[meteorite-list] Private Land Searching

[Raremeteorites]

Doug mentioned water issues in Costa Rica and beautiful birds.  I feel your 
fundraising is going to a good cause.  His post reminded me of working some 
properties here in Nevada, the driest state in the nation.

People have been fighting over water for thousands of years.  I have a few 
water fights of my own including a reservoir owner who placed a diversion 
canal and dam on our Cherry Creek Ranch without any form of agreement, 
easement or ingress/egress permission. This greedy person, hiding behind an 
LLC, thought that since our ranch wasn't being used for productive purposes 
in his opinion, nobody would notice that 3,207 feet of creek, a spring and a 
tributary on our private property had been diverted by a 2,600 plus foot 
canal (1,616 feet of it on our property), not to mention a dam.  I do not 
see what right others think they have on how private property is being used. 
What is wrong with simply enjoying the beauty of it and using it for 
recreational purposes only (meteorite and mineral hunting)?  Some people 
have no respect for others private property making this yet another matter 
for the courts to decide.   Pretty soon, only private land will be 
searchable here in the US at the rate public land is being nationalized so 
it is good to respect others private property and always seek permission. 
Doug's post reminded me of the September Team LunarRock hunt, the first time 
that all of it was conducted on private property in the driest state in the 
nation.  Thank you for letting me vent.


Here is an image of my wife with her new friend "Zee", a neighboring 
rancher's dog.  Note how dry the land is, perfect for meteorite hunting but 
little else.
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/KingstonCreekProperty/KingstonRanch-a.jpg

Although most of the property is bone dry, there is a hidden gem.  A 
mountain fed, year-round creek runs thought the rear of the property named 
Kingston Creek.  The brush bordering the creek was so thick that we could 
not get to the rear gate of our ranch.  We naively thought that we could 
hack through the brush with a machete.  A neighbor offered us a chainsaw but 
we later chose a more effective method:
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/KingstonCreekProperty/KingstonRanch-b.jpg

A small track-hoe was the right tool for the job.  It is also a good machine 
to get into gold-bearing pockets in tight spaces.  Perhaps it could be used 
to drag a giant iron meteorite onto one of our properties like the 
Willamette, if one were ever so lucky.  Dreams are free, pursuing them is 
not.
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/KingstonCreekProperty/KingstonRanch-c.jpg

A friendly neighbor helping out while I took a break and watched.
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/KingstonCreekProperty/KingstonRanch-d.jpg

We can finally see the rear gate:
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/KingstonCreekProperty/KingstonRanch-g.jpg

Zee says, "I know there is gold here, told you so!"
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/KingstonCreekProperty/KingstonRanch-e.jpg

What the creek looks like cleared out.  Now we can fish for trout, pan for 
gold or rest in the shade after a long meteorite hunt on the dry, sparsely 
vegetated parts of this private land:
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/KingstonCreekProperty/KingstonRanch-f.jpg

Another waterfront ranch on the Humboldt River will provide us with a much 
larger project,  We had to travel along the California Trail to get to this 
property on our September Team LunarRock hunt.
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/HumboldtRiverProperty/HumboldtRiverProperty-a.jpg

Team LunarRock hunt on our Humboldt River ranch.
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/HumboldtRiverProperty/HumboldtRiverProperty-d.jpg

Team member barley visible on top of hill screaming success:
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/HumboldtRiverProperty/HumboldtRiverProperty-c.jpg

Meteorites and artifacts are not the only things that can be hunted, a 
highly warn game trail:
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/HumboldtRiverProperty/HumboldtRiverPropertyGameTrail.jpg

I will stick to meteorite hunting, a group of wild turkeys:
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/HumboldtRiverProperty/HumboldtRiverPropertyWildTurkey.jpg

Another view of the river:
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/HumboldtRiverProperty/HumboldtRiverProperty-b.jpg


Best Regards,

Adam