Dear List Members,

Team LunarRock solved the mystery of the "Curious Iron Rocks" that miners were finding for years in Pershing County, Nevada.

Here is how the mystery began:

We were told by the locals that the best place to eat in Lovelock, Nevada was at a Shell gas station, not the C Punch Casino we were staying at while we were getting ready to attend a cash-only land auction before starting our annual meteorite hunt in June of 2015 . We thought they were joking with us so we ignored the recommendation at first. The pretty country girls at the bank, that looked like they were getting ready to enter a beauty contest, who provided us with cash for the auction, mentioned the Shell gas station again so our curiosity got the best of us. I could not help but notice the girls in this small old western town were all dressed up with their hair meticulously done. My wife noticed this too and asked where she could get her hair done for the big auction. The girls at the bank considered it an emergency, made a few cell calls and had my wife's hair done in no time. The girls were hoping to meet some rich ranchers or miners at the auction so had to look their very best. Some may ask what this has to do with curious iron rocks that were being found.

Let me explain. We attended the auction which had about 50 bidders with the rest of the people being spectators. I was concerned that there was no security and the back door of the community center was left open for fresh air. There was stacks of cash tucked away in briefcases and satchels. I mentioned my concern to the auctioneer and he said that they have the best security there is. He said a would-be perpetrator would have dozens of bullets in their head before they even hit the ground if they tried to pull some stupid stunt since the attendees are all well-armed. I looked around and observed that some girls had Lady Smith 9mm's tucked in their boots and one bidder had a Colt 45 Peacemaker next his stacks of cash in his briefcase. We won some ranches at the auction, paid the county treasurer and had the deeds prepared and recorded in record time. We then went to the assessors office and had the girls print the plats for the land we just purchased. We prepared months ahead of time for land we wanted and the Team LunarRock hunt afterwards. One of the parcels we purchased was strategically located within a few thousand feet of the famous Poker Brown gold mine in Rye Patch and the Majuba mountain range where meteorites have been found. It is this parcel that got the attention of local prospectors and opened up a dialog with them since they trust no one.

After taking care of the paperwork, we decided to have lunch at the Shell station. I noticed a police officer filling up a 128 ounce soft drink since refills were only 79 cents. I gave him a hard time about it and he reassured me that it would last all day. The gas station proprietor, a very friendly guy of East Indian descent, told the police officer to tell the truth that he actually came in twice a day for refills. We laughed and looked at the menu which was surprisingly expansive for a gas station. I ordered a hamburger and my wife ordered shrimp kabobs with rice.

While we were waiting for our lunch to be prepared, we sat down and went over some maps. The police officer asked what we were doing and we explained that we were trying to find the best places to prospect for gold and meteorites on our newly acquired properties. He made a phone call and the next thing that happened is that a prospector show up. The prospector, who introduced himself simply as "Smokey", wanted to know why we were discussing the Poker Brown mine and Rye Patch. We showed him some maps and his jaw dropped. He knew the entire territory like the back of his hand. We talked about metal detectors and treasure hunting and he become comfortable with us after making sure we were not claim-jumpers. He then went to his truck which had a horse trailer attached to it and retrieved a tattered leather brief case.

Our lunch was finally served and in between bites, we discussed treasure hunting. Smokey opened the briefcase and started sharing Polaroid pictures with us. It was our turn to have our jaws drop as he showed us picture after picture of gigantic gold nuggets he had recovered with his $10,000.00 Minelab metal detector. He traveled in the field on horseback with a metal detector on one side of his horse and a 30/30 carbine rifle on the other and would disappear for months at a time. We asked about meteorites and he stated that he did not know anything about them other than some prospectors were finding "Curious Iron Rocks" that might be meteorites. He told us that his nephew found a large piece of quartz with over 50 ounces of gold in it on the lot next to one of our properties and was excited to help us search our virgin private land. He also mentioned that some mining operations have metal detectors at the end of there sluices that set off an alarm when a large nugget or curious iron rock passes into the tailing piles. We asked him to save one of these stones so that we could determine what it was latter on.

After enjoying a very good lunch and conversations, at a gas station of all places, we agreed that the next time we were in the area that we would get together with him. We asked how to get in touch with him, and he told us to talk to a woman named, "Dusti" at the Star Point Trading Post off of Highway 400 in Imlay, Nevada.

Fast forward over a year to September 2016 and we got our answers to the "Curios Iron Stones" mystery. Team LunarRock, consisting of eight members on that trip, stopped by the Star Trading Post and asked for Dusti. We looked at prospecting equipment, gold nuggets and field supplies at the post. Dusti emerged and we inquired about how to get in touch with Smokey. She had to attend to some business so we made arrangements to meet up with her for dinner at the post after we were done in the field for the day. In the meantime, we realized that this was a serious prospector and miner hangout with over 30 of them calling this post their seasonal camp. We could hardly wait to return in the evening.

We hunted on several hundred acres that we purchased the year before on the same Highway 400 that the trading post and many mines were on. We did not have the time or heavy equipment needed to search for gold but kept our eyes open for meteorites. We found a few nice artifacts and drove up into the mountains to see Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens) dugout cabin in Unionville where we stayed the year before in a creepy old 1860's field house filled with fossils that ranchers collected over the years.

We then returned to the trading post for dinner. Dusti put two massive wooden tables together to accommodate Team LunarRock members. She then informed us that Smokey's health has been fading recently since he is well over 80 years old and would not be able to meet up with us. I had no idea he was over 80 years old. He looked much younger and in great shape the year before. She told us that he is an absolute legend and we were fortunate to meet him because people lucky enough to gain his trust consider him a treasure. She explained that he disappears for great lengths of time in the field and has been written off as dead many times so never count him out. She prepared an excellent dinner for all us and then sat down to discuss we wanted to talk to Smokey about. I mentioned the curious iron rocks and she said, "you mean meteorites?"

I said that we were hoping they were meteorites. She pointed to a glass case and said we have plenty of them right here since Smokey told prospectors to bring them in, We do not know how much they are worth but you are more than welcome to make an offer on any them. I looked in the case and was pleasantly surprised that they all were indeed meteorites! She then broke out a photo album with images of gold nuggets, artifacts and other meteorites including a gorgeous oriented specimen that a prospector found while digging out what he thought would be a gold nugget.

I did not have time to negotiate for any of the meteorites. Most looked like ordinary chondrites to me so I chose to purchase some chevron gold specimens instead.

In case any of you are interested, here is a link to the Star Point Trading Post:
http://starpointtradingpost.com/index.html

I am sure they will have meteorites to look at and purchase if you are in interested in Nevada meteorites,

Best Regards,

Adam Hupe
Team LunarRock




______________________________________________

Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the 
Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list

Reply via email to