I am Cliff Ammons, the person who found the last two books, making complete the trilogy written by my aunt, Edith Eudora Ammons Kohl. Her first book, “Land of the Burnt Thigh,” had been originally published in 1938 by Funk and Wagnalls Publishing Company.

My family and I had always thought it was her only book. We knew about Edith and her younger sister, Ida Mary, going into western South Dakota and even going into Wyoming with her younger brothers, Mitchell, my dad, and Thomas, the younger brother. We also knew that she came into Colorado and worked for many years as a writer and historian with The Denver Post. Edith passed away in 1959 and my mother, sister and brother-in-law, and I went to clean out her apartment.

She had very little of anything of value but my brother-in-law, Don, asked to keep her old typewriter. Mom kept some of her pictures and dishes. I kept an old suitcase because it contained some drafting equipment that Aaron, her late husband, used in his architectural business many years earlier.

I had been studying drafting at Englewood High School and wanted to become an architect. I was never able to fulfill that dream but did work as a draftsman for several architects and structural engineers and used that drafting equipment of Aaron’s for many years and still have it at my drafting table in my workshop in my basement.

For some still unknown reason, I have always kept that ‘old stinky suitcase’.

After her death I graduated high school, spent time in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, met my wife while in the service and got married in 1970. Margie and I have two children. We both had careers as Realtors and for the past 34 years have owned and operated a professional photography business in Colorado. It was not until early 2015 that my wife and I actually felt led to go through all the contents of that suitcase. I was planning on getting rid of it! We knew we had the original manuscript for “Land of the Burnt Thigh” and then discovered the original manuscript for “The Sodbreakers”.

We were thrilled at such a finding. We had absolutely no idea how to go about publishing “The Sodbreakers” and in passing, mentioned to our good friends from New York, that we had come across the material. Our friend, Bob Walsh, said, “Are you not aware that I am a publisher?”

We proceeded to have “The Sodbreakers” published in late 2015. One evening Margie and I were sorting through more contents of the suitcase and my wife said, “Cliff, there is a third manuscript for another book in this old suitcase!” My response was, “No, there is not!” However, that is how we found “Woman of the Cavalcade.”

I am so happy that we did find this incredible piece of history. And now we are thrilled to be able to share it with the world. This is like finding a diary and knowing how important the contents are.

It is my opinion that my aunt never had the last two books published because her work at The Denver Post kept her so busy that she felt she would publish them once she retired. She died of cancer before her dream became a reality. She did have a movie contract for “Land of the Burnt Thigh” with MGM Studio but that never materialized because of World War II. We never knew about the contract with MGM until we went through her suitcase.

Margie and I are so proud to have the books published and we are excited to see what the future will bring in regards to the books.

Feel free to email us with any questions.