Green River Coffee Company Opens at New Location

James L. Davis

For those who can’t get through the morning, or afternoon, or evening, without a good cup of coffee, you may have to go around the corner and down the street to find one, but the Green River Coffee Co. is still open for business.

The Green River Coffee Company moved into old Moki Trading Post during July and officially opened for business at its new location on Aug. 1.

Amy Wilmarth is the new owner of the company, which she has purchased along with the building and inventory of the Moki Trading Post. Wilmarth has managed the Green River Coffee Co. since it started in February of 2002.

According to Wilmarth the coffee company was asked to vacate its old location by the building owner, Cathy Gardner. Wilmarth said she will miss the atmosphere the old building provided, with its high ceilings and cozy atmosphere, but she feels that the new location may prove even better when she is finished remodeling it.

“A building kind of yells at you what it wants to be and I’m doing my best to make it as cozy and comfortable place as I can,” she said.

When her old boss, Douglas Wright, asked her to start the coffee company in 2002 Wilmarth said she enjoyed her coffee, but a good cup of joe wasn’t something she spent a great deal of time worrying about. Now, of course, she spends a great deal of time striving to make the perfect cup of coffee.

“I roast all of my own coffee and we supply one of the local river runners with all of their coffee. I’ve grown into really loving my coffee.”

While the coffee company relies on the tourist traffic for much of its customer base, Wilmarth said she has learned that there is a large group of Green River regulars who count on being able to stop in for a cup of coffee.

“In the winter time I pretty much closed down, but I had so many local people that wanted to come in and get their coffee, so we try to stay open during the winter, at least from 7 to noon,” she said.

Locally, Wilmarth said she gets a mix of all ages that come in for coffee and to sit and relax and enjoy a cozy conversation among friends, one of the most popular attractions for any good coffee house.

In her old location Wilmarth said she tried to open the coffee company up for the youth to have dances once a month and tried to make it a nice place for them to hang out. The new location may not afford such an opportunity for dances, but she still plans to hold events with youth in mind.

As the Green River Coffee Co. gets up and running in its new location, Wilmarth said the merchandise that was part of the Moki Trading Post will remain in the building and be on sale for tourists and locals. In years to come if all goes well Wilmarth said she may consider continue to sell collectables at the coffee company.

Wilmarth and her employees run the Green River Coffee Company seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Candidates File for Council Positions

James L. Davis

For those who can’t get through the morning, or afternoon, or evening, without a good cup of coffee, you may have to go around the corner and down the street to find one, but the Green River Coffee Co. is still open for business.

The Green River Coffee Company moved into old Moki Trading Post during July and officially opened for business at its new location on Aug. 1.

Amy Wilmarth is the new owner of the company, which she has purchased along with the building and inventory of the Moki Trading Post. Wilmarth has managed the Green River Coffee Co. since it started in February of 2002.

According to Wilmarth the coffee company was asked to vacate its old location by the building owner, Cathy Gardner. Wilmarth said she will miss the atmosphere the old building provided, with its high ceilings and cozy atmosphere, but she feels that the new location may prove even better when she is finished remodeling it.

“A building kind of yells at you what it wants to be and I’m doing my best to make it as cozy and comfortable place as I can,” she said.

When her old boss, Douglas Wright, asked her to start the coffee company in 2002 Wilmarth said she enjoyed her coffee, but a good cup of joe wasn’t something she spent a great deal of time worrying about. Now, of course, she spends a great deal of time striving to make the perfect cup of coffee.

“I roast all of my own coffee and we supply one of the local river runners with all of their coffee. I’ve grown into really loving my coffee.”

While the coffee company relies on the tourist traffic for much of its customer base, Wilmarth said she has learned that there is a large group of Green River regulars who count on being able to stop in for a cup of coffee.

“In the winter time I pretty much closed down, but I had so many local people that wanted to come in and get their coffee, so we try to stay open during the winter, at least from 7 to noon,” she said.

Locally, Wilmarth said she gets a mix of all ages that come in for coffee and to sit and relax and enjoy a cozy conversation among friends, one of the most popular attractions for any good coffee house.

In her old location Wilmarth said she tried to open the coffee company up for the youth to have dances once a month and tried to make it a nice place for them to hang out. The new location may not afford such an opportunity for dances, but she still plans to hold events with youth in mind.

As the Green River Coffee Co. gets up and running in its new location, Wilmarth said the merchandise that was part of the Moki Trading Post will remain in the building and be on sale for tourists and locals. In years to come if all goes well Wilmarth said she may consider continue to sell collectables at the coffee company.

Wilmarth and her employees run the Green River Coffee Company seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

A Lonely Vigil

James L. Davis

The tombstone is a simple piece of wood, sun bleached and weather rotted, there is nothing left on its rough surface to read, no hint of the person it represents, no clue of who those were who loved the person buried there.

The weathered markers at the Old Greenriver Cemetery have been calling to Joanne Ekker since she was a child and the years between then and now have been involved in the unweaving of mysteries to find the names and histories of those buried in the cemetery.

“As a kid I used to ride my horse around there and I would ask people who was buried there,” Ekker said.

The cemetery, called the Greenriver Cemetery from a time when the name of the city had not been separated into two words, was closed in 1926. At that time the residents of Green River were becoming ill and many speculated that the water for the town was being contaminated by the cemetery. That theory was never proven, but the cemetery was closed anyway and only two people have been buried there since. In 1931 Susannah Gillies was laid to rest there and the last time was in 1943 when James Shinn’s ashes were buried there. Since then the cemetery slowly faded into obscurity until 1988, when Ekker decided to take the cemetery on as her personal mission to find the names of those who are buried there.

“Muriel Smith, a local historian, she had found 15 names of those buried there and I was told that you wouldn’t be able to find anymore names. I took that as a challenge,” Ekker said.

Ekker began a long, time consuming process of researching newspapers, and church and town records for clues to the 120 suspected graves in the old cemetery.

“It’s all detective work,” Ekker said from behind her counter at the Green River Post Office. She paused and then added. “It’s a lot of genealogy and a lot of detective work.”

Today Ekker has possibly 79 names of those who were buried there and she said that in her detective and genealogy work she has ended up with a lot of family records of individuals, some of whom she found were not buried at the Greenriver Cemetery, which led her elsewhere.

“I started going to the Elgin Cemetery because I thought if they were here, maybe they were up there,” she said.

Ekker said that she still searches the internet for family histories that might help her locate the names of the dead, but sometimes the family members of those buried there come in search of her.

She said that one day a relative of a little girl that was buried at the cemetery came into the post office and reported that the little girl had a little brother. Ekker said that she had located the girl’s grave and there was a row of rocks in a circle and when she went back up she noticed that right beside that row of rocks was another row, but the headstone was gone. The family gave the clues to help discover the name of one other lost soul at the cemetery.

While the Old Greenriver Cemetery was the town cemetery for years, most of those who are buried there are children under the age of 10, which is another reason why Ekker is so devoted to trying to find their names.

“All those kids had a mom and their mom wants somebody to take care of them,” Ekker said. “It’s my passion. The puzzle.”

In the past month a new sign, built by Danny May, has been put up at the cemetery to let people know that the oblong stretch of land encircled within chain link fence is a sacred place.

As long as there are still graves without names Ekker will continue searching diligently for the histories behind each person buried there.

“I feel like those people can’t go without names. They’re forgotten. It’s a forgotten place,” she said.

But as long as she is still searching, the Old Greenriver Cemetery is not quite forgotten.