Historic Mountain View Cemetery vandalized, police seeking white box truck

Monday night around 8:45, the Mountain View Cemetery, the final resting place of Evel Knievel and a testament to Butte, Montana's colorful past, was vandalized, apparently by a white box truck, tearing off the beautiful wrought iron arch and support that has stood for well over 100 years.

The damage is extensive, even enough to separate the iron letters from the arch itself.

Mountain View Cemetery was established in 1910 and is very representative of Butte in that you will find tombstones representing all walks of life, rich and poor, some burial sites ornately decorated, some with no tombstone at all.

Reflective of Butte's history as a cultural melting pot, some of the graves are engraved in the native language of those who are there laid to rest.

If you want to go deeper into Butte's history, the Mountain View Cemetery is the final resting place of labor organizer Frank Little, reminiscent of a darker time of Butte's colorful yet turbulent past.

Mountain View Cemetary memorializes the victims of the 1917 Granite Mountain/Speculator mine disaster which took the lives of 167 young men.

Mountain View Cemetary is also the final resting place of world-famous daredevils, Robert "Evel" Knievel and his son "Kaptain" Robbie Knievel, both proud Butte natives.

Police have recovered surveillance video which they have shared on social media.

If you have any information, please call and leave a message for Officer Nikki Stewart at 406-593-8767.