Dent site

[1] The Dent railroad depot was once located next to the South Platte River southeast of Milliken, Colorado.

Railroad tracks serving the depot ran over eroded Ice-Age terrace remnants south and west of the river’s modern floodplain.

After heavy spring rains in April, 1932, railroad foreman Frank Garner noticed very large animal bones eroding from a deep gully draining through a low sandstone bluff west of the tracks.

Word of the discovery reached Regis College professor of geology, Jesuit priest Conrad Bilgery, through one of his students, son of the Dent Depot manager.

Figgins delegated further exploration of the mammoth remains to museum staff member, Frederick Howarter, who conducted excavations in June and July, 1933, with museum volunteers, trustees, Father Bilgery, and his Regis College students.