[meteorite-list] Fw: Meteor Crater or Barringer Crater, and LaPaz, part 2

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 13:28:28 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <263869.428.qm_at_web36907.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

>From Robert Warren

Sir,
 
As the Bureau of Geographical Nomenclature is the countries
foremost authority on names of geological and geographical
features, the name most specialists as you say use namely
Barringer Meteorite Crater is wrong.
(Actually, Barringer Crater - EP)


It is that Bureau that made the determination to call it Meteor Crater.
Back in the late 1940's to 1950's when Lincoln LaPaz
and a few of his buddies tried to get it renamed to
Barringer Meteorite Crater, they were fighting that Bureau
which told them no changes would be made. Their choice
was final.

The name follows standard meteorite naming
protocols of both the 1940's as well as todays.
Meteorites are named after the nearest Postal Office.
In 1907, Fairchild used that protocol and even mentions it
in his paper when he uses the Nearest Post Office, Meteor,
Arizona, to name the crater. The name does not refer
to meteors, or meteorites. It is no different than the
usage of the same name to name a particularly fast train
that used to ride the rails, known as the Meteor
Express. Today that post office does not exist, but
the railroad stop still does. It is called Sunshine
stop, being just north of the Rimmy Jim exit to the crater
off the I-40.

The Meteor Post Office was approved by
President Teddy Roosevelt around 1903-1906, when D. M.
Barringer asked him if one could be started, because up to
that time, he was having to go to the Canyon Diablo Trading
Post being run by Fred Volz over where the BNSF railroad
still crosses the Canyon Diablo.
[It looks to me like Barringer did not know the difference between a meteor and a meteorite - EP]

That extra distance amounted to a round trip of about 20 miles whereas if a stop with a post office could be started north of the crater it
would be a complete round trip of about 12 miles. Back
when a trip of 20 miles was a day long event with horses or
horse and buggies, that amounted to something.
Roosevelt agreed and ordered such a post office be started.
 
Now when Lapaz and buddies tried to get the crater renamed,
they were doing it for one reason and one reason only.
To get in good with the Barringer family, and the Chilson
and Tremaine familes. The Chilson and Tremaine
families had full control of the Museum on the rim since
1941 when they leased it from the Barringers on a 99 year
lease which has since been extended. But together
those two families also owned and ran the Bar-T-Bar ranch
which pretty much surrounds the crater.

They were all trying to stop people not associated with the University of
New Mexico (LaPaz's place of work) [Nininger - EP] from having access to
the crater. The same group also was trying to gain
complete control of the Meteoritical Society, which they
came close to doing. But when the total world wide
membership dropped so badly that for members here in the U.S. had almost dropped to the levels it had after its first
two months of being in existence, they lost out.

They had managed to get people like the Nininger's kicked out
of the society but he was asked in the late 1950's- to
early 1960's to rejoin because others saw how he had
done so much work and Lapaz and buddies had not. (for
this history see Ursula Marvin's history in the
publication "Meteoritics" 1993.)
 
So even these old timers and if you read the modern
literature, even most of the modern researchers still use
the OFFICIAL World recognized name for the crater
"METEOR CRATER" and not the name Barringer
crater. If some one uses the name Barringer Crater,
they are only paying tribute to the owners of the crater and
not its offical name.
 
Now as to what the Navajo or any other Indian tribe may
call it, no one knows. [Actually, the Navajo do, but they don't really care to share.]

Lapaz screwed that up for every one when he published a short paper in "Popular Astronomy" back in 1950-52. He wrote this paper
where he claims discovery of some ruins on the rim of the
crater, and mentions how an archaeologist from the Univ. of
New Mexico had excavated it, all to prove that Nininger was
wrong, when he said that modern day Indians wanted nothing
to do with the Crater.

The problems cause by LaPaz, is first, the archaeologist never excavated any ruins, he had neither the time, the money for any digs, plus he was only at that University working on his doctorate before he
headed back north to Canada where he still resides today. I know I have talked with him at some length about this.

In fact he says LaPaz was certifiably crazy. The second problem is the only ruins known by anyone on and around the crater were already known in 1891 when Grove Karl Gilbert in his survey of the crater and surroundings drew four such structures on his topographical map which was published by Merrill in 1908 in his paper on the Crater. [!!!! - EP] So LaPaz discovered nothing.

If there has ever been an indian name for the crater it would
have originated with either the Anazazi or even the people
who preceeded them. The present indians really want
nothing to do with the crater. Of course this could
change, if in my researches, my talks with the indians as
far away as the old Hubbell trading post or even over
towards the Cameron Trading Post will talk to me about
it. But so far in trying to learn this information for
the past 20 years, I have been unable to.
[The traditions are tightly held, and it is not my place to share them.
But note well the earlier ruins found - EP.]
 
Now as to some of my qualifications. I am one of
those modern researchers. I am working with several
others on studying sink holes found north of and around the
crater. I am also trying to get permission to go down
into the crater to study the caves found down there. I
have published 5 years ago the largest, and from what I have
been told by other researchers, the biggest, and best
bibliography on the crater since Briley and Moores of
1976. I have been researching why people like Lt.
Joseph C. Ives did not see the crater even though on his map
(dated 1853-1854) published with the Whipple expedition
works, which was one of the four great Railroad
Surveys. His map clearly show Canyon Diablo, and some
of the tributaries that merge with it. In fact the
Canyon received its name from the Whipple expedition.
So in order to map the Canyon, using even the rough
techniques they used in 1853-1854, they had to have gone up
to the rim of the crater to look down upon the canyon in
order to map it. So why didn't they mention
it?

I am getting ready for another season of hiking
both the Canyon Diablo area as well as hiking around the
crater, checking on caves in the canyon, and sinkholes
around the crater. So I know a thing or two about the
crater.
 
Robert Warren



      
Received on Sat 06 Mar 2010 04:28:28 PM PST