METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 293 



night of October 16, 1898. The finder also stated that it was luminous and made a loud noise 

 in its descent. A photograph showing the shape of the meteorite to be elongated or somewhat, 

 gourd-shaped was published by Barbour. 1 The surface also shows pittings and protuberances. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1903: Barbour. Report Nebraska G?ol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 184. (Cut of mass.) 



MARION.o 



Linn County, Iowa. 



Here also Hartford and Linn County. 



Latitude 42° 2' N., longitude 91° 35' W. 



Stone. Veined white chondrite (Cwa); Luceite (type 37, subtype 2), of Meunier. 



Fell 2.45 a. m., February 25, 1847. 



Weight, 21 kgs. (46 lbs.). Three stones, two of about 20 lbs. and one of about 3 lbs. 



The first account of this meteorite was given by Shepard, 1 as follows: 



The present notice is only for the purpose of announcing a few particulars respecting this last fall of stones in the 

 United States. Fuller details of the occurrence, together with a description of the meteorite, will be reserved for a 

 future occasion. The facts here presented are derived from the Rev. Reuben Gaylord, of Hartford, Des Moines County, 

 Iowa, who visited the locality at my request, and has collected for me whatever specimens could be procured, by far 

 the greater part having been broken to small fragments and lost, as it is feared, to the purposes of science. The fragments 

 forwarded to me by mail, and which are referred to in the following letter, leave no doubt of the genuineness of the 

 production described. They consist of little globules of nickeliferous iron dispersed through the grayish feldspathic 

 mineral, so common in meteoric stones. The fall took place in Linn County, and is well described in the following 

 letter of Mr. Gaylord : 



"I proceed now to give you the results of my investigation of the facts in relation to the meteor which fell in our 

 State, in respect to which you wrote me some time since. Having learned particulars so far that I had full reason to 

 credit the reports in the case, I repaired to the spot last week and found the facts to be as follows: On February 25, 

 1847, at about 10 minutes before 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the attention of the people in that region was arrested by 

 a rumbling noise as of distant thunder; then three reports were heard one after another in quick succession, like the 

 blasting of rocks or the firing of a heavy cannon half a mile distant. These were succeeded by several fainter reports, 

 like the firing of small arms in platoons. Then there was a whizzing sound heard in different directions, as of bullets 

 passing through the air. Two men were standing together where they were at work; they followed with their eye the 

 direction of one of these sounds, and they saw about 70 rods from them the snow fly. They went to the spot. A stone 

 had fallen upon the snow, had bounded twice, the first time, as was supposed, about 8 feet and the second time about 

 2 feet. The stone weighed 2 pounds 10 ounces. The same persons heard another stone strike as it fell, supposed to 

 be small, but they could not find it. Some time in the spring, another stone was found about 1.25 miles west from 

 the place where this fell. It was in two pieces, lying together, weighing 46 pounds. Another fragment, a portion of 

 the same rock, was found about half a mile from the former, which, from the description I had of it, I judged would 

 weigh about 50 pounds. These were coated with a thin black covering. The principal ingredient in their compo- 

 sition seems to be sandstone. They are full of minute brilliant particles and occasionally a small lump of some 

 metal is to be found. Inclosed in this sheet I send you three or four small ones. Some were taken out as large 

 nearly as a grain of corn. A man from whom I obtained a fragment insisted that they were silver. He had ground 

 up a considerable portion of the rock to obtain this silver, and he thought he had saved enough to make 50 cents 

 (half a dollar). The above stones were all that have been found, as far as I could learn. The atmosphere at the time 

 of this phenomenon was mostly clear, somewhat hazy, so warm as to cause the snow on the ground to be somewhat soft. 

 The noise was heard distinctly to a distance of 15 or 20 miles in every direction. At a distance of 10 miles in each 

 direction the sound was like the rolling of a heavy wagon passing swiftly over frozen ground. Smoke was seen in 

 the direction from which the sound seemed to proceed. The smoke appeared in two places, apparently about 6 or 

 8 feet apart, above the elevation of light clouds, and having a circular motion. The motion of the meteoric body 

 was supposed from the reports which were heard to be toward the southeast, or rather south of east." 



In a letter to J. J. Abert, Columbia Topographical Bureau, Washington, Joshua Barney, 3 

 United States agent at Dubuque, Iowa, stated that an aerolite weighing 2 pounds 10 ounces — 



fell at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of February 25, 1847, within 75 yards of the house of Daniel Rogers, 9 miles due 

 south of Marion, Linn County, Iowa. The ground was covered with snow at the time it fell. Mr. Rogers heard a loud 

 explosion in the air and immediately ran to his door. He heard the stone and several others whiz through the air and 

 strike the ground, and saw the snow and dirt fly where this stone struck. The weight of the stone before it was broken 

 was 42 pounds. 



<■ This meteorite was long known as Hartford, Linn County, but as shown by Farrington >> Hartford is 100 miles from the place of fall. 



