[meteorite-list] Meteorite Finding Dog in West Texas

[Walter Branch]

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

>> > > _______________________________________________

>> > ______________________________________________

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>> >

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