[meteorite-list] Meteorite Finding Dog in West Texas

From: Walter Branch <waltbranch_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:53:35 -0500
Message-ID: <8E7C2E1D28AA4B698712B6EAE468E10F_at_Walter>

Hi Frank,

Funny story. Thanks for sharing.

BTW, I just re-read your article on in Meteorite on Braunau. Interesting
detective work.

-Walter

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Cressy" <fcressy at prodigy.net>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; <mexicodoug at aim.com>;
<meteorobs at meteorobs.org>; <ensoramanda at ntlworld.com>;
<meteoritemall at yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 8:42 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Finding Dog in West Texas


> Hi Rubin and all,
>
> One hundred and fifty years ago, a stone fell in Bethlehem, New York on
> August 11 that also involved a meteorite finding dog, apparently not as
> well trained as the West, Texas dog. C.U. Shepard wrote:
>
> ?Mr. Vanderpool was at work near his house, and heard the explosion in
> common with other members of his family. About two minutes after, as it
> appeared to him, a stone, coming in an oblique course, struck the side
> of a wagon house, glanced off, hit a log upon the ground, bounded again,
> and rolled into the grass. A dog lying in the doorway of the wagon house
> sprang up, darted out and seized it, but dropped it immediately,
> probably on account of its warmth and sulphurous small.?
>
> And of course there's the story about the dog that found the Lost City
> meteorite in January, 1970. Must have been too heavy to carry so he just
> "marked it", probably so he could find it again. ;-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frank
>
>
> --- On Sat, 2/21/09, Ruben Garcia <meteoritemall at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> From: Ruben Garcia <meteoritemall at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Finding Dog in West Texas
> To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com, mexicodoug at aim.com,
> meteorobs at meteorobs.org, ensoramanda at ntlworld.com
> Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 5:08 PM
>
> There is indeed a meteorite finding dog!
>
> Here's the story. On Friday Sonny, Steve Arnold and I drove into the
> strewn
> field bright and early and immediately started knocking on doors to try to
> gain
> permission to hunt. Upon walking up to a particular house Sonny spotted a
> meteorite on the porch (about 70-90 grams) he picked it up, and laid it
> back
> down. "Ruben, did you see that fully crusted meteorite on the porch?"
> He Said. I couldn't believe it. He was right! Right there on the porch but
> no one was home...what to do? Since Sonny assured me that he wasn't going
> to
> buy meteorites when he could find them I decided to track down the owner
> and try
> to buy the specimen.
>
> I got the owners work phone number from a neighbor and called. After
> introducing myself and explaining what I was in town for, I told the owner
> that
> there was a meteorite on their porch. "What, you mean that black rock that
> the dog brought up and dropped on the porch?" "Yes, that one" I
> said.
>
> Needless to say, I drove down and did a nice video interview with the
> owner
> holding the space rock and recalling the tale.
>
>
> Ruben Garcia
> Phoenix, Arizona
> Website: http://www.Mr-Meteorite.Net
> Articles: http://www.meteorite.com/blog/
> Videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=meteorfright&p=v
>
>
> --- On Sat, 2/21/09, ensoramanda at ntlworld.com <ensoramanda at ntlworld.com>
> wrote:
>
>> From: ensoramanda at ntlworld.com <ensoramanda at ntlworld.com>
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] West, Texas meteorite finds
>> To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com, mexicodoug at aim.com,
> meteorobs at meteorobs.org
>> Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 4:18 AM
>> Quick...make an offer for the dog!
>>
>> Thanks for the interesting update/report.
>>
>> Graham Ensor UK
>>
>> ---- mexicodoug at aim.com wrote:
>> > Hello from Sunny Texas, under clear and starry-eyed
>> skies at the moment,
>> >
>> > A few stones were found right at the time of the fall,
>> however, they
>> > were not definitively identified as meteorites -
>> though that was the
>> > suspicion and they were saved.
>> >
>> > We (Doug Dawn, Dmitry Sadilenko, Sergey Petukov) drove
>> across the
>> > country and estimated the location of the strewn field
>> within 48 hours
>> > of the event. With a bit of tenacity, scarcely four
>> hours after the
>> > second day, thanks to the help of some Texas-sized
>> hospitality, we
>> > arrived in the strewn field and found our first couple
>> of stones and I
>> > had the distinct pleasure of shaking the finders hand
>> and removing any
>> > lingering doubts in his mind that he had meteorites
>> fresh from Heaven's
>> > farm.
>> >
>> > After the initial success, my good friend and
>> asteroidhunter, Rob
>> > Matson of Los Angeles, joined up with the team. We
>> have found some
>> > stones, but more are being found by others, and we
>> really expect larger
>> > masses to be found, though hard work in the field
>> definitely gets you
>> > wondering if just because such a meteoritical
>> spectacle drops one
>> > stone, should it drop the thousands we keep expecting
>> to see? The TKW
>> > is rapidly evolving, but the area is being hit quite
>> hard by hunters
>> > already. This doesn't seem to be a dense fall, and
>> some areas are very
>> > easy to search, though bramble in other areas
>> effectively keeps those
>> > off limits. All land is private and most families keep
>> their gun
>> > collections well oiled. In our case, the big-hearts of
>> the landowners
>> > have humbled easily as much as the witness reports of
>> the bolide's
>> > fragmenting itself. This is at odds with some other
>> reports, only
>> > because residents of the area treasure their privacy
>> and were
>> > completely overwhelmed by the wave of treasure hunters
>> that descended.
>> > We almost lost our permission to hunt when they
>> believed that we were
>> > somehow responsible for several meteorite hunters
>> showing up with a
>> > news crews. Besides being quite busy, I promised to
>> respect the
>> > anonymity of our hosts as a condition of our search,
>> and this evening
>> > we reaped the benefits of a delicious home-cooked
>> dinner prepared by
>> > the caring hands of our hosts at their dinner table.
>> There is a great
>> > Texas steakhouse on I-35 which adds to the flavor for
>> anyone wanting to
>> > experience Texas culture, cowboys and pretty cowgirls
>> from West, TX.
>> >
>> > It has been an incredible last few days, which started
>> by being the
>> > first to walk in a virgin strewn field, though my
>> mother had some
>> > problems (she seems better now) that have somewhat
>> muted what will
>> > undoubtedly be some of the most memorable moments of
>> my life. It is way
>> > past bedtime and I will post more tomorrow. The
>> meteorite itself is
>> > moderately to highly shocked and has a very bright,
>> light, interior and
>> > veins of troilite and nodules of metal, and the
>> majority of stones
>> > found are fully fusion crusted. More on the
>> classification on Saturday.
>> > We certainly were not in a mass-laden portion of the
>> strewn field,
>> > other hunters please take note; more likely just a
>> place where a minor
>> > fragmentation impacted. In any case, we are committed
>> to getting the
>> > science done so everyone else can rest assured that we
>> have already
>> > gladly provided the mass requirements necessary for
>> this honor.
>> >
>> > All in all, a very humbling experience for many
>> reasons. To pick up a
>> > piece of a falling star and I thought, detect a faint
>> sulfurous odor.
>> > It seems a dog even caught the scent of a meteorite
>> and laid it down on
>> > the owners porch!
>> >
>> > Best wishes and clear skies
>> > Doug
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Pat Branch <pat_branch at yahoo.com>
>> > To: drtanuki at yahoo.com; Global Meteor Observing Forum
>> > <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
>> > Sent: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 9:28 am
>> > Subject: Re: (meteorobs) West, Texas meteorite finds
>> >
>> >
>> > The University of North Texas Astronomers have found 4
>> so far. I saw a
>> > video clip of them. The biggest is about 3 times the
>> others...just
>> > about palm sized.
>> >
>> > I think that is 4 for Farmer and 4 for UNT. I have not
>> heard of other
>> > teams finding anything.
>> >
>> >
>> > --- In meteorobs at yahoogroups.com, drtanuki
>> <drtanuki at ...> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > Dear List,
>> > > Here are the latest reports from the West, Texas
>> fall.
>> > >
>> > > http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/
>> > >
>> > > Best Regards, Dirk Ross...Tokyo
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > ______________________________________________
>> > http://www.meteoritecentral.com
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>> > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> >
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>>
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>
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Received on Sat 21 Feb 2009 08:53:35 PM PST