Notes on the Fort Stockton Meteorite and the trip of December 13, 1964Show simple item record
| dc.creator | ||
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-02-12T18:11:45Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-02-12T18:11:45Z | |
| dc.date.issued | n.d. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://repository.tcu.edu/handle/116099117/63209 | |
| dc.description | Type-written notes on the trip of 1964, December 13 and the individuals spoken to. | |
| dc.relation | Oscar Monnig Papers (MS 124) | |
| dc.rights | Prior written permission from TCU Special Collections required to use any document or photograph. | |
| dc.source | Series III, Box 06, Fort Stockton, Pecos Co., TX folder | |
| dc.subject | Meteorite | |
| dc.subject | Fort Stockton meteorite | |
| dc.subject | Fort Stockton (Tex.) | |
| dc.title | Notes on the Fort Stockton Meteorite and the trip of December 13, 1964 | |
| dc.type | Document | |
| dc.description.transcription | FORT STOCKTON METEORITE Trip of 1964, Dec. 13 Wilson Smith, 915 ED 6-2716 residence, formerly 202 N. Texas but now moved to another address. His business is Trans-Pecos Seed Co., ED 6-2762. Charles Eldred, the finder of the meteorite, came from Erath County and was in World War I but after that moved west a time or two and finally came to the Ft. Stockton region about 1936. He bought some land west of town and ran sheep and goats on It, herding them on foot at first because he was unable to buy a horse. One day he wanted a rock to throw at sheep and saw the meteorite sticking out of the ground partly. He had to dig It out and then found It was too heavy to throw at the sheep so at first he threw It down again but then picked it up once more. He counted off Sections 88, 89 and 90 and concluded it was found on Section 89, Block OW. At first he said T & P Survey but when queried by Smith decided it was PSL (Public School Land), Block OW. He said it was found on a ridge, and that a draw to the west of it lies between him and the Firestone proving grounds. Originally he had just leased this land but ultimately he had bought it. He spoke of the piece having a brown shell on it (I doubt whether this was true of the top or indeed any of it In the sense of "shale" such as occurs on old irons) and was impressed by the fact that you could scrape under this and it would shine like a silver dollar. I think he was referring merely to the oxide crust. At one stage they poured acid over it but he did not seem to think this caused the figures on top. It had a lip which he felt he had somewhat ruined by trying to out off a piece with a hack saw; he found the blade repeatedly pinched or quit cutting quickly because the teeth were ruined. But enough was got off to send to a smelter at El Paso, and 1t was analyzed as iron and nickel. However, tie first time I saw him, about 4 years ago, he was still convinced It was silver (or later, platinum!). They put It in a vise and vice marks can still be seen as criss-cross marks; a piece was out off witha [with a] cold chisel. Whether this or the sawn fragment was sent to El Paso 18 not clear. Besides the smelter assay at El Paso he had an analysis made also at Chihuahua. one of these places said they did not have enough to analyze and second piece was sent (again placed in a vice and cut off with a cold chisel?). The original find was about 1951 to 1953, probably 1952-3. I was originally referred to Eldred by W. P. Rooney of 219 N. Water St., who had been Tax Collector about 1936. We did not get entirely consistent results in trying to pin point the locality of the find on a state highway map 1" to the mile, shown to Eldred. He placed the point as mile west of where the Alpine bighway, 67, intersected the Balmorhea highway, 290; and then 2 miles north. He thought, however, that this was nearer the Balmorhea road than the Pecos road, 285, which it would not be. 30° As marked on my map, 1 figure the soordinates to be 58° N: and 1030 W., or approximately 6 miles WNW of Ft. Stockton, Pecos County, Texas. I paid $250.00 for the meteorite, and this second trip alone cost about $110.00 for plane fare, car rental and motel-food. The iron 1s a medium octahedrite and weighs 10? pounds. |
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Records of the Monnig Meteorite Gallery [2825]
The files are arranged alphabetically, usually according to the location of discovery of the meteorite. The files contain correspondence and research material on the meteorites in the collection.
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