A macabre discovery at a construction site on the 1700 block of Townsend Tuesday afternoon gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Call before you dig."

As contractors sliced into the asphalt across from Robinson Park to make way for new water and gas mains, the heavy equipment unearthed portions of several caskets, pulling wood, personal items and even some small bones from the coffins into the 8-foot-deep trench.

"Any time you're digging, you run into wood and things and you don't think anything about it," said Ron Cato, equipment operator for Pierce and Associates.

However, once workers realized what they had tapped into, efforts at the site came to a screeching halt.

While Cato -- who has been digging trenches for about 30 years -- was shocked by the discovery, residents of the neighborhood weren't surprised to see Lewis and Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson arrive at the scene Wednesday morning.

Ethel Gage has lived in the neighborhood all her life and said it's common knowledge among residents that Robinson Park was once Helena's Catholic cemetery. In fact, Gage remembers that particular portion of the neighborhood when it looked a lot more like a cemetery.

"I remember as a child that (the cemetery) had gone to wreck and ruin," she said, adding that this week wasn't the first time bones have been discovered during excavations in the area.

While Gage's knowledge of the cemetery is somewhat incomplete, Helena resident Charleen Spalding has made it her hobby to gather as much information about graveyards in the tri-county area as possible.

Spalding said the Catholic cemetery was the first one she investigated because she has three relatives buried there, including her great-grandmother, Fredericka.

According to Spalding, the cemetery dates back to the 1860s and served as the final resting place for about 1,600 Helena residents.

Among those are local madam Josephine Hensly, otherwise known as "Chicago Joe." In addition, the cemetery once accommodated members of the Thomas Cruse family until their remains were relocated in the family mausoleum in Resurrection Cemetery.

Spalding said that 41 percent of the occupants of the cemetery died before their 15th birthdays, victims of stillbirths and cholera.

Others buried there lost their lives in mining accidents and even hangings.

Area residents stopped using the cemetery in the early 1900s and the 4-acre graveyard fell into disrepair.

Spalding said some of the bodies were moved in the 1970s when street work was undertaken in the area, but because records of the locations of bodies buried in the cemetery are sketchy at best, it was decided to turn the area into a "passive park."

Nelson said the park was created as part of an agreement between city officials and the Diocese of Helena.

He contacted representatives of the diocese Wednesday to determine what should be done for the men and women whose remains were revealed by the digging.

According to Nelson, because the excavation had minimal effect on the graves, the only action that will be taken is to cover them up again. Work was winding up at that site anyway, he said.

"We need to protect the dignity and decency of those that were exposed," Nelson said.