[meteorite-list] Meteorite has special meaning for woman

[Ken Newton]

Here is a photo:
http://tinyurl.com/38cr8f
best,
ken

Darren Garrison wrote:

> Okay, anybody near this?  Sure doesn't sound kosher.

>

> http://www.bnd.com/336/story/169629.html

>

> Meteorite has special meaning for woman

> By MICHELLE BROOKS

> Jefferson City News Tribune

>

> JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --The black, pitted rock at the corner of Dorothy Lemke's

> property draws many curious passers-by.

>

> Recently, a schoolteacher stopped to visit with her about it.

>

> The visitor was not so surprised to learn it was a meteorite unearthed in a

> Versailles-area prairie turned terraced farmland more than 50 years ago.

>

> "I don't think many realize the significance of it," Lemke said. She has

> extended the invitation for students from the school across the street to come

> visit. But, "I think they can't visualize what I have," she said.

>

> When Lemke's father encountered the 4-foot-by-4-foot-by-2-foot mass of iron in

> 1950, he was expanding his environmentally friendly farm. And Lemke was a

> teenage girl more interested in boys.

>

> But as she became more aware and interested in archaeology, she realized the

> large rock, which they thought was an Indian stone, held sentimental value for

> her and she moved it to her home, then in California.

>

> It's taken heavy machinery to move the outerspace rock - three times now. And it

> continues to sink back into the ground the longer its sits.

>

> "It was just a big rock from the farm I grew up on, that I detested then but is

> precious to me now," Lemke said.

>

> About four years ago, Lemke had a geologist analyze what she had.

>

> "I was told there may be precious jewels inside," Lemke recalled.

>

> That was not the case, but she learned it was more than 300 million years old.

> And the oldest part is the sandstone that must have been struck by a stream of

> hot iron in space that filled in its cracks, the expert told her.

>

> "There's a lot of rocks in this town and many have them in their yards," Lemke

> said. "But not many are full of iron and 300 million years old."

>

> Lemke treasures her unique landscape feature; it didn't need to have diamonds

> inside, she said.

>

> If people might want to dispute the fact that this is a meteorite, Lemke

> admitted she wasn't an expert.

>

> However, "it couldn't be transported by humans and it had been buried for many

> years with no (similar) ones around it," Lemke defended.

>

> But she doesn't need to convince anyone, she said.

>

> She's content to see the sparkles of sandstone against the black iron when she

> works in her yard. And it's a reminder of the hard work her father put in to

> make their farm-home thrive.

>

> "It was just farmland then all of a sudden there was this rock that was buried,"

> Lemke said. "Anytime we run out of places to explore, surely we'll find

> something, if we explore the land." 

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