[meteorite-list] Re: Barringer Meteor $$$$

From: Steve Schoner <steve_schoner_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:45 2004
Message-ID: <20030526192610.37998.qmail_at_web12708.mail.yahoo.com>

--- Sharkkb8_at_aol.com wrote:
>
> martino.6_at_osu.edu writes:
>
> > when I asked her if it was OK for me to drive out
> and see the ruins [
> > American Meteorite Museum] she said that it wasn't
> allowed, but that she wouldn't
> > try and stop me from doing it. So now I have a
> nice, very substantial brick
> > from the walls. :)
> >
> > So my personal experience there has been different
> than Steve's, obviously.
>
> My experience was even more casual. I stopped at
> that gas station too,
> engaged in the same general discussion with the
> woman behind the counter, but when
> I asked about going out to the Museum site, the
> woman said, "Sure, no
> problem". This was a couple of years ago, maybe
> they've had to tighten it up a bit.
> Here are a couple of pix taken from the "ruins",
> with the crater in the
> distance. While the growling about the seemingly
> high-side entrance fee is
> certainly understandable, it's still an absolutely
> sacred pilgrimage for the
> collector, and never ceases to awe, no matter how
> many times one returns.
>
> Gregory
>


Looking at my meteor crater map to get my bearings
(failed memory) as to what is State and private lands,
I see that the plot with the old museum appears to be
on private land. (It is a checkerboard out here in the
west, a relic of the old railroad days) Who owned
that land and leased it to Nininger for his museum, I
do not know. I think that it might have been the
"Standard Iron Company" that had the patent to that
land, but I am not sure about this. But it is
interesting to me that he spent so much time and
effort building it, only to remain there for a few
years.

It would be interesting to research the story as to
what made him leave that spot.

I never asked him.

When I first visited the site in 1967, it was
virtually all there, the entire structure with the
roof intact, the rooms, and the tower, steps and all,
even the old wooden doors were on the hinges.

Several times after that first visit, I noticed the
building going into disrepair, but still the tower and
its steps were intact-- even the bathroom and toilet
were still there.

Then sometime in the early 1970's someone set fire to
the building, destroying the roof, the tower, and the
wood structure.

That was a real shame.

Then shortly after Meteor Crater put up "No
Trespassing" signs on the road going to the site.
Several years ago, I too wanted to visit the old site
again, at that MCE operated trading post-gas station.
I was curtly told. It is posted as private property
with no trespassing.

I got the message and did not ask for permission.

That was my experience.

As for what they say about Nininger... that would be
interesting, too. My experience dealing with the
managers, and others working there... When the subject
of Dr. Nininger came up... the remarks were anything
but positive.

Steve Schoner
http://www.geocities.com/meteorite_identification

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Received on Mon 26 May 2003 03:26:10 PM PDT