Ugh, I hate yahoo's spell checker... I cannot get it, and errors always come out AFTER it is sent.
The date on Scorse note was "July 19th, 1912" not July 12th, 1912 as I had said previously. Steve --- Steve Schoner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Humm, > > I don't know who that other person from Flagstaff > is... Thought I knew everyone here that searches for > meteorites. > > Anyway, my searches of Holbrook go all the way back > to > 1967. It was a very interesting place then and > Arntz > Station, (renamed Aztec) was still there. The major > parts of the building was right south of the tracks, > and there was one of those very interesting > "Petticoat > Junction" water towers for filling steam engines > still > standing nearby (Remember that popular TV Show in > the > '60's). > > There was in the late 1970's a derailment there and > the entire site was wiped out, so that now it left > as > it is seen today today. > > All told from 1967 to 1993, I found almost 900 small > stones, mostly between microscopic in size to 3 or 4 > grams each. Large ones are very hard to find, and > it > seems from what I have gleaned, even shortly after > it > fell the vast majority of them were very small. I > did > a study of it years ago, and of the 16,000 samples > found in 1967 only a few were even close to a pound > or > more, less than 20 in fact. Those included in the > weight spread gave a total weight of something, if I > can remember of somewhere near 13 grams average > weight. > > The average weight of those that I found was quite a > bit lower than that. But of the 900 stones that I > found the largest ones were 238 grams, 237 grams, > 221 > g., 28 g., 19g, 15 g, 10 g, and 9 g... all the rest > were mostly in the 1 to 3 gram range with a handful > between 3 and 9 grams. > > As previous finders reported, the distribution was > such that the few large and small stones were > interspersed together over an area of about 2 x 3 > miles. > > In the 1970's I bought a bottle of Holbrooks from a > Mrs Scorse living in Holbrook. She was an elderly > lady then, and was out gardening when the fall > occurred. > > She was one of the very few that actually saw the > fireball that day as it passed overhead going east. > I > spoke with her on the phone and she related the > event > to me. > > As I recall she said, > > "I was out gardening at that time, 7:00 PM when I > noticed a light in the western sky, I looked up and > saw a ball of light in the clouds, and the clouds > obscured it. It was moving very fast, and when > just > having past Holbrook going east it exploded into a > shower of sparks, but there was another fireball > coming out of it that went for another second or so > going farther east before it too exploded. It was > shortly after that a person from back east began to > solicit people for meteorites (Dr. Foote?) and I and > many others went out there in carriages and > motorcars > to search in mass for these...." > > I still have that the little jelly jar of meteorites > that she found, 130 grams of stones from .5 to 39 > grams each, with a little piece of paper inside > saying: "I Mrs. Henry Scorse saw these fall, July > 12th, 1912" > > Now, what had me interested then, in the 1970's, was > her statement that a portion of the fireball > continued > for a second or two before it exploded. I mentioned > this story to Dr. Nininger, as I was considering > buying these samples from Mrs Scorse and wanted to > get > the Dr. Nininger price, which was a fair price in > 1975 > for Holbrooks, (get this .60 cents per gram-- at about the time while > even urelites, Kenna was going for the extraordinary > $1.50 per gram). > > In the Conversation, Nininger mentioned that he had > heard reports from witneness's that had seen the > fireball, and maybe even Mrs Scorse herself, though > he could not emphatically say that remembered > speaking > with her. > > But he concurred that he was aware that some of the > reporters that he heard indicated that the fireball > might have broken into two. The closer one falling > at > the currently recognized site and the other one > continuing on for a second or two. > > If so, there could very well be another as yet > undiscovered portion of the Holbrook strewn field > out > there. > > If so, then the second strewn field, if the bolide > traveling at 10 to 15 miles per second, at that > time, > coming from the east at sundown, then the fragments > would have fallen 10 to 30 miles farther east... > Accounting for a that speed times up to two seconds > duration for the continued flight. > > That would put it somewhere at or beyond the > boundary > of the Petrified Forest National Park... Not good > for > meteorite hunting... :-( > > But it could have fallen closer to the original > site, > perhaps near Adamana. (I searched there, many years > ago, and found nothing except a lot of junk from the > train station that was there. Now, I am not sure if > anyone can search there, as I was told that the area > is closed, having been bought out by some land > company > or some other Federal agency. > > One thing is certain with regards to the Holbrook > strewnfield. Most of the pieces are very small. > Subtracting all of the large ones that have been > found, anything above one ounce, will give an > average > weight of about 1 gram or so. And I have noticed > that > many of the 900 pieces that I found showed > orientation. My hunch is that the first explosion > was > at high altitude, mostly breaking it up, but a > larger > piece of the bolide might have survived to penetrate > deeper into the atmosphere before it to broke up, > perhaps producing another strewnfield with larger > pieces. > > If so, it would be nice to search and find it... But > to now, it is just a theory, based on a few > eyewitness > observations of a fireball that was not widely > observed. > > Steve Schoner/ams > http://www.geocities.com/meteorite_identification > > BTW: It amazes me how much of this I can remember. > But when one spends so much time out there thinking > about it, one remembers. > > > > > > --- Dave Andrews <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > Dave is unquestionably the King of the > > Strewnfield, as is evidenced > > > by this latest ~50-grammer. Congrats, Dave! > > > > John and Greg(ory), > > Thanks for the HUGE compliments, but I wouldn't go > > that far as say > > "King". I'm just lucky (or should I say, > unlucky) > > enough to live here. > > Actually, if the truth be known, I only go out > > there to hunt about 3-4 > > times a year. The real "King" is supposedly from > > Flagstaff and he can > > find 10 per hour at about any give time. (And no > > it's not the original > > Holbrook/Glorieta King, Steve Schoner). > > > > Throwing away the polarized sunglasses, > > Davewhowasluckyforaday > === message truncated === __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
