In Search of more Morito
iron,
By McCartney Taylor, 29APR05
This is my account of
a short trip to
My first stop was to one of my friends near the strewnfield to gather info. He told me that the finds in the Allende strewnfield have fallen off in the past 3 years. They used to find a few kilos a year, but only ½ a kilo recovered last year. He did, however, snag a nice 285g Allende for me. The Allende was actually a fresh stone someone found a few days after the fall, and finally decided to sell it. Oh yea! I’ll take it. Off to the slab saw for this one, unless someone wants to buy it whole…
While still in Valle de Allende, I had to complete a mission
from the 
show
and give a copy of Haag’s field guide to an old man Haag had befriended in
Valle de Allende. Last time I was here,
I noticed the old man had worn out his copy and I told Haag about it at
Picture of Benidicto (Haag’s friend), me, and my friend Bibi…
Well, next was running the rumor down. My friend told me he had several people say
they had meteorites and some said they had ‘hiero’ (iron) meteorites. So off I went. I 
saw
some meteorwrongs, but the first guy who *said* he had an iron meteorite,
indeed did have a 
meteorite. Except it was a stone with iron flecks;
something got lost in the translation there.
From him, I got 2 kilos of fragments that were found by a rancher in
2001 near Aldama. The rancher must have
the soul of a scientist. He documented that the fragments where found in a line
over a distance of 200 meters. To save
you from grabbing your Catalogues – there is Aldama (a) an iron and Aldama (b)
an H5 W3 chondrite with TKW of only 66g.
All of the fragments are weathered. Some of the fragments have fusion crust, some are just fragments. All have Caliche in the outside cracks. Thankfully, the inside of this meteorite looks much better than the outside. I’ll make these available as soon at the lab comes back with the confirmed pairing or the priests of the NOMCOM declare it a new “Aldama (c)”. UPDATE! The meteorite fragments I recovered have been paired. It is the Aldama (b). From the catalogue - TKW 66g, H5, W3. I now have the main mass.
[Side note -- To all the folks who emailed me about wanting a piece of the Tahoka, TX and Lamesa “bookend” meteorite finds from February – I have not forgotten you. The lab work was delayed a little, I should get results soon. Except the Wellman stone, apparently it is something stranger than its H5 cursory appearance and has to go have the O2 isotope thing done on it, so 3 months maybe.]
The next day we hunted down more rumors. One led us to a 6.9kg Allende that was recovered the day after the fall and given to this man’s father. The picture speaks for itself. Yes, that is an oriented heat shield meteorite. If you’re interested in this stone, email me off list…
Another rumor led us to a 3kg Allende that was owned by a doctor. He wouldn’t give it up. No go on purchasing that one. Oh well.
Sunday started off odd. The bishop of Hidalgo del Parral came and visited, asking my friend Bibi for permission to park his car on Bibi’s estate. An odd start to my morning, but perhaps a good omen. Bibi seems to know everyone and everyone seems to love Bibi. His father was one of the councilmen of the town some years ago, and his family is still very influential. If you doubt me, you need to drive to dinner with him with your window rolled down – you may get to dinner several hours late due to the conversations he strikes up at every red light. Its almost uncanny, he’s like a minor celebrity.
By midday Sunday, we had run down all the rumors -- no iron. Morito will have to wait till the next trip. However, we decided to spend Sunday at Bibi’s family ranch. Pictures below are the ranch and the trip there. Hope you all enjoyed this some…
Adobe ruins on the way to the ranch.
I’ve always like ruins. Estimated by the locals to be120 years old.
By the old mining town near.
The old church near Bibi’s ranch. From 1800’s.
The ranch house complex is down lower right. The blue buildings…
Well, that’s it. I’m
off to