1905.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 861 



coon mountain and its crater, 

 by daniel moreau barringer. 



Foreword. 



In October, 1902, I heard for the first time — in casual conversa- 

 tion with Mr. S, J. Holsinger — of Coon Mountain or Coon Butte and its 

 crater, which is located in the northern part of Ai'izona. He stated 

 to me at the time that he had never seen this remarkable crater, but 

 had heard of it on several occasions, and had heard that quite a large 

 amount of meteoric iron had been found in the immediate vicinity and 

 that some had been found on the inside of the crater, which latter 

 statement was subsequently^ proved to be incorrect. 



I naturally was very incredulous of the theory which, jMr. Holsinger 

 informed me, was held by some of the people living in the neighborhood 

 of Canon Diablo, namely, that this great hole in the earth's surface had 

 been produced by the impact of an iron body falling out of space, if for 

 no other reason than that I realized that the crater must have been 

 examined by members of the United States Geological Survey while 

 making the topographical maps of this region, and in their report they 

 evidently did not accept this theory. 



Nevertheless, the subject continued to interest me so much that 

 upon my return to Philadelphia I determined to speak to my friend, 

 Mr. B. C. Tilghman, in reference to it, because of his general scientific 

 knowledge. This was in the latter part of January, 1903. We de- 

 cided to write to Mr. Holsinger for further information, and upon 

 receipt of this took the necessary steps to locate the mountain under 

 the United States Mineral Land Laws. Since then, between us, Mr. 

 Tilghman and I have collected an astounding array of evidence in 

 favor of the correctness of the above theory of the causation of* this 

 great hole in the earth's surface, and in refutation of the theory 

 adopted by Mr. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, that 

 it was produced by a steam explosion.^ 



'See Presidential Address by Grove Karl Gilbert, 1895, before the Geological 

 Society of Washington, published by the Society in March, 1896. Also published 

 in Science, N. S., Vol. Ill, page 1, 1896. Also" 13th Ann. U. S. Geol. Sur. Rep., 

 Part I, p. 98, and 14th Ann. U. S. Geol. Sur. Rep., Part I, p. 187. Also Cham- 

 berlin and Salisburj^'s Geology (1904), Vol. I, p. 569. 



