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
