Foreword
Falling pie in the sky and buying lottery tickets to get rich is probably a dream that everyone has had.
And buying a pit on land for $300 and making the whole family billionaire seems more like a fantasy story.
But this is really not a fantasy, but a reality that happened to the American Barringer.
In 1903, American mining engineer Barringer bought a large pit in Arizona with a radius of about 1 kilometer and a depth of 174 meters for only $300, and finally earned hundreds of millions of dollars from this pit.
What is even more shocking is that the crater has previously been considered a "dormant crater" by experts.Why would a "dormant crater" make such huge gains? What is it really about?
GodThe secret pit
I heard that the big pit in Arizona was bought, and he bought a pit for $300, and the buyer was so stupid that he was bubbling! ”
In 1903, a news item in an American newspaper about the purchase of the "crater" sparked a national discussion, and Barringer, as the buyer, instantly became the laughing stock of the whole United States.
Just before that, major newspapers and magazines in the United States have successively published news about the discovery of a mysterious crater in Arizona.
However, when the experts determined that the crater was a "dormant crater", everyone's enthusiasm for the crater immediately dissipated.
After all, dormant volcanoes are relatively safe, don't erupt easily, and are spread all over the world, and the Crater in Arizona is important to Americans before they have anything to eat for lunch.
Only the American mining engineer Barringer regarded the "big pit" here as a treasure.
He bought the crater and the 260 hectares of land around it for $300.
Although everyone thinks that Barringer is making a loss-making business, he himself does not think so.
The unique relationship between him and this big pit in Arizona starts with the "appearance" of this big pit.
In 1981, several Native Americans discovered a bottomless crater on the semi-desert plateau of Arizona and reported it to the local area**, and then sent professional geologists to investigate.
When experts came to the crater, they found that the crater was very similar to the crater, and it was 64 kilometers away from the crater, and there had been volcanic activity in the past.
In addition, geologists have found sporadic mineral crystals on the surface of the rock formations at the mouth of the crater, which Gilbert has emerged in the context of the high temperature and pressure of the volcanic eruption.
For these two reasons, experts have determined that the crater is a dormant crater.
After experts probed, they published the conclusion that the crater in Arizona was a crater.
At that time, tourism was still underdeveloped, and although businessmen knew that the dormant crater was not worth much, the crater still attracted many geologists, including the American mining engineer Barringer.
After coming to this large pit to observe the actual situation, Barringer couldn't help but doubt the judgment given by the experts.
According to relevant historical records, Arizona is not in the high-risk area of the United States, and now such a huge crater has appeared here out of thin air, which obviously arouses suspicion.
In addition, he found that the surface of the crater did not look like traces left by a volcanic eruption, but rather a solidified surface formed by a huge impact and friction.
For the perceptive Barringer, there is a big difference between the two traces.
At the same time, Barringer also tested the material near the crater like an expert.
Only this time he searched more carefully than the previous experts, and finally found some different substances.
Previous experts and scholars have found only some mineral crystals, which may of course be traces left by volcanic eruptions.
However, Barringer found a whole piece of ore, which he was particularly shocked by the substance it contained.
This ore looks like silver ore, but it is not a common mineral formed by volcanic activity, such as diamonds, sulfur, and metallic or non-metallic resources such as gold, silver, and copper.
However, the ore found near the pit is a special ore rich in nickel-iron.
It's unbelievable that Barringer, a mining engineer by profession, is convinced
He had never found such an ore on the surface of the earth before, which led him to suspect that the material was not a product of the earth.
Inspired by the electric flint, Barringer speculated that the "crater" was the work of some extraterrestrial object, and that this mineral containing a special substance was by no means earthly material.
For this reason, he speculated that this "crater" was most likely a crater.
The study of meteorites was relatively late, and it was only in the 70s of the 18th century that it began.
In 1772, Pallas returned to Germany the "Kra**Yarsk" stony iron meteorite discovered in Russia, and became the first person to study meteorites.More than 20 years later, after a lot of research, Nikola claimed that the meteorite was a debris of the planet and then fell on the surface of the earth, but this theory was called absurd by the academic community at the time.
It was another hundred years before people learned that the matter of the universe would rush to the earth due to various factors.
Small volumes of matter are burned clean by high temperatures, while very few large volumes of matter are able to come to Earth and form craters on the surface of the Earth under a strong impact.
After speculating that the "crater" might be a crater, Barringer was extremely excited, and for what reason?
BahrainJay's plan
Based on his previous expertise, Barringer understands that craters and minerals are two words that are closely related.
In the process of rushing through the atmosphere to the earth, the matter outside the universe often has an amazing speed, and under the friction of the atmosphere, it forms instantaneous ultra-high temperature and ultra-high pressure, which is no less powerful than a nuclear bomb.
However, when many people hear about meteorites, their first reaction is to fear that such a behemoth will crash into residential areas when it lands, but they often ignore that meteorites can form unique minerals at the moment of impact.
This mineral is often not just a pure earth substance, but an ore containing a special substance with extreme value.
Since Barringer has found special ores rich in nickel-iron near the potholes.He was convinced, then, that the depths of this crater actually contained much richer nickelite.
Ferronickel is a scarce mineral, and a small piece can be sold in the market**.
Today, this crater is more than 1,000 meters long and more than 100 meters deep, and it is conservatively estimated that there are 10 million tons of nickel-iron rich ore reserves, and if all of them are sold, they can be exchanged for at least 500 million US dollars.At this time, however, Barringer was the only one who believed that the crater was actually a crater.
This huge business opportunity made Barringer ecstatic.
He immediately told his family about his discovery, paid his wife a sum of money, and bought the crater and the surrounding land.
In addition, he also registered a joint venture with his old business buddy to register a steel company, and a friend came forward to obtain the qualification from the relevant authorities to detect and mine the land.
Soon, Barringer and others purchased mining machines and equipment and started digging the big pit.
Outsiders thought that Barringer and the others were doing useless work on the dormant crater, calling him a pure madman.
Only Barringer knew that he was actually taking a friend to make a big deal of 300 yuan in exchange for 500 million.
Who expected that the excavation and prospecting project at this time was not as smooth as Barringer and others imagined, they worked hard for a long time, and many wells kept digging on these lands, but the harvest was very little.
A year later, weary workers still haven't found the nickel ore that Barringer had foreseen, and they can't help but wonder again about the identity of the "crater", thinking that it may not be the so-called "crater".
However, while the workers were skeptical of Barringer's speculation, Baringer was convinced that his judgment was correct.
In the past year, he has not just lowered his head to drill, but also made in-depth research on this large pit.
In the course of careful observation of the "crater", Barringer found more traces left by the impact.
At the same time, he also excavated a number of small fragments, in which some special ferronickel components were also found.
Based on these new discoveries, Barringer is convinced that the crater is a crater.
And he chose not to hide this discovery, but to make the news public, making himself the first person in human history to discover the crater and verify the "identity" of the crater.
This title meant a lot to him, and he wrote about the fact that the crater in Arizona was actually a crater, and even paid for it to be published in the relevant publications.
So can Barringer's efforts make the experts change their minds?
Most of the content of Barringer's article is still a subjective narrative that he discovered, and he cannot find objective meteorites and minerals to prove it, which makes him once again a "joke" for Americans.
Some experts have even written articles to refute Barringer's arguments, saying that his findings are extremely ridiculous and have no facts as a basis, saying that he is making a gimmick for his own business operations.
Even though Barringer has become the "biggest joke" of the mining industry at this time, he is quite stubborn in his bones and does not give up, but persistently digs near the pothole.
It takes a lot of money to keep machines and equipment running.
In order to find the treasure trove that he was sure to have, Barringer did not hesitate to invest all the money he had earned from his previous mining business into this project, and even went to his family relatives to borrow money.
Fortunately, his family has always supported his cause and believes that he will be able to find minerals.
In ancient China, there was a legend that Yugong moved mountains, and at this time in the United States, there was a story of Barringer mining.
In order to find the large meteorite buried in the ground, Barringer spent all his wealth for this project, invested 600,000 US dollars, drilled hundreds of 400-meter-deep wells around the crater, and worked tirelessly on the plateau every day.
In this way, this stubborn man persevered for 27 years.
Barringer was already quite tired at that time, and the astronomer Moulton's remarks were the last straw that broke him.
The expert said that even if this is a crater, the main body of the meteorite has vaporized at the moment of impact on the earth, and Barringer expects that the mineral treasure formed by the meteorite landing will not appear, and he is doing useless work.In 1929, Barringer died after 27 years of nothing.
So who uncovered the crater after that, and how did Barringer's family become billionaires?
Shoemaker's proof
Barringer died, leaving nothing for his family except the giant pit that cost the family $600,000.
However, Barringer's wife and eight children did not complain about life because of his persistence, but regarded him as a hero who insisted on himself and the truth, and made up their minds to survive with this huge pit.
After the end of World War II, the U.S. Geological Service restarted research on dormant volcano projects, and it was at this time that they remembered the dormant volcano in Arizona and sent Shoemaker there to explore.
At that time, the crater had been developed into a tourist project by Barringer's family, and the drilling near the crater stopped working, replacing it with geologists and a handful of tourists.
Perhaps because he had heard the story of Barringer's mining since he was a child, Shoemaker decided to delve deeper into the area.
Shoemaker: Shoemaker carefully looked through the previous ** published by Barringer, and made a field investigation of some of the judgments.
After a long period of exploration, Shoemaker was surprised to discover that Barringer was not a madman, and that what he said was most likely true, that the crater was not a sleeping crater, but a crater.
In the course of his research, he found that there were only a small amount of lava deposits in the mountains near the crater.
However, the crater can be up to a kilometer in diameter, and it is logically a huge crater, and it is impossible to have such a small amount of lava deposits.
At the same time, Shoemaker also noticed what Barringer said was a problem with the marks caused by the impact.
After careful calculations, he confirmed that it was only an internal eruption of the volcano, and that it was impossible to create such a large gap.This huge crater was formed by the action of external forces, and the ground must have been hit very hard at that time.
In addition, Shoemaker also learned with his professional knowledge that when a meteorite hits the earth's surface, it will indeed cause corresponding changes in the earth's crust, which will form tears and extrusions in the earth, causing volcanic eruptions.
In this way, the presence of a small amount of lava deposits is also reasonable.
Despite the rigorous analysis, however, the Shoemaker lacks crucial evidence that they have not detected a material that could not have been produced by an eruption to prove that this is a crater.
In order to find this special substance, Shoemaker led the team to search for more than ten years.
The hard work paid off, and they eventually found a special mineral called quartz in the giant pit.Such substances cannot be formed during volcanic activity, they are the composition of meteorites.
The discovery of Ke Quartz Shoemaker shocked the academic community, and they began to believe what Barringer had said sixty years earlier.
Eventually, after calculations by astronomers and geologists, people finally figured out the true process of the formation of this crater.
This is a historical trace left by a 300,000-ton asteroid that visited Earth about 50,000 years ago.At that time, it usually became fragments when it entered the atmosphere, and the other half crashed into the ground at a speed of about 12 kilometers per second and hit the earth at a speed of 12 kilometers per second, eventually forming a large crater on the surface and spreading the debris completely.
It is precisely because it is not too fast that it does not melt too much rock, which also leads to Barringer and others not being able to find too much evidence about its true face.
After more than six decades of two generations, the mystery of Arizona's crater has been solved.
With Shoemaker's proof, Barringer finally got his wish and won the major title of "the first person to discover a crater".
At the same time, when the crater was identified, Barringer's son decisively chose to invest the income earned from the previous tourist attractions into a new round of exploration and mining, and he wanted to fulfill his father's unfinished dream.
With more professional and modern survey tools, Barringer's son finally found more than a dozen veins of silver, iron and nickel 20 kilometers away from the crater.
The business-minded Barringer son rationally mined these veins.
The iron ore mine alone earned $15 million, and these veins eventually helped Barringer's family realize their dream of a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The reason why these veins are so far away from the crater is because the meteorite landed again after the fall.
This second impact was the key to the formation of these rich veins.
Barringer's family also understands the pitfalls of fishing with all their might.
Instead of digging all of these veins in one go, the proceeds were used to start a comprehensive industry that included mining and tourism.
Every year, a steady stream of tourists come here** the most well-preserved and first discovered crater.
A ticket costs $18, which can bring tens of millions of dollars to Barringer's family in a year.
According to official data, Barringer's family is now worth more than $1 billion.
Just as Barringer predicted before, the whole family really lived the life of a billionaire with this giant pit.
Although Barringer did not witness the history of the crater being recognized by the world during his lifetime, he was not able to enjoy the wealth that the crater brings.
However, his efforts to uncover the true face of the crater are immeasurable, and at the same time, he has also taught a "profound lesson" to the so-called experts in the academic community by challenging authority.
It is because of Barringer's persistence and talent that the family has been able to harvest such a huge fortune.
The fact that he "picked up" the big hole through his strength and finally made his family rich once again proved to the world the importance of questioning and perseverance in everything we do.