Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a 100 percent fatal, prion disease of deer that has the potential to decimate the deer population and jump to the human population. The results of a long-term project text mining the internet for information related to deer management were used to conduct a contact tracing for the first 40 years of the disease, 1967 to 2007. The evidence supports a common assertion in the public press that all of the early cases can be traced back to a Fort Collins, Colorado, research facility managed at the time by Colorado State University and the Colorado Division of Wildlife where the disease was first observed. Sheep from a scrapie project reportedly shared pens with captive deer at the facility. Research supports the theory that the disease jumped from sheep with scrapie. For 1967 into 1998, six clusters were identified that could all be traced back to Fort Collins. Limited information from game farms made tracking difficult for 1998 to 2007 with 10 more clusters traced back to areas linked to Fort Collins or with trace backs to Fort Collins explainable. Documentation at: www.deerfriendly.com/deer-disease/chronic-wasting-disease/possible-origins-of-chronic-wasting-disease