The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-08
DENIED BY 4 ME7EORITEs
A Hole 400 Feet Deep n 1hree',fths
of q Mile Wide Made in AriZonk.

In Cocopiro county, AriZora, about five
miles south Of Sunshine station on the Santa
Fe Railroad. Ia q very remarkable emineroe
rising above an almost perfectly level
plain and known locally as Coon Butte or
Coon Mountain.
This so-called mountain consists OF a
circular ridge from 100 to 100 feet in height
surrounding an almost circular depression
in the earth about 400 feet deep and ap-
proximately three-ffths OF a mile in diam-
eter. From the bottom Of the depression
to the crest Of the ridge surrounding 1t the
distance Is from $50 o 500 feet.
This depression has a general resemblance
to a crater, and a superficial glance conveys
the impression that it was really the crater
Of a volcano which became extinct ages
ago. Biologists, however, soon observed
that the rim around the craterlike de-
preston is not composed Of volcanic out
pourings. The hole is found to penetrate
from twenty to forty feet of red sandstone.
then from $50 to $50 feet Of yellowish lime
stone, then a light gray sandstone and
finally a brownish sandstone In which 1t
terminates.
These came level strata, formed when
the land was covered with water, extend
over the plain in all directions for many
miles. The theory that the so-called crater
could ha We been formed by a volcano may
be set aside al impossible.
Another theory was that this remarkable
hole was the result Of a steam explosion,
but the latest investigators have found
many reasons for believing that this ex-
PLANTATION Is incredible. The vast amount
Of steam required to do this work could be
stored up only in regions Of volcanic 40
tivity. There is no evidence that such q
region ever existed here.
Daniel NJ. Barringer, g%eologist, and B. q
Tilghman, physicist and chemist, have
been giving a great deal Of time to investi-
eating this phenomenon, and the Academy
OF Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, has
Just printed their results. They have
collected an astonishing amount Of evidence
in favor of the theory that this great hole
In the earth was produced by the impact
Of an iron body falling out OF space and
moving, Of course, at terrific speed.
The body must have been a very large
meteorite or a small asteroid, and in making
this deep hole it not only ground an immense
quantity OF rock into fine particles and
almost impalrable dust, Of which a large
part Of the crater rim is formed. but II was
itself to a large extent broken into slivers
by the terrific force Of the collision.
Borings nave revealed many small frag-
ments and splinters of it to a considerable
depth, but no large piece has yet been
found beneath the floor Of the crater. On
the other hand about fifteen tons OF the
meteorio iron have been collected from
around the crater and sent to the various
museums Of the world. Several thousand
pieces have been discovered scattered
all around the crater and to a distance OF
two and a half miles from it, and there are
millions Of particles Of it scattered far
around the crater.
Like other meteoric objects coming
TO us from the skies. these countless frag-
ments contain iron, nickel, iridium and
platinum.
A double compartment shaft is now
being sunk In the exact centre of the crater
Unless i~nsurmountable difficulties are met
1t will be sunk to such a depth as will show
whether or not any large part Of the body
lies buried several hundred feet below the
floor Of the crater.
There are some geographical evidences
pointing to the probability that as time
is measured in geological epochs the fall
OF this meteorite must have been a COM
paratively recent occurrence. Mr.. Thigh
man names 10 900 years as the utmost pos
sible limit, but believes that a period inside
OF 5000 years Is much more nearly in 40
cord with the facts.