Idaho Jim

I was wondering exactly the same thing. Why in h--- don't they tell people, if they know? Jim

Allen, if you were closer I'd say "bring it over and crush it." I've got both a small 2 x 3 jaw, and an impact crusher. Jim

My buddy, Dave, and I had a spot we felt matched all the clues. It was near the mouth of a creek, with many downfalls (no paddling up the creek). The creek entered the Madison from the south, just below Nine Mile Hole on the Madison. We should have gone and looked when we were fishing up there last fall, but put it off. That spot is in Wyoming, and Nine Mile was one of Forest's favorite fishing spots in the Park. I'm really looking forward to finding out exactly where it was hidden. Jim

Forest said, a few years ago, he didn't hide it in Idaho. Jim

Those of us who own and use a TDI, with Reg's mods, owe him a huge "THANKS!". He was truly a great engineer, and really nice guy. RIP buddy. Jim

Interesting. When I was a kid, living in Simi Valley, my family camped at, what we then called Lundy Lake, a couple of times. I stll remember hiking up the canyon to where there were snowfields. I also remember, not long ago, my older brother telling me we met an old miner up there, who had a poke full of nuggets. Apparently he told us he knew where he could get gold any time he needed it. I was only about 7, so don't remember the old guy. Jim

Take a 30 cal pistol and fire a round, that has around 500 ft/lbs of energy, into a hunk of concrete, and see what you get. Won't be anything like what you're seeing there, trust me. I'm not saying it isn't a meteorite....just saying if it did that damage, there would have been hunks of rock flying all over, if it did. There'd be dents, scratches and holes in the fence, at minimum. And, the mark on the fence is far to symmetrical, and regular to be caused by that rock. Jim

I've spent my entire career in the concrete construction business. I can guarantee you if the impact was enough to do that to the concrete, the fence would be in a whole bunch worse shape. Jim

I talked to Jack at Whites today. He sent me to Paul at Centerville on the warranty issue on my GM24K coil. Paul didn't have them, and told me I'd have to send the bad coil in before he'd send a replacement. In the old days, Whites would have just sent the new coil, and had me send the old coil by return mail, so I wouldn't be without one. So, it looks like the customer service is going to take a hit, too, sadly. Jim

OK, guys. The XRF gun said it's 96% copper. A bit over 1% lead. 1/2% nickel about 1% Tin 1% iron 1%manganese If they add up to more than 100% it's because I'm approximating. There was some other trace stuff. I expected the copper to be lower. Obviously I got a false reading on the SG....will have to redo that. Jim

Yup...I'd be all over this, if I didn't already have one. Jim

That's a pretty good conjecture. Could very well have happened. It's certainly strange that those pieces of copper are in there. Let's say that's what happened. There's obviously copper there. You'd think there'd be evidence of excavation, like prospect holes, etc. If there are, Dave and I didn't see any. We did find some a mile or so away, but not close to where I found the nodules. I guess we'll never know for sure. I guess it was too much to hope for, that there was a metallic vein closeby....LOL I'm still going to go back and check the area with the TM808. Maybe lightning will strike...Ha

I guess it's also possible the "rind" was the "junction" where the solution was pulling chemicals out of the host rock to form the metal. I forget the term for that. Too old...LOL I'll go back down sooner or later, and do a more exhaustive search. Years ago, Dave and I were in a gold area, riding our Rokons, and happened on a crew that was surveying an old site. They were laying small wires on the ground, and surveying them in lines V'd out from a source transmitter/receiver of some sort. The wires went, out 1/2 mile or more. They said they could put signals on various pairs of wires, and

DP. the one rock that has the gray, sawcut side, with the yellowish inclusions looks similar. is it metal, or mineral? You might put an ohmmeter across that and see how conductive it is. The gray color is close to the metal color on the ones I found. Jim