Man finds 1,800-pound meteorite

A Gardnerville man said he found an 1,800-pound meteorite in Douglas County using a device that detects radio signals from minerals.

Bob Yocum, 82, has been showing the find to folks since Friday when he found it at an undisclosed location. Yocum said he detected it with his omni-range master mineral locator.

The owner of Prospector & Treasure Hunters Headquarters in Gardnerville said he was operating his device two miles from the meteorite when he detected it.

Yocum said when he located the rock, a piece about the size of a pie plate was visible above the ground.

It is not the first, nor the largest meteorite he has detected, but it is one of the largest he's dug up and hauled off.

"If I'd known how big it was when I started I might have left it there," he said. "I started digging around it and found that it was 3 feet long, 27 inches wide and 17 inches deep."

Getting the rock into his pickup required two come-along winches.

"I used a tow ribbon to pull it upright and then pulled it into the truck," he said. "I left a groove 2 feet wide and 10 inches deep."

Yocum said the largest meteorite he's ever found is 10-12 tons, but that he didn't remove it.

He said striations on the side of the rock indicate it was a meteorite.

Yocum said the device works by sending out a low frequency radio signal that matches the molecular pattern of the mineral being sought. When the mineral's found, the devices' antenna meet.

Yocum said he found out about the device from a prospector who lived in Kernville, Calif. Yocum has lived in Northern Nevada for 17 years.