The site was accidentally uncovered by Mark Mickels and farmworker Moises Aguirre Calzada on May 27, 1987, while installing an irrigation line. His digging unearthed about two dozen stone bifaces, which were at first mistaken for tools left by contemporary Indian tribes. Orchard co-owner Rich Roberts and his wife Joanne later showed the items to local amateur archaeologist Russell S. Congdon, who identified them as Clovis tools and subsequently contacted archaeologist Robert Mierendorf. The tool kit manufactured by the Clovis culture is one of the earliest known in the Americas, persisting from about 11,050 to 10,800 radiocarbon years BP.