Elizabeth was born to one of the earlier families to settle the area. At one point her parents lived on Dog Island in Lesser Slave Lake. They also lived at the mouth of the Otauwau River until a flood that reached the ninth log on their cabin from their home. They eventually settled here to have better access to Smith and Slave Lake.
Childbirth in today’s time is a scary enough proposition for expectant mothers. A hundred years ago it was decidedly worse. Many children were stillborn or did not survive long. Such was the case of Elizabeth who died as an infant in 1940. She was buried here, on the home place, as many people were in days when it was the only reasonable option.
The family had long since moved away by when improvements were planned for the highway in the late 70’s, early 80’s. The original highway route was directly over this grave site, which by then had lost its original markers. Sammy Mutch, Elizabeth’s brother, heard about the proposed route and was able to get it re-directed in time to save the grave site. One can only wonder how many other grave sites, marking Alberta’s heritage, have been lost over the years.