[meteorite-list] NPA 08-18-1902 Henry Ward Presents Mexican Meteorite

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Delphos Daily Herald
City: Delphos, Ohio
Date: Monday, August 18, 1902
Page: 2 (of 4)

THE BIGGEST METEORITE.

GIGANTIC MESSENGER FROM THE SKIES WEIGHS FIFTY TONS.

The Largest on Record - Twenty-eight Men Tried to Dig it Out of a Cornfield 
- Samples Broken Off With Dynamite.

     Prof. Henry A. Ward of Chicago who has just returned from a visit to 
Mexico announces the discovery there of the largest meteorite on record.  
This gigantic messenger from the skies, which is so big, says Prof. Ward, 
that it would cost $50,000 to bring it to the sea coast, weighs about fifty 
tons.
     The announcement of this discovery has been made by Prof. Ward to the 
Academy of Science at Rochester where Prof. Ward was formerly a resident.  
His account before the academy was the first presentation of his discovery 
to the scientific world.  It was the intention of Prof. Ward to prepare a 
paper fully describing and setting forth this important topic for the 
society, but as it was not ready he gave instead an informal account.
     Prof. Ward when introduced stated that he had just returned from a 
visit to the West Indies, South America, and Mexico, and that while in 
Mexico he found what he went after - a giant meteorite.
     "You know how many meteorites have been found in Mexico?" he said. "Why 
they are so large and of iron formation is what puzzles.  Some have said it 
is due to some special attraction of the minerals in Mexico, but this hardly 
seems possible to me, owing to the rapidity with which the earth revolves, 
and if a meteor was attracted to a given spot, the velocity of the earth's 
momentum would throw it far from this point of attraction.
     "To me it seems likely that the explanation is the dry atmosphere of 
the country - the meteor is not worn or decomposed.  Still, it is an 
interesting question what has caused this meteoric fall which has no 
parallel elsewhere.
     "The same question might come up in regard to the construction of the 
meteorites, which are all of iron, there having been only two or three of 
stone found.  In Arizona and Kansas the meteors found are all of stone.  It 
is very puzzling.  The Mexican Government has been very liberal in bringing 
together these meteorites, which are grouped before a building in the City 
of Mexico, and handsomely mounted, some $50,000 having been appropriated for 
this purpose.
     "I had heard a rumor of a very large meteorite in the country bordering 
the gulf.  These rumors were so uncertain that they made a search for it 
very tempting, so having a month at my disposal I determined to set out and 
try to settle the question once and for all in regard to the existence of 
this meteorite."
     Prof. Ward here gave a very interesting account of his expedition in 
search of the mammoth meteorite.  The first thing he did was to hunt up a 
photographer to accompany him, and this matter gave him some difficulty, 
since he was afraid he might not find any one in Mexico willing to undertake 
the expedition.  But after finding his man, arrangements were quickly made.
     They made the journey, says The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 
partly by rail, then along the seacoast and the volcanic region, 
disembarking at Colima.  He described this volcano as emitting sudden and 
silent explosions of vapor which rise in the air like a flower.  He traveled 
about ninety-five miles from the coast, and finally found the meteorite 
about which so many rumors had reached the scientific ear, some declaring it 
was as large as a ship.  It was found in a cultivated cornfield.
     Prof. Ward engaged some twenty-eight Mexicans to dig it out for him, 
paying them 5 cents a day, which was double their regular wages.  It took 
them a day and a half to dig around the mass and expose its base.  It rested 
on solid rock, and had not this rock intervened it would have disappeared in 
the earth, Prof. Ward declared.  There was absolutely no soil between it and 
the rock on which it lay.  All the surrounding soil had undoubtedly come in 
since the meteor fell, and if this were so it will carry its fall very far 
back in the past, the speaker said.
     Prof. Ward gave the size as 13 feet 1 inch in length, 6 feet 4 inches 
thick, and 5 feet 4 inches wide, and the probable weight as fifty tons.  The 
outside was well preserved, the absence of moisture in the atmosphere 
preventing decomposition.  The pitings were finely distributed all over it.  
There was one large crack.
     By using small sticks of dynamite Prof. Ward was enable to separate 
several large specimens of this meteorite, which he cleared to be beautiful 
in formation.  The great mass will probably never be removed.  He estimated 
it would cost something like $50,000 to get it to the seaport.
     But the discovery, says Prof. Ward, is an exceedingly valuable one, in 
setting once and for all the existence of this meteorite, and is of special 
interest to scientists.  It was stated by Prof Dodge, President of the 
academy, that Prof. Ward possesses the largest collection of meteorites ever 
gotten together by one individual, though the latter says it ranks fourth in 
size in the world.

(end)

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

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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.