Kurt, I have that friend from AF you kow of on FB who still insists that he witnessed all the graves being dug up and remains being moved to a different site. He's an otherwise rational guy but he insists that graveyard is empty and he and his wife watched "them" working on the project some years ago. I often wondered if he was mistaken, what did he see going on and at what site?
He was told that the bodies were being moved to protect them from grave-robbing treasure hunters.
There would have been little or nothing to steal from the bodies, we are talking 100+ years. The reality is even the FS doesn't know exactly where the current graves are and the markers currently there appeared sometime in the recent years. The project may very well serve as more of a 'memorial' and potential graveyard. We had discussed using GPR (ground penetrating radar) to hone in on the exact location of the gravesites as well as find a more accurate number as to the souls who rest there however it is just too cost prohibitive to do so ($5k+ to get started) and results are not guaranteed, particularly if we are 50 feet off the actual site. So much has changed since the 1870's, wolves were roaming the canyon then
Interesting.. I find that highly unlikely as when we were out there, we could still see the depressions from the original fence, and digging up remains would definately leave more marks than the fence posts. And I'm fairly sure Charmane the archeologist would have made mention of it in our conversations.
Agreed, she would know better than any. Charmaine has conducted research not only historical but site digs in the Forest City area, it was her that first alerted us that they really don't know the exact location of the site.
Personally I'm 100% content with calling the boundaries good, its as close as we may ever get.
