Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-08-29
DUG BY A METEORITE.
Hole 400 Feet Deep and Three
Fourths of q Mile Wide Made.

~'-A~S
In Coconino County, Arizona. about
five miles south of Sunshine Station,
on the Santa Fe Railroad, is a very
remarkable eminence 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 1870 to 100 feet
in height, surrounding an almost cir
cular depression in the earth about
400 feet deep and approximately
three-fourths of mile in diameter.
From the bottom of the depression
to the crest of the ridge surrounding
1t the distance Is from $50 to $50
feet.
The depression has a general re-
semblance to a crater, and super
ficial glance conveys the impression
that it was really the crater of VOL
cano which became extinct ages ago.
Biologists, however, soon observed
that the ring around the crater-like
depression is not composed of vol
canic outpourings. The hole is found
to penetrate from twenty to forty
feet to red sandstone, then from $50
to $50 feet of yellowish limestone,
then a light gray sandstone and fin
ally brownish sandstone, in which
it terminates.
These same level strata, formed
when the land was covered with wa
ter, extend over the plain in all d.
rections for many miles. The theory
that the so-called crater could have
been formed by volcano may be set
aside as impossible.
Another theory was that this re-
markable hole was the result of
steam explosion, but the latest in
vestigators have found many reasons
for believing that this explosion is
incredible. The vast amount Of steam
required to do this work could be
stored up only in regions of volcanic
activity. There is no evidence that
such a region ever existed.
Daniel M. Barringer, geologist, and
B. c. Tilghmann, physicist and chem
ist. have been giving a great deal of
time to investigating this phenome-
non, and have just printed their re-
suits. They have collected an aston
ishing amount Of evidence in favor
of the theory that this great hole in
the earth was produced by the i'm
pact of an iron body falling out of
space and moving, of course, at ter
rife speed.
The body must have been a very
large meteorite or a small asterod,
and in making this deep hole it not
only ground an immense quantity of
rock into fine particles of almost i'm
palpable dust, of which large part
of the crater rim is formed, but it
was itself to large extent broken
into slivers by the terrific force of the
collision.
Borings have revealed many small
fragments and splinters of it to
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 meteoric
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 distance of two and half miles
from it, and there are millions of par
ticles of it scattered far around the
crater
Like other meteoric objects coming
to us from the skies, these countless
fragments contain iron, nickel, urid-
ium and platinum.
A double compartment shaft Is now
being sunk in the exact centre Of the
crater. Unless insurmountable diff
ficulties are met 1t will be sunk to
such depth as will show whether or
not any large part of the body lies
buried several hundred feet below
the floor of the crater.