In the summer of 1992, a team from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science - led by Dr. Kenneth (Ken) Carpenter - undertook their annual field camp in the Garden Park Fossil Area.  Carpenter, aided by his assistant Bryan Small and a crew of volunteers, prospected for nearly two weeks in an area not far from Kessler's quarry before Bryan Small and a volunteer, Tim Seeber, located the neck vertebra of a Stegosaurus dinosaur.  As it was nearing the end of the field camp, Carpenter assigned Bryan Small to take charge of the excavation with a small field crew. The excavation of the dinosaur proceeded hastily, but with care, and soon more neck vertebrae, including the skull, were eventually uncovered. Finding a skull is rare, but more surprises were in store.

In August of 1992, Small returned to the quarry with more volunteers from Denver and members of the Garden Park Paleontology Society to finish excavating the dinosaur. By the time the skeleton was uncovered, Small and the volunteers realized that they had found an almost complete Stegosaurus, including the articulated tail with three of the four spikes still in tact. The find was indeed a rare find. Once the skeleton was uncovered, the team began the careful and arduous process of removing the skeleton and creating jackets of burlap and plaster of Paris to protect the fragile pieces, but the jacketed specimens were very heavy and difficult to move; especially as the skeleton lay at the bottom of a steep-sided, narrow gulch.  The question of how they were going to remove the dinosaur from the gulch was still unanswered. Several Ideas were discussed, including one crazy idea of asking the army at Fort Carson to help.  The more this idea was discussed, the more it seemed like their only option.