Hi Kevin, List, That brings to mind a fond memory.
It was in the late winter of '57 and the sun was barely beginning its work day in West Texas by starting to illuminate the landscape through the cold, gray, dismal, misty, low overcast morning. I was with my mineralogical mentor on yet another trip to raid the agate beds at Marfa, Texas. I was in the seventh grade at that time, so I was probably still about 13, and an eager learner about anything mineralogical. My good friend, Mr. V. C. Wiggins (a former mayor of Odessa in the '30's) had promised me for several months that he would take me to the Odessa meteorite crater some day, and this was the day. Mr. Wiggins at that time had the one and only rock shop in Odessa and it was conveniently located only a half block from the Junior High School I attended. Needless to say, most of my brown bag lunches were eaten in his shop. Then, too, he had to push me out the door in the evenings so he could close and go home. He was a fine gentleman that I will always miss. We bounced down the narrow fence line dirt road for miles in Mr. Wiggins old '51 Buick until we finally arrived at what appeared to be a large muddy hump in the otherwise flat landscape. He parked with his headlights aimed at the geological anomaly and proudly exclaimed, "That's it!" I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I do recall being sorely disappointed in the sight. That's just another example of reality rarely meeting expectations. But what the heck, I was thrilled to be there. I took off at a dead run up the muddy slope, promptly slipped and found myself rolling back down the muddy slope. I'm sure Mr. Wiggins was both amused and somewhat wary at the thought of me getting back into his Buick as a mud blob. We worked that out later with old newspapers from his trunk. Once inside the floor of the crater, I was advised about more of the crater's history and given a mental picture of what I should be looking for. In the excitement of finally being there, I had forgotten to bring my rock pick or flashlight from the car. So I took off across the crater floor kicking at muddy lumps. All but one of those lumps turned out to be caliche. This one piece that wasn't caliche I took over to Mr.Wiggins for identification. It was about seven inches long by three inches wide with tapered ends. Turns out that it was indeed a part of the meteorite. A very rusty, crumbly part of the old meteorite, but it was mine. I then moved to the southern side of the crater and began clawing away at it with a broken branch of old mesquite. After sifting through the muck with my cold fingers I found a small black piece of something that obviously wasn't the prevalent caliche. Another fast run over to the expert and I got the good news that this was a keeper. I turned to resume my muckraking for more keepers but was cut short by the order to return to the Buick so we could get on with the business of the day which was to extract as much of that fine Marfa agate as humanly possible and still get back to Odessa without the expense of spending the night on the road somewhere. As was typical of our agate hunting trips, despite our best intentions of leaving the hunting area earlier so as to get home earlier, we left well after dark for the three hour trip back to Odessa. We bounced along with a trunk and rear floorboard full of the prized agate, and my two pieces of the Odessa meteorite. As usual, the headlights of the Buick were pointlessly pointed towards the stars. That always made our trips more exciting by only having a faint glow of light on the highway. So, to keep this short (HA), yes, I still have my first pieces of the fabulous Odessa meteorite. Wouldn't trade them for Mr. Arnold's new Brenham. Well, maybe the shale piece. The solid piece that I recovered weighed in at 2.1g. Never weighed the rust. I surely had one of the prized specimens that Prof. Ninninger and the earlier hunters missed. The crater is now a part of the Texas State Parks system and hunting at the crater site itself and the surrounding ranch land has been prohibited. Glad I was there in the "good old days." The crater has been turned into a very tourist friendly place now and includes an exceptionally fine visitor center with heating, air conditioning and indoor plumbing, but you still need to be cautious of the rattlesnakes and vicious jackrabbits when in the crater or thereabouts. There is now a modern paved road to the crater with only one cattle guard to bounce over. The visitor's center has a great collection of museum quality specimens of meteorites from around the world. Come take a look. You're guaranteed to enjoy the experience or your money back. Hurry while it's still free. For a bit of the history, current information, and a look at the modern day, cleaned up version of the Odessa Crater please go to: http://www.utpb.edu/ceed/GeologicalResources/West_Texas_Geology/Links/odessa_meteor.htm http://www.texasbob.com/travel/tbt_odscrt.html http://www.caver.net/odemetcr.html http://www.meteorman.org/info_4.htm http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/rym1.html http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/OdessaCrater_5800.asp There are, of course, numerous other links to information concerning the Odessa Crater obtainable through as a Google search for Odessa Meteor(ite) Crater. Best regards to all, Jerry (Odessa, Texas) PS... A great deal of credit for the preservation and upkeep of the crater is due to Mr. Tom Rodman, a local attorney. Somewhere on one of my cluttered harddrives I have a copy of a very interesting interview with him concerning his history with the crater. When I find it I will publish it to the web and send a link to the list. .................................................. Kevin Forbes wrote: > I have attempted to log into my account at meteorite central in order to > change my email settings to receive a daily digest instead of individual > emails, as I am finding myself drowning in a flood into my inbox, along with > all the other floods. > > When I click on your account, on the meteorite central page, nothing > happens. > > ?? > > Any help would be appreciated. > > Oh, bye the way, who still has the first meteorite they ever found? > I do, a Henbury Iron found in December 1989. It looks like a ducks foot. > Kevin, VK3UKF. > > _________________________________________________________________ > Advertisement: It's simple! Sell your car for just $20 at carsales.com.au > http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fsecure%2Dau%2Eimrworldwide%2Ecom%2Fcgi%2Dbin%2Fa%2Fci%5F450304%2Fet%5F2%2Fcg%5F801577%2Fpi%5F1005244%2Fai%5F838588&_t=757768878&_r=endtext_simple&_m=EXT > > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > > ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
