[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Holbrook

Martin, Bernd, et al,
	I hunted the Holbrook strewn field with the great hunter, Steve Shoner.
He showed me the area & it is off a dirt road to the left avter
trabeling about 1 mile past the paved part of the road off Hwy 40, exit
6 mi E. of Holbrook. If memory serves me right, the exit is named Aztec
- but of this, I am not sure.
	Once the dirt road turns left, the road roughly parrallels the RR
tracks about 300 to 400 yards to the south - if you continue east on the
dirt road, after about 1/2 mi it curves South and actually crosses the
tracks. 
	Steve said the strewn field was primarily the area between the road and
the tracks. I have seen dozens if not hundreds of specimens he has found
there, as well as a couple that were several hundreds of grams each -
but beware of searching in the summer. (That place is PUNISHING that
time of year.) Steve is a veritable MACHINE when he's in a strewn field
- a wild man that probably covered 5 times the area I did in the same
time frame - he also found several very rusty partials on that trip -
each  a little larger than a BB - I would not have recognized them had
one lept onto the magnet near the tip of my cane, due, primarily, to
their resemblance to  a rusted tin can fragment. However, I have seen
specimens he found there that were very close to as "fresh" as the Foote
specimens. 
	In any case, it is a relatively accessable and PROVEN strewn field,
even if Steve has nearly mined the sucker out, over the years (He says,
the wind uncovers more all the time, as the sand shifts - and, I must
admit, every tiny shrub holds the dirt in place and, consequently, forms
a sort of dias. or "island" about 6 to 12 inches higher than the
sorrounding/dominant bleak & barren streaches.
	Just take that exit east of Holbrook (it only goes south) - go strait
when the paved road turns left (east) and turn left when the dirt road
offers a left (about 1 mile later? - in any case, it is a very decent
dirt/gravel road). After turning left,  when the barbed wire fence to
your left stops, you are dead center of the strewn field between the
road you are on and the RR tracks. (If you go strait when the dirt road
offers a left, you will probably come upon a washed out portion of the
road before you get to the RR tracks - even a 4 wheel would have had a
dificult time with that area, when I was there last.
	Hope this has been helpful. 
	Best wishes, Michael