[meteorite-list] NPA 12-07-1927 Homestead Meteorite Article

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Iowa Recorder
City: Greene, Iowa
Date: December 07, 1927
Page: 2

THE AMANA METEOR

     One night in the winter of 1875 a marvelous spectacle appeared in the 
heavens over Iowa.  Those who witnessed the phenomenon have never forgotten 
it.  The winter, coldest for many years, had been notable for its heavy 
snowfall, moonlight nights, and bracing atmosphere. Temperatures ranging to 
twenty-degrees below zero were not infrequent and frost has penetrated the 
ground to a depth of nearly five feet in some places.
     Between the hours of ten and eleven on the night of Friday, February 
12, 1875, many people in southeastern Iowa were returning to their homes 
from social engagements and the highways were gay with sleighing parties.  
Suddenly without a moment's warning a bright light and a great ball of fire 
appeared in the southern sky.  Shooting across the heavens in a northern 
direction it lighted up the whole earth like a flash of lightning except 
that a reddish and then a greenish tint was imparted to objects.  To one 
observer it appeared that "the face of the moon had fallen off and was 
approaching the earth" obliquely.  To many the ball of fire appeared pear 
shaped, the larger end foremost.  A rumbling roar, like the passing of a 
train over a bridge, and several share detonations followed in the path of 
the ball of fire.
     The passing of the meteor came about so suddenly that even one seemed 
stunned by the spectacle. Those who were near to the line of flight were 
thoroughly frightened.  Horses reared and plunged to escape, while dogs went 
howling and braking to places of safety.
     Five sudden explosions seemed to shake the earth to its foundations as 
the meteor burst into pieces a few miles northeast of Marengo.  Buildings in 
the neighborhood rattled and the furniture they contained jarred about as if 
shaken by an earthquake.  In fact, many believed that an earthquake was in 
progress.
     The meteor was visible as far away as Omaha and Chicago, and from St. 
Paul to St. Louis.  The light of the meteor, from first to last, was 
exceedingly brilliant.  The moon and stars, according to some observers were 
"blotted from the sky. and the surrounding landscape illuminated as if at 
noonday."
     At once interest centered upon location the spot where the meteor 
struck the earth and the discovery of fragments if possible.  The first 
fragment was found by Sarah Sherlock about two miles west of Homestead.  
This meteorite weighed seven pounds and six ounces.  Other fragments were 
located in the timber by observing broken twigs and scars where the flying 
particles had struck the trees.  During the next spring, the two largest 
fragments recovered were unearthed in a field just south of High Amana.  One 
piece weighed seventy-four pounds and the other forty-eight.  Both had 
penetrated the frozen ground to a depth of about two feet.
     In the course of two years and half over eight hundred pound of 
meteorite had been observed and distributed all over the world by collectors 
and men of science.  Some of the stones were sold to famous European 
museums, though two of the largest specimens and numerous smaller fragments 
are deposited by the Amana Society in the geological collection of the State 
University of Iowa.
     The story of the Amana meteor is told by Ben Hur Wilson in a recent 
number of "The Palimpsest" published by the State Historical Society of Iowa 
at Iowa City.


(end)

Mark note:  The "Amana" meteorite above is known to us as the Homestead 
meteorite.