Title: Color Country Spectrum City: Saint George, Utah Date: Sunday, June 19, 1977 Page: 2
Meteorite sent to Smithsonian
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (UPI) - A three-ton meteorite, second largest ever found in the United States, plunked onto the desert from outer space "hundreds of years ago" and it may take another couple of years to determine who it belongs to. The three miners who discovered it while searching for a gold mine says finders keepers - to them its worth "a million dollars." But the Smithsonian Institution also wants it, as does a scientist at UCLA. Marines, using a heavy duty helicopter from Santa Ana MCAS, dragged the huge nickel-iron object out of a rocky canyon in the Old Woman Mountains 170 miles each of Los Angeles Friday. The meteorite, four feet high, three feet wide and 2 1/2 feet thick, was placed on a flatbed truck and taken to the Bureau of Land Management offices in Riverside, where it will be displayed for two weeks. Then it goes to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., where scientists plan to slice it open for study. "A meteorite is like a book." said curtor Dr. Roy S. Clarke. "it has to be opened before it can be understood." David Friburg, Mike Jendruczak and Hack Harwood, all of Twentynine Palms, found the meteorite in March, 1976, while looking for a legendary Spanish Conquistador gold mine. Jendruczak said he was drawn to the reddish-brown and black rock because it looked out of place among the tan and gray boulders littering the rugged shopes. "I tapped it," he said, "and right away I knew what it was. I'd seen pictures of meteorites in school and I've seen them in museums. So I was pretty sure it was a meteorite." Friburg said the three contemplated hiring a comercial helicopter to lift it out themselves, making a documentary film of the process which they would sell. They sent chips to John T. Wasson, a UCLA chemist and meteorite expert. Wasson said the sample showed a rare type of meteorite. "Type IIB" If subsequent tests prove this it would be the 15th such type found in the world. Eventually, Clarke came out to examine the meteorite and claim it for the Smithsonian under the 1906 Antiquities Act. He said he discussed a finder's fee for the miners, which they refused. The miners are claiming the rock is theirs under the 1872 Mining Act. They say they could get a last 31 million by selling chips to scientists.
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