[meteorite-list] Wichita Eagle on Haviland Festival

[MARK BOSTICK]

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/14998975.htm?source=rss&channel=kansas_state


The rock stops at Haviland for town's meteorite festival
BY BECCY TANNER
The Wichita Eagle
HAVILAND - Several hundred people turned out Saturday in Haviland to gaze at 
meteorites in the city's first meteorite festival.

American flags lined Main Street and fluttered in the wind as clowns dressed 
as meteorite hunters walked in the parade, onlookers cheered a pickup truck 
carrying a load of meteorites and motorcycle riders revved their engines in 
celebration of the celestial rocks.

Mayor Jeff Christensen wants to make the festival an annual event that draws 
people from around the world to look at first-class meteorites.

And on Saturday, much of his dream came true. Cars and pickups with license 
plates from Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas lined the streets.

The festival, whose motto is "The Rock Stops Here," featured booths of 
meteorites, jewelry and displays on how meteorites have been found in Kiowa 
County and why people may someday know it as the meteorite capital of the 
nation.

"Isn't it exciting to see something nobody else has seen before?" 
Christensen said. "There's something about these rocks that's fun. I know 
there are other meteorites found in other states, but if you go by weight, 
we'd win. Why, in Texas, their meteorites are the size of marbles. We've got 
boulders."

Scientists estimate that the meteor that fell in Kiowa County some 20,000 
years ago weighed 500 tons and was 20 feet across.

At least 95 percent of it most likely burned or evaporated as it fell to 
Earth.

But not all of it. If you do the math, said Haviland farmer and meteorite 
hunter Don Stimpson, "there could still be a lot out there."

So far, 10 tons have been mined from the Kiowa County black sand, leaving an 
estimated 15 to 40 tons still to locate.

And when farming doesn't always turn a quick profit, some Kiowa County 
farmers think those rare meteorites their neighbors have been digging up may 
be a way to ensure their future.

The Brenham meteorites, named for Brenham Township near Haviland, are some 
of the best known and sought after in the world because of their crystals, 
which look like stained glass when cut.

The township became known for its unusual meteorites in the late 1880s, when 
Eliza Kimberly found them on her Kiowa County farm.

Saturday's festival featured Steve Arnold, who made worldwide news last fall 
when he found a 1,400-pound meteorite in a field west of Haviland. He 
brought the famous rock back to Saturday's festival after displaying it in 
Texas and Arizona. It will be on display Monday at the Kansas Cosmosphere in 
Hutchinson.

"There is more to be found out there," Arnold said.

Haviland farmer Paul Ross dug a 1,500-pound meteorite up on his land three 
weeks ago. He hopes to sell it for $200 a pound.

Price Gibbons of Pratt brought his 130-pound meteorite to the festival 
hoping to see what it was worth. His said it was discovered years ago and 
used to sit in a Pratt pool hall, then in his yard. But now, since it might 
be worth something, he said, "I take better care of it."

Ashton Harrison, 7, of Karval, Colo., bought some meteorite chunks at the 
festival.

"They are ugly," he told his grandmother, Carol Tucker of Hooker, Okla. "But 
I'll take them to show and tell."

(end)