[meteorite-list] 1901 Mexican meteorite

From: LJnewpers_at_aol.com <LJnewpers_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:01 2004
Message-ID: <156.2b8ef6cf.2d3628bd_at_aol.com>

Dear Mark Bostick and list. Enjoyed the reprint you posted re: the large=20
meteorite of June 11, 1901 as reported in the Denver paper June 21. I too ch=
ecked=20
and could find no mention of a recovery, however I was able to locate Los=20
Molinas and am very familiar with the town of Altar, Sonora, Mexico. El Prog=
resso,=20
the Mexican paper which first reported the meteor is still operating -=20
perhaps it would be worth delving through their files to see if sufficient e=
ye=20
witnesses reported it to allow triangulation.=20

Reading the report triggered my aging memory, and looking through my copy of=
=20
NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO, by Carl Lumholtz, 1912, I found a report of another=20
meteor(ite) very near to that area, occurring November 5, 1910. Lumholtz was=
 a=20
prolific explorer, ethnographer, geologist, and all around adventurer, with=20=
a=20
keen eye for detail and desire to chronicle his discoveries. I'll quote belo=
w in=20
part his report.

    At Rancho de Macias, on November 5, in the afternoon, a splendid meteor=20
was observed. The engineers and the geologist had promised to dine with me t=
hat=20
evening in return for hospitality that I had enjoyed at their hands. It was=20
after dusk, but not quite night yet, and I was unpacking some Norwegian=20
delicacies which were to serve as my pi=E8ce de r=E9sistance, when suddenly=20=
loud shouts=20
of admiration were heard, "Mira, mira! no mas!" As I instinctively turned my=
=20
eyes over our wagon toward the North I beheld a large and resplendent orb, w=
ith=20
a long tail, passing slowly and majestically over the heavens, roughly=20
speaking from west to east.
    The color was bluish white at the start, and the size appeared as=20
one-sixth the size of the full moon; the unusually long tail appeared as if=20=
it might=20
be six inches long, if seen near by. To our eyes the meteor moved so slowly=20
that it might have been photographed. It grew smaller and smaller, both body=
 and=20
tail, the latter disappearing first, when the globe itself, now yellowish re=
d=20
burst into two pieces, the smaller one going upward. Perhaps a quarter of th=
e=20
horizon was passed. - - - - - - Later I learned that the same phenomenon ha=
d=20
been observed at Altar. (Yes, this is the same Altar as mentioned from the=20
1901 fall) At Sonoita it appeared to Sr. Isaurao Quiroz as if "it disappeare=
d=20
twenty meters above the horizon, first sending one piece to the north-west a=
nd=20
another to the south-east, the latter dissolving into thirty or forty red an=
d=20
blue sparks, and as resplendent as the sun." Sr. Bonillas, the geologist, so=
me=20
time before, had seen one of the same size at three o'clock in the afternoon=
=20
at Nogales.

End of quote. I've poured over old and new maps and aerial surveys of the=20
area and have pinpointed every site described. A busy place around that part=
 of=20
Mexico, I guess. The Carbo (front cover A to Z) was not terribly far south o=
f=20
there, and the Huizopa was recovered east of that area near the=20
Sonora/Chihuahua border. And Arizpe was not far north of Huizopa. And, And.=20=
Must be a huge=20
underground mass of magnetite drawing so many meteors in that part of Mexico=
.=20
Just kidding. Anyone want to do more research?=20

Larry Johnson
IMCA #6116
Received on Wed 14 Jan 2004 12:08:13 AM PST