FORTY FORT, Pa. — The water level is so low right now that in some spots it looks low enough to walk across the Susquehanna River without getting wet.
It is hard to imagine that in June of 1972, the river was so swollen that it displaced hundreds of graves from the Forty Fort Cemetery.
"So there's a bit of a dichotomy there if you will," said President of the Forty Fort Cemetery Association Andy Tuzinski. "But that water in '72 caused devastation to four acres of our cemetery, scouring out over 2500 grave sites, only 1900 of which remains were actually found."
Last week, more evidence of that catastrophe was discovered.
"Last Thursday evening, I received a phone call from one of the board members of the Forty Fort cemetery informing me that contractors who are working on a greenway project in conjunction with the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority found a whole bunch of tombstones," explained Tuzinski.
For about 35 people who were once laid to rest in this cemetery.
"A seven-month-old child that died in childhood to a person, a 90-year-old Doctor of Divinity that served as Wyoming seminaries president for 54 years," he added.
Many have names that have a place in history in the Wyoming Valley, some dating back more than 200 years.
"So if you go through those tombstones, you see names that you would recognize from streets on the west side of the Wyoming Valley, Shoemaker Sprague Mercer, Smith, Williams, Atherton Hoyt," said Tuzinski.
Right now, the cemetery plans to try and connect with any living family members of those who were once laid to rest here and learn how the stones ended up lost beneath the stream bed.
"If anyone watching this segment was involved in the cleanup after the 1972 flood, or were involved in the remediation of the cemetery" said Tuzinski. "We'd love to hear from them to just get a better idea of what happened."
If you can help answer some of the cemetery's questions, you can find contact information for the cemetery association by clicking here.