It’s been 48 years since three miners discovered something much more than gold in Old Woman Mountains near Cadiz.
In 1975, Michael Jendruczak, David Friburg, and Jack Harwood were looking for a lost Spanish gold mine in Old Woman Mountains near Cadiz when they came upon an otherworldly gift – a massive meteorite. Though they immediately filed a placer claim, the Smithsonian Institution disputed this claim and the miners sued. The Department of Interior determined that the meteorite was not a “locatable mineral” and the claim was, therefore, invalid. Furthermore, the find was of interest to the scientific community and therefore, fell under the Antiquities Act, which meant they could confiscate the meteor without even alerting the miners, which they did on June 16, 1977.
Using a helicopter, a cargo net and the United States Marine Corps, the powers that be loaded up the meteorite to store it in a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) facility as the case proceeded. (The Smithsonian actually displayed the meteorite at their facility from 1978 to 1980.)
The courts ruled in favor of the government, but after much wrangling with California leaders, then-Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus (with the “blessing” of then-President Jimmy Carter) decreed that, although the Smithsonian was the legal curator of the meteorite, it would be displayed in California on a long-term loan.
Named the Old Woman Meteorite for its discovery location, it remains the largest discovered in California and the second largest in the US. Measuring 38” x 34” x 30”, the otherworldly rock is mostly iron but also contains nickel, and small amounts of chromium, cobalt, phosphorus, and sulfur. The meteorite originally weighed 6,070 pounds, but the Smithsonian cut off a 942-pound slice for study and another 177.4-pound slab is on display in the UCLA meteorite gallery.
The meteorite now resides at the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow, about 140 miles from where it first fell to Earth.
Read the full Hi Desert Magazine Historical Highlight:
https://www.z1077fm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/OldWomanAbductedFromHerHomeInCalifornia.pdf
