[meteorite-list] Yuma Newspaper Man Discovered Meteor Crater

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Dec 17 19:16:08 2004
Message-ID: <200412180016.QAA20857_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://sun.yumasun.com/artman/publish/articles/story_13756.php

Yuma newspaper man discovered meteor crater
BY FRANK LOVE
Yuma Sun (Arizona)
Dec 17, 2004

A huge depression in the Earth's surface is a major tourist attraction
today. It is Arizona's meteor crater, which lies 25 miles west of
Winslow and resulted from a meteor striking the earth thousands of years
ago. A future Yuma newspaper employee was the first white man to see it
in 1871.

Indians of the region had known about the crater for years before its
location became the common knowledge among settlers. Its non-native
"discoverer" was Albert Franklin Banta, who came to Yuma three years
later when he was employed by the local newspaper, The Arizona Sentinel.

Although he would later claim that he was the editor of the Yuma paper,
he may have been exaggerating his position. Most sources report that
William Berry, who owned the Sentinel in those years, also served as its
editor.

Banta said he found the meteor crater while he was serving as a scout
for Gen. George Crook in 1871. He was using the name "Charles Franklin"
at the time. It was the name he used until about 1886. Afterward, he
used his real name, which was Alfred Franklin Banta.

This writer hasn't been able to discover the reason he used a false name
during his early years in Arizona. A wild guess might be that he was
wanted back East for some crime before he came here.

Banta was guiding an army force under a Lt. Wheeler when he discovered
the crater. Wheeler had orders to explore Canyon Diablo. Banta described
finding the crater as follows:

"I was always scouting around whenever the expedition was in camp, and
one day I came to the edge of a great saucer-shaped hole in the ground.
The more I looked across it, the farther away it seemed to be. I, of
course, had my rifle with me and took a notion to fire a shot across the
hole. To my astonishment, I did not see any dirt fly on the other side,
but I did see a cloud of dust rise from the bottom of the hole, about
halfway across. I then fired another shot, at a considerable elevation,
but it didn't reach across. I then fired a third shot at a still higher
elevation, and it barely reached the other side. Upon my return to camp,
I reported my discovery to Lt. Wheeler, who investigated it, and called
it Franklin's Hole, by which name it was known for many years."

Banta's first residence in Yuma was short, and little is known about it.
The only real evidence he was here was a statement he made years later.
"During the winter of 1874 and 1875, I had charge of the Arizona
Sentinel," he wrote, then owned and operated by Judge W.J. Berry of Yuma.

Another piece of evidence suggesting he was here appeared in the Yuma
Sentinel newspaper on Nov. 14, 1874. Copied by the Yuma paper from a San
Diego newspaper, The Union, it announced, "C.A. Franklin (the name he
was then using), a worthy disciple of the 'art preservative' left San
Diego yesterday for his old home in Arizona. Franklin is a good
typesetter and a good fellow. We wish him prosperity wherever he may be."

It seems possible Banta's Yuma residence was short-lived because his
relationship with Sentinel owner William Berry wasn't good. Although
Banta later claimed he was editor of the paper while in Yuma, it appears
it was never publicly acknowledged by Berry that Banta edited the newspaper.

This may explain why Banta didn't remain in Yuma very long. He left here
for a typesetting job on the Citizen newspaper in Tucson.

Banta never stayed in the same town very long. An appointment as a
constable in St. Johns drew him away from Tucson in early 1876, but he
was soon back after finding new employment there as a deputy sheriff.

He would later report that while he was serving in that position, Pima
County Sheriff Shibell sent him to Sonora with extradition papers for a
wanted criminal. He wrote that while there, he was arrested and charged
with "insulting the Government of Mexico." Years later, he wrote that
the jailer deliberately left his cell door open, and the rurales were
waiting outside to shoot him when he tried to escape. He never
adequately explained how he managed to get out of the jail to return to
Tucson.

Still using the Franklin name, Banta returned again to St. Johns in
northeastern Arizona. Although there is no evidence that he ever had any
legal training, he was elected district attorney of Apache County in
1879, a position he held until 1881. He was elected for another term in
1889.

A fight with a St. Johns merchant, Sol Barth, could have cost Banta his
life in 1884. The two had earlier had a confrontation. Some time
afterward, Banta was sitting on a bench in front of the local hotel when
Barth spotted him. He approached Banta and wrapped his hands around the
other man's neck in an attempt to strangle him.

Banta fought back, drawing a knife from his pocket and hitting Sol in
the face with it. Barth's brother, Nathan, then joined the fight and
shot Banta in the neck. Spectators attracted by the fight finally
stepped in and stopped the brawl. The neck wound must not have been very
serious because Banta was soon active again.

The reason Banta stopped using the Franklin name in 1886 and began using
his real name hasn't ever been explained. Arizona historian Thomas
Farish noted in his book in 1918, "Banta does not tell us why he changed
his name, and, in accordance with his ethics, it is unwise and rude to
ask." (Or perhaps too dangerous?)

Banta moved from St. Johns to Prescott by 1887 where he began publishing
a newspaper promoting the mining industry, The Pick and Drill. It may
not have been a success because when he returned to Yuma in 1901, he
took a job as a guard at the Territorial Prison.

Then 65 years old, he only held the prison position from February until
June. Why he resigned after only five months to move to Phoenix is unknown.

One source reports Banta remained in Phoenix for two years before he
traveled to Central America. The reason he went there isn't known, but
it is likely that it was related to mining, because he returned to
Arizona in 1908 as a prospector.

Age had become a liability by 1916, and Banta became a resident of the
Arizona Pioneers Home. He died there at the age of 81 in 1924. Reporting
his death, Prescott's Evening Courier commented, "He asked no odds of
anyone. He paid his debts, kept his word and was honest and true."

Frank Love is a Yuma historian.
Received on Fri 17 Dec 2004 07:16:02 PM PST