A Dr. Rogers of the Pedras Negras area on the Mexican side on a large ranch has led a group of Cherokee people to a cave that contains the remains of Chief Siquoya’s final resting place. Several historians boarded a bus on the Mexican side and traveled thorugh Nava, Morelos, and through Zaragosa, State of Coahila, Mexico to a Hacienda de Patinos.

They were met by two gracious people, Senora Gloria Salinas se Rodriquez, and Senora Epigmenio Rodriguez. They quickly formed a bond of freindship and our Chief described them as a warm greeting of a man of quality character and a horseman as the chief’s father explains that his father was when he was growing in his youth and teaching him of the ways and customs of the Cherokee People.

Epigmenio, known as Epi, is the descendant of the Rodriguez family and Gloria is the descendant of the Salinas family. Both families are old settlers in the northern part of Coahila. The Rodriquez and Salinas ranches joined together and the two families hold traditional stories of the Cherokees and Siquoya.

Epi and Gloria are the sixth generations to own the banks of Rio Escondido on February 1, 1753. The first ancester, Captain Vincente Rodriguez, established Azragoza in "El Valle de las Animos."

Epi was educated at Monterey Tech and Gloria studied in the United States. Both Epi and Gloria grew up with old family stories of the Cherokee people who came to Mexico in 1840. They also kept traditional stories of the great Siquoya.

They have also seen many hunters come and go in search of the lost grave of Siquoya. Standing in front of the old ruins of her family’s casa on the ranch, Gloia told us about the Anglos she knew who came looking for the "lost Cherokee," led by Omer Morgan of California and made up of two leaders representing W.W. Keeler, newly appointed Chief of the Cherokee of Oklahoma.

The Americans were shown the old campgrounds of the Cherokee and pointed out two graves that held the remains of Cherokees. To the horror of the Mexicans, these men dug up the graves and sifted through the bones. No true Indian would ever do such a thing! Gloria said that by the time the group got to her Grandmother Octavia’s home, the lady didn’t like their mannerisms and they were not considered "men of soul." Gloria was with the grandmother at the time and told Kinsall that her grandmother told the North Americans when they asked her about the grave of Siquoya, "No, no, no, La tierra ya ha combiado. Ya cambio mucho la tierra." (No, no, no, I don’t know anything about it. The land has changed much over the years.)

The men left and the story of where Siquoya may have lain remained behind, still being held by the Rodriquez and Salina families.

The same story of these two families told over the years was that Siquoya had been buried in a cave when he died on this trip to Mexico in search of the Cherokee people who had fled from the fight with the Republic of Texas Army in East Texas.