Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-09-25
An Areolite.

An aerolite ofthe most remarkable char
acter appeared i'll the heavens, just after
sun-set on the evening of Friday, the 18Th
inst. We have heard of It's having been
seen at Marquette, Copper Harbor, Eagle
! iIarbor, the cliff Mine, off Misery Bay from
! the propeller Manhattan. at tits village, at
the Norwich Mine, and at Superior. The
/ first and last named points are about $50
miles distant in a right line, and this fact
may aid us in forming some conception of
The immense magnitude of Ibis object The
most minute observation Of The phenomenon
which have come to our knowledge were
made at the Norwich Mine and on board
The propeller Manhattan
The passengers and crew of the vessel OBJ
serd tire-ball of the most dazzling brill
fancy, about half the APPARENT diameter of
the sun, very high in the heavens, moving
towards the south, attended by roaring or
rushing sound, terminating with explosion
1t remained in sight for about thirty SEE
onds, when it suddenly DISAPPEARED or faded
away. \ line of smoke or cloudy vapor
was thrown off from the iery nucleus rs
it moved along, which remained visible in
the heavens for half an hour or more after
it had disappeared. At first, this lay in
right line, marking the path of the meteor.
But it soon began to wind itself into a sinu-
Gus or serpentinc form, and finally coilcd
up. Some of the crew of the Manhattan
remarked that the ''sea-srpent must have
got into the air and Justed."
At the Norwich Mine it appeared to be
about north and to move in south west
ward direction. Its motion was first
observed, and, as it disappeared, the time
was noted between the disappearance and
the sound. The persons on the ground
computed its distancs to be about rs miles.
There were two or more loud reports fol-
lowing each other in quick succession like
the booming of distant cannon, near four
minutes after it disappeared The phenom-
enon was Witnessed by twenty or thirty
persons on this location. Itappcared very
high in the heavens from this point.
It Was seen By great number Of per
sons Marquette, and appeared from there
10 be quite near the horizon an | Il little 10
the north Of west. From its course when
seen from these various poin.s We conclude
the oblec. must have Occupied Il place very
high iii the atmosphere somewhere between
our village and the porcupine mountains
or perhaps over the lake to the nor.h Of
the coast lying between those points
If accurate observation had been made
at the various points from which it was
seen, its passion mi 5ht have been deter
mined with considerable certainty. The
Marquette observers speak OF il as appear
ing ten degrees above the earth Of some 10
or % miles. This is upon the supposition
that it was 100 miles distant from that
point.
Is slza cannot the ,ery..defini;ely ascef-
tanned but it must have been very great.
There are optical reasons whlcn rrs%eevent
our approximating with certainty to tho
true dimension of a ball of fire such as
this appeared 10 be. The observers al
the Norwich and on the lake reprcsen; it
as having been about half the diameter of
the moon. \ solid sub lance to appear
SO large at a distance Of ~ miles must BE-
G0) feet in diameter
The object was undoubtedly a decorating
meteor aerolifc, of the same character a
those which have been observed d record
el for the past two thousand years. The
stones of which they are composed are
found in great numbers in various parts Of
the earth. They uniformly contain iron,
nickel, cobalt, or all of these substances.
besides other minerals, no where else found.