Hello,
Actually, Nininger DID NOT personally find that many meteorites. His
recoveries through his other efforts allowed him to recover thousands
of pounds of meteorites, but he the man/individual-personally did not
find that many. I have read ALL his books, many, many times. In fact,
I usually take a copy of Find A Falling Star with me to read when I am
in the field.
Nininger is great for a lot of reasons and I hold him in the highest
of all regards. However, if you look through the British Catalog of
Meteorites, you will find very few meteorites that were actually found
by him. I do not remember how many exactly (maybe 2). Nininger and
meteorite recoveries are a different story. He recovered through the
efforts of his teachings, lectures, and other people looking for him -
tons of meteorites.
One of the few meteorites that Nininger personally found was Puente-
Ladron in Socorro County, New Mexico. Nininger's arch rival Lincoln
LaPaz stated that Nininger transported the meteorite there. Lapaz
hated Nininger, so much that he wrote many papers with out right lies
about Nininger.
Yes, Nininger recovered a lot of Plainview and Toluca. However, I am
not sure if he personally found any?? Someone want to tally up the
personal finds of Nininger-that would be great.
Best Wishes
Michael Cottingham
On Jul 16, 2009, at 3:13 PM, al mitt wrote:
Greetings List,
Not sure where this idea that Harvey Nininger wasn't a meteorite
hunter came from but it is wrong. He was a meteorite hunter, he
chased falls, plotted areas they fell in and went to those areas to
search. He also hunted in areas that he was in. He did that while
hunting for scrap metal during world war 2. He was effective at
getting people to look for him. I would say that is using your head
so more specimens could be found and using people that were familiar
with the land to hunt those areas. When Norton County fell, Nininger
was standing on top of the meteorite when Lincoln LaPaz and his
friend arrived and looked down to see Nininger already there. Don't
tell me that hunters these days don't get local people to hunt and
go back to buy later. Sure they hunt themselves but getting others
to help expedites finds.
One would have to define what a meteorite hunter is (as mentioned
already in this thread). Just because it doesn't fit your definition
doesn't mean that hunting in a specific way is wrong or excludes you
as a hunter. People making the claim that Nininger wasn't a hunter,
haven't read all his books and don't know the extreme efforts he
went to finding new specimens. He often went back to areas and
conducted hunts while also approaching people who might know
something about a find or fall. Plainview, Texas is one area that he
hunted extensively finding more specimens to collect and trade. He
went into Mexico chasing down leads which were pretty risky back then.
One also has to remember the time and conditions in which Harvey
Nininger hunted. He hunted in the depression era but was still able
to persuade investors to buy into his hunts. Transportation was not
good back then. Lots of dirt roads and hazards along the way while
driving his model T. Patching tires in deep mud. Making it three or
four hundred miles was tough. Flying back then was expensive and not
real common. There were no interstate roads that you could jump in
your car and drive 700 miles a day easily.
Metal detectors weren't as effective and bulky. People were very
cautious of strangers in their towns and on their ranches and farms.
Harvey mentioned that for every successful trip, there were dozens
of other trips that didn't pan out. He wasn't eager to mention the
trips that weren't successful. If he found or was able to have
others help him find over 222 new finds or falls and over a thousand
meteorite specimens, he certainly picked up a number of meteorite
specimens himself. Multiply 222 times a dozen or two (trips or leads
that weren't successful) and you have nearly 5,000 to 6,000 trips
and hunts. Divide by a forty year span of time and you have about
125 trips or hunts a year! How many trips are people making these
days using modern transportation? Nininger would often and smartly
combine trips but that is still a lot of hunting in my book.
Nininger used Farington's book on meteorites 1915 to hunt down old
strewnfields. I'll try to dig up some of his personal finds and post
them here when time permits. Saying Harvey Nininger wasn't hardly a
meteorite hunter shows a great deal of ignorance and such people
making claims should read some of his books he wrote to educate
themselves. Best!
--AL Mitterling
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