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Show Mount Rushmore? No, just a face by Louise Page For as long as he can remember, Bill Stokes, Chalk Creek, has walked around a big rock down by the ditch on his farm. "I've sat on that rock a hundred times through the years and watched kids." His wife Laurine said. Bill has lived on the farm all of his seventy plus years. Laurine for the past forty . five. The rock was in a perfect location for observing the kids and grandkids, at play and work, without being in the way. Like the ditch and the hill, it was just there. Part of the farm, to be used to best advantage. Then, in the fall of 1981, the family decided to build a bridge across the ditch. The rock would have to be moved, no big deal. It proved to be a lot bigger than they realized. Thinking the rock was just ' an inch or two below the surface, the simple task of prying it lose began. Before they began, the rock appeared to be six inches high on one side, sloping up to one foot on the other. Overall, it appeared to be about one foot square. Finally, after considerable digging, the rock was freed. Because of it's size, (it was actually about three feet long, two feet wide and two feet high,) and it's position on the side of the hill, as it was pried up from it's resting place, it rolled free and tumbled into the middle of the ditch. The rock stayed there, until May 8, 1982, when Kay Willouehbv. from the Uooer The face, half to three quarter life-size, appears to have the features of an american indian. His eyes are open and he has a deep triangular shaped hole in the upper left hand side of his forehead. From that day to this, Bill and Laurine have had something some-thing of a mystery on their hands, or patio. Who carved the face? The face on that rock has been buried in the same place for at least 70 years. It is possible the rock was dug up and placed there when the ditch was dug, some 80 years ago. Or, perhaps it rolled down the hill during some long forgotten earthquake. Maybe it's creater placed it just that way, in just that spot, when it was completed. In any case, the big mystery is still, who made it. whpn Chalk Creek Ditch Co., dug the rock out of the ditch. For the first time, in many years, what had been the bottom of the rock, buried first in the ditch bank, then in the ditch, was turned face up, literally! To everyones astonishment, astonish-ment, there peering out of the mud, which caked the rock, was the face of a man! The rock was carried up to Laurine's patio, no small chore, by Billie and Bobby Stokes, Robbie and Gary Stokes and Miles Hicken, where the mud was cleaned away. " and why? Bill recalls how the Indians would come up and down Chalk Creek Road every spring and fall. "They would camp right up the road from our place, on their way to and from the Chalk Creek Basin." Did an indian carve it? The Stokes farm, which has been in the same family for four generations, also is within walking distance of the old Weber and Chappel Coal Mines. Cont. to page 7 Mount Rushmore? I , ' i . i ' -' ' - "A fcv . , 'Oil No, just a face Did a miner carve it? It seems unlikely that a member mem-ber of Bill's family carved the face, since no one had any knowledge of it. It also seems unlikely that anyone will ever know for sure who did, unless that rock was a grave marker and someone finds the grave. Rut. even that seems ""in. Hi mimfm 1 1 n m , iiMr -.vo-Huum -i"t:liM- t;MT .Mui taurine Stokes. unlikely. If that rock was a grave marker at the bottom of the hill, the grave would have been discovered when the ditch was dug. Someone would remember. The rock could have marked a grave at the top of the hill some two to three hundred feet above the ditch, but even that seems unlikely. At one time, there was a barn just below the crest of the hill. A grave would probably have been discovered during construction. construc-tion. Laurine has contacted several knowledgeable people in an effort to find someone who will help her solve the mystery. Some have requested pictures. pic-tures. The university requested re-quested that she "Bring it in," quite impossible. Several Sev-eral have called asking for or volunteering information, but to date, with the exception of a rock hound and avid amature archiolo-gist, archiolo-gist, who estimated the face to be about 2,000 years old; and possibly the object of worship of some ancient people, the mystery remains unsolved. "I just wish we could get someone know-ledgable know-ledgable to come and look at it." Laurine said. i wish someone would come up with an answer, or just take the thing off our patio!!" |