CHICORA METEORITE — PRESTON, HENDERSON, RANDOLPH 401 



of the previous spring; had broken off so many trees and branches of 

 trees, that anything the meteor miglit have done was in(Ustinguish- 

 able. Aderhold, Uke McCormick, tried to search the area on foot, 

 witli equally little result. 



The evidence at Garing's farm is that the fragments are compara- 

 tively small and fell vertically. If they are all alike, the fragments 

 could do little damage, would not break trees except in the rarest 

 of instances, and would just about bury themselves in the forest 

 floor. 



THE RECOVERED FRAGMENTS 



Thus it comes about that from, the welter of confused and some- 

 times conflicting reports the only tangible objects available are two 

 small black pebbles, the larger not 3 inches long. The ro.aterial in the 

 smoke trail may have weighed tons, and tons of fragments may have 

 reached the earth, but all we have, or are ever likely to have, for 

 detailed examination, are a few ounces now in the United States 

 National Museum. It seems strange that the whole countryside 

 could be rocked from Pittsburgh, to Petrolia, a distance of 50 miles, 

 and that startled observers should see the flaming apparition from 

 points 200 miles apart, and yet all that should be recovered be so 

 small a matter. Big noises evidently produce little by way of result. 



Small as the fragments are, however, they probably tell us sub- 

 stantially as much as if we had the whole meteor, for it seems reason- 

 able to assume that the rest of the meteor was like the samples. 



AUTHORITIES CITED 



(1) J&y Sproul, Nineveh, Pa. 



(2) Thomas Monks, Oil City, Pa. 



(3) Numerous observers. 



(4) George Bottcher, architect, observing from Cooperstown, Pa. 



(.5) G. E. Sadlon |.kDKA broadcasting station, Saxonburg, Pa. 



(6) Kenneth ^\albo^nJ 



(7) Group of ball players near Kaylor, Pa., C. B. Williams reporting. 



(8) U. S. Weatlier Bureau, Pittsburgh Municipal and County Airport, 10 miles 



south of Pittsburgh, R. W. Carey rejiorting. 



(9) Farmer's wife. 



(10) Adam Garing, Chicora, Pa. 



(11) Mrs. J. A. Llewellyn, Butler, Pa. 



(IS) T. C. Baker, Butler, Pa.; checked by calculation. See page 387. 



(13) Mrs. William Clarkin, New Kensington, Pa. 



(14) Miss Kate Black, Butler, Pa. 



(15) Mrs. F. H. Hayes, Butler, Pa. 



(16) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 25, 1938. 



(17) Martin Reiber, Butler, Pa. 



(18) Butler Eagle, June 25, 1938. 



(19) Mrs. Meyers, near Kaylor. 



(20) Dr. J. A. Llewellyn. 



(21) Dean Bell, Karns City. 



