[meteorite-list] Plymouth Meteorite

[Phil Whitmer]

Regine:

I remembered the story incorrectly.

J.J. Keyser's age was not given when he found the Plymouth meteorite. 
According to Buchwald, he probably plowed it up in 1883. Ward gives the 
probably incorrect date of discovery as 1893 in his later catalogues. The 
story I heard was that Keyser gave or traded the meteorite (estimated by 
Buchwald at 13 to 15 kg as the actual weight was never recorded by Ward) to 
the Plymouth Oliver plow dealer where it sat on a desk on display in an 
office.

Somehow Ward caught wind of an iron meteorite in Plymouth. I think maybe a 
relative of the plow dealer contacted him, I forget the details. Ward later 
cut up and sold the meteorite. I got to handle the Field Museum's Plymouth 
meteorite when Dr. Ed Olsen pulled it out of a drawer amongst about a 
hundred pounds of Murchison. There were piles of slices everywhere. My uncle 
and I talked extensively to Dr. Olsen about the meteorite. He shared several 
insights.

Mr. Keyser told Ward about a larger meteorite in the same field, discovered 
in 1872. It was so big he was getting tired of plowing around it with his 
team of horses, so he and his son completely buried it, probably three or 
four feet deep, beneath the reach of the mold-board plow. (I'm assuming it 
was an Oliver plow, made in South Bend, Indiana) In 1894 Ward searched the 
field with a compass but found nothing. You would think he would have used a 
probe in areas where Keyser remembered burying the larger mass.

The field has been extensively searched by many people using a variety of 
equipment. All searches have turned up nothing but bolts, bits of wire, 
nails, and other such stuff.


Phil Whitmer


-------------------
It sounded so strange to me. But I do not know Nowak so I thought I'd ask 
before dismissing it. The original account of the guy living on the farm 
does on the other hand not sound completely absurd to me - he was not an old 
man when reporting to Ward in 1895. They went searching together.

Regine