Janice N Chapman

Trail Number Four Janice N Chapman

After purchasing a large parcel of land west of Walsenburg, Colorado, the Demming brothers Chance. Woody and Curtis discovered an old burial site on the far northwestern part of it. Not knowing where to turn to report it brother Woody made a trip to Denver where he was referred to Professor of Archaeology Paul Dunhurst at the college. Professor Dunhurst in turn consulted his friend Charles Krigler who was the current State Archaeologist and enlisted his help in exploring the site.

Meanwhile, Chance had shot a deer, a ram and an elk which he and Curtis took to the Meat Processing Plant in Pueble. The clerk there told them of a poor and starving Mexican family north of Pueblo who could use the elk hide as a carpet on the floor of their house. He led them to the place where Juan Diego and his family lived. Finding the place poorly thrown together and Juan having to walk a half a mile to the Arkansas river to fetch water for his family, they took the Diego family under their wing, and when winter set in they moved Juan and his family to the well built cabin on their property. Later the brothers felled trees and Juan Diego helped them build a house for his family as well as sheds and corrals they built for use with livestock they intended to buy in the near future.

During this time the Archaeologist and the Professor visited the burial site where the Archaeologist took photos and made notes to turn in to the State of Colorado. He applied for a permit to excavate one of the graves for DNA and was denied because the State of Colorado doesn't allow excavations nor does it do DNA testing.

However, Charles Krigler took it upon himself to visit an area in Texas where similar grave sites had been found. In his investigation he discovered the graves on the Demming range were nearly identical as those in Texas, and discovered they were cairns that were dated back to 800-900 A. D., which made them PreHistoric and therefore could not be recorded in the State of Colorado.