.
