[meteorite-list] Nininger Moment #16 Part Two Plainview Fall

From: almitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:40 2004
Message-ID: <3EC50524.DFC2CA9A_at_kconline.com>

Nininger Moment #16
Part two Plainview Fall

Subject: A Nininger Moment #16
Date: Friday May 16, 2003
From: almitt <almitt_at_kconline.com>

Harvey Nininger continued his search for specimens the next day after
his successful purchase of the 8 pound stone. He and his brother
continued hunting for specimens at farm houses and by the days end had
over 26 specimens from the area weighing 152 pounds. He paid for these
by check that he planned to cover with a note before they reached
Denver.

One elderly gentleman used one of the stones to give his bull an
attitude adjustment when the bull would go on a rampage. He would use
the fist size specimen to subdue the bull. At one well cultivated farm
Harvey and his brother talked to a farmer's wife who was suspicious
of their visit until Nininger showed her some specimens from the area
and asked if she might have some on the farm in which he would pay a
dollar a pound to acquire. She later brought two specimens they had
used on the pork barrel covered with about a 1/4 inch of salt. She
also brought three more stones to Nininger and he paid her for the
five stones. She told Nininger that it was more than they had made
off the farm the past year. During that time both the depression and
poor conditions of the crops due to the dust bowl hurt many a farmer
in 1933.

One farm house was vacant but Nininger hunted around finding a number
of stones in which he picked up and took to the car. At the next farm
house he inquired who owned the property so he could settle up with the
owner for the rocks he had taken. The farmer they talked to just told
them to take the rocks but Nininger asked the owners name who lived in
town and later in the evening hunted him down to settle up. The owner
looked skeptical at Nininger with his arm full of rocks and told him
he had gathered the stones from his farm and they were of course his
stones but he would pay a dollar a pound as he had paid his neighbors
for similar stones. The the owner tried to just give the specimens to
Harvey, but Nininger hoped that the farmers would look for more stones
and sell them to him on future trips there or send them on to him for
payment. A check was written for $28.00 dollars to the owner of the
farm, making it possible for his wife to buy a new Christmas dress.

Many of the stones were purchased just before Christmas of that year
no doubt making for many a good Christmas that year for the people of
Plainview, Texas area in which he had purchased stones. As Nininger
and his brother headed towards home they stopped at the Pasamonte
Ranch in New Mexico and bought the first stone from the then nine
month old witnessed fireball. Nininger had successfully turned a bad
trip into a good one by the trips end by checking out two of the places
he thought might yield meteorites.

The campaign at Plainview, Texas was the beginning of what would be
an enormously successful campaign that would yield over 900 meteorites
in a 15 year period of time even though Nininger had been assured no
other specimens would probably be found in the area. Also Nininger
looked over all specimens found carefully as he was very much aware
that other falls might be represented in the Plainview strewnfield a
16 mile long by 4 mile wide strewnfield. At least three and possibly
four new stones from different falls were recognized in the Plainview
strewnfield.

The Nininger Moments are articles or books written originally by Harvey
Nininger and put into a consolidated form by Al Mitterling. Some of the
items written in the moments might be old out dated material and the
reader is advised to keep this in mind.

--AL Mitterling
Received on Fri 16 May 2003 11:35:01 AM PDT