[meteorite-list] NPA 02-18-1942 Meteor Crater, Iron for WWII Tanks

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Jan 12 12:45:28 2005
Message-ID: <BAY4-F872CC07048635E46957F4B3890_at_phx.gbl>

Paper: Nashua Reporter
City: Nashua, Iowa
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 1942
Page: 2

     Meteor Crater, Arizona

     Thousands of Army tanks are buried here/beneath the slope of eastern
Arizona. They aren't put together yet but the metal for their making is
waiting to be dug out and used. It was gift from outer space thousands of
years ago.
     Ten million tons of roaring blazing meteor landed here with a
tremendous crash and left this gaping Meteor Crater. Thought to be an
extinct volcano until the eighteen nineties, the theory that it was caused
by a falling heavenly body was advanced then and has brought about
considerable controversy since. During the last World War a half million
dollars were spent in the fruitless search for the meteor's remains. Now,
for the first time, definite proof of its existence seems to have been
established by drilling and magnetic tests.
     You hardly realize this vast scar is here until you come right upon it.
  The gently rolling country around it rises but slightly as it nears the
crater's rim. Then the ground falls way abruptly a full six hundred feet.
It would take more than a mile-thick, fifty story building to fill this
yawning chasm, which is many times larger than any other hole of its kind in
the world. Some scientists claim it was made about the year one. Others
say it is twenty-five thousand years old. Either guess is all right with me
because its furrowed and weathered depths convince me it is far from young.
     Five gigantic masses of broken meteoric material seem to be buried from
five to seven hundred feet below the crater floor. Indicating that the
meteor arrived from a northerly direction, all 5 deposits lay to the south
of the crater itself - two just beyond its rim. The Philadelphia mining
company owning them is planning to dig them up immediately for use in
national defense.
     Many scientists have scoffed at the idea of the meteor still being
here. Some contended it blew itself back out and to bits when it came in
contact with subterranean streams known to exist below the surface of this
section of the country. In pieces ranging in weight from an ounce to a
thousand pounds, only fifteen tons of it have been found in a thorough
search of the surface around the crater. It most of the meteor blew back
out, where did it go?
     The chances are very strong that it didn't go anywhere, except deep
below this dent it made in the earth, there to remain until now, when it
will be recovered and fashioned into tools of war.
     And those tools will be tough ones, too. In fact, metallurgists got
their ideas for battle ship armor plate formulas directly from a study of
meteoric material which is composed of about a pound of nickel to a dozen of
iron, with a few ounces of other metals thrown in for good measure.
     Operations for recovering the meteor's remains probably won't damage
the appearance of this awe-inspiring chasm a bit. In order to dodge the
underground streams of water, shafts will probably be sunk some distance
from the crater and drifts run back to the metal.
     Dug out and made into tanks and other implements of war, this ancient
meteor may soon be thundering and blazing again - against our Axis enemies,
smashing into them with what we hope will be the devastating crash that
shook these plains ages ago.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
http://www.imca.cc

http://stores.ebay.com/meteoritearticles

PDF copy of this article, and most I post (and about 1/2 of those on my
website), is available upon e-mail request.

The NPA in the subject line, stands for Newspaper Article. The old list
server allowed us a search feature the current does not, so I guess this is
more for quick reference and shortening the subject line now.
Received on Wed 12 Jan 2005 12:44:16 PM PST