The Winslow mail., 1926-04-30
Search for Great Meteor
Is To Be Prosecuted At
"Crater" Mountain, Near
Winslow, By Strong Co.

Continued from Page II
formations are most strongly in evil
dence along the southerly side of
the crater
The plain surrounding the era
ter is thickly covered with huge
sandstone and limestone bOulders,
some weighing many tons, which
were undoubtedly thrown out at
the time the crater was formed
The larger boulders are mostly
limestone, it being apparent that
the sandstone fragments have suf-
fered severe weathering, sufficient
in most cases to disintegrate them
entirely.
In and around the crater are tre-
mendous deposits of ''rock -four"
as it is strikingly and correctly
called, this consisting of sandstone
ground to an almost impalpable
powder. In this connection it will
be we'll to remember that the
quartz grains of this rock -four are
so crushed as to be but fraction
of the size of similar grains in the
undisturbed sandstone. In many
cases these deposits are ten feet or
more in thickness.
Tn and around this crater there
have been gathered more metallic
meteOritieS than have been found
on the entire surface of the earth
elsewhere.
These meteoric irons, specimens
of which may be found in almost
all large museums. range in weight
from a few grains to masses up
to lob pounds each, this being the
weight of the specimen in the Field
museum in Chicago That in the
National museum at Washington
weighs $50 pounds.
The composition of the irons is
approximately 92 per cent iron and
per cent nickel and almost with
out exception, they contain platin
um and iridium to the extent of six
tenths of an ounce or more per ton.
They all show the Widmanstatten
lines which are one of the charac-
teristics of meteoric iron. Small
amounts of palladium have also
been identified.
| Microscopic diamonds are found
| in many of the specimens.
The crater was first noticed by
white men in 1871, when A. F.
Banta, a scout for General Crook.
| discovered it and christened it
'Franklin's Hole" A few years
later. the attention of scientific
world was drawn to the crater and
it was visited. in the early 9O's,
by several distinguished scientists.
| Among these was the famous
Swedish astronomer. Svante Are
henius, who declared: cit is, per-
haps. the most interesting feature
on the surface of our planet" In
the summer of 1902, D. NJ. Bar
ringer. a we'll known and distin-
| guished mining engineer of Phila-
delphia visited the locality and be-
| came convinced that the crater had
been formed not otherwise than by
the impact of a huge meteor or a
small comet. He located the ground
as four mineral claims and inaugu-
rated a caronaign of exploration.
The Theories
So much for the facts; now for
the theories:
For time this meteOric theory
was scoffed at: other geOIOpists at
tributed the formation of the era
ter to volcanism and still others
insisted that it was a blowout
caused by steam. Here then, we
have the three possible theories
the first that the crater is the re-
suit of volcanic action. the second
that it is result of an explosion
of steam rising from the lower
strata of the earth, and the third
that it was caused by the direct i'm
pact of a huge meteor or swarm of
meteors of which the tons of iron
which have been picked up on the
surface were the "stragglers."
The first of these theories may be
| dismissed with little consideration.
| AS stated, there is not one single
particle of evidence to show that
| there was ever any VolcOnic action
in this immediate neighbOrhOod; !;
there is absolutely no trace of lava
or of the heat that must attend a
volcanic outbreak; the peculiar de-
| formation of the crater wall at the
| south can not be accounted for on
| this theory; and it leaves utterly