November 19-20, 2005                                         
 
High water prevented excavation of the sloth site until November 19-20, 2006, a hiatus of approximately one year.  Mather and Sons were on site with the excavator at 8:00 o’clock on Saturday morning and extended the excavation 20 by 20 feet to the west of the main bone concentration. The ramp leading to the floor was also taken out as the excavator backed out of the pit. Since the road into the site was still in good shape, the operator was able to clear the projected area of excavation in a couple of hours.  Nine volunteers then bailed the site and removed muck immediately above the sloth layer by hand. The entire newly opened area was tested without a single bone being discovered. However, this dig along with the November 2004 dig demonstrated that sloth remains were not present in a 20 by 45 foot area surrounding the main bone concentration on the north bank. It was decided that continued excavation on the north side of the creek would be impractical.  
 
The party then probed in the creek proper and discovered two bones, a calcaneum (heal) and a partial vertebra. This area included the vicinity of the discovery specimens and further demonstrated that the sloth bone scatter extended under the south bank. This direction clearly needs to be excavated. Thus, the November 2004 and 2005 expeditions refined the distributional limits of sloth remains on the north bank (Tiemann property) and indicated that sloth  remains were present under the south bank (Athen property of the West Tarkio.  
 
Participants in the November 19-20, 2005 dig were Erica Begun, Kathy Desterhaft, Alex Woods, Aaron Last, Angela Collins, Jerry Parks, Don Wirth, Holmes Semken and David Brenzel. 
 
Holmes A. Semken, submitted December 6, 2005