The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1895-01-30
DIAMONDS IN A METEOR.
STRANGE DISCOVERY OF THE sCIEN-
fists IN AN ARIZONA CANON.
Immense Hole in Which Many Ami
mails Lost Their Lives.


vicinity, situated to the eastward of San
Francisco mountain, in Arizona, un.
doubtedly marks the spot where comet
struck the earth. For some time past
biologists have been puzzling over this
matter To begin with, huge hole was
found that was unique IN its way. No
ed in any other part of the crust of this
planet. Of circular shape and nearly
400 feet in depth, this remarkable de-
preston measured three-quarters of a
mile in diameter and was walled by
precipices so steep that animals falling
in could not possibly get out again.
Prof. Gilbert, the we'll known geol0gist,
visited the spot and expressed the opin-
ion that only one theory could satisfac-
5orily account for the phenomenon. The
"crater' had been formed by the impact
of a gigantic meteor. Important evidence
in support of this idea was afforded by
numerous pieces of meteoric iron which
were found scattered about in the imme-
diate neighborhood of the depression.
Surprising the suggestion to be correct,
the mass of the meteor must be sunk in
the bottom of the hole. Attempts were
made by the use of magnetic dlp-ueedle
to obtain the indications of the presence
of great mass of metal below ground,
but there was no result.
The meteor that struck near the Can
on Diablo was large enough to be termed
comet. Whereas it was supposed at
first that the pieces of meteolic iron
found in the nelghbOrhood of the
"crlter'' were fragments scattered from
the mass on impact, strong apparent evil
dence to the contrary presently appear
ed. The fragments" were discovered
to be not fragments at all, but whole
and perfect meteorites. Meteors are
commonly broken by striking the atmos
phere, but the pieces always show signs
of fracture, and often they may be fitted
together. The solution of the mystery
is that this giant meteor or comet, with
a diameter Of something like 400 feet,
was mainly stony body.
The fact that the mass was not wholly
of iron, but merely a sort of stony pud-
ding filled with plums of metal, would
account for the failure of the dip needle
to give any indication. Eventually the
geologst came along and discovered the
''crater." In it's neighborhood he pick
ed up pieces of meueoric lion. These
we're found in astonishing numbers. Up
to date many hundreds of them have
been collected, They are of all sizes
and some of them very large. The big
gest one thus far obtained weighs 1,087
pounds and is the third largest meteorlte
known to have fallen in the United
States.
While the t'crater" itself may be con-
sidered as one of the wonders of the
world, extreme interest attaches to the
pieces of meteoric iron picked up in it's
neighborhood. This is due, not so much
to their astonishing numbers and certain
peculiarities of structure which they ex-
hibit as to the fact that some of them
have been found to contain diamonds. 1t
is said that diamonds were discovered in
a stony meteorite which fell in Russia
half a dozen years ago, bot the evidence
at hand is not conclusive.
One of the first diamonds thus found
was set in the point of lead pencil, and
glass was readily cut with it, when it
gave forth the characteristic singing
noise of a glass cutter diamond. Other
tests we're attempted, but the the matter
was not finally settled until Geo. f..
Kunz, the expert in germs, succeeded in
obtaining about halt a carat's weight of
diamond dust from the meteoric metal
and with it polished several diamonds.
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