A RECENT METEORITE FALL NEAR HOLBROOK, 

 NAVAJO COUNTY, ARIZONA 



By GEORGE P. MERRILL 



HEAD CURATOR OF GEOLOGY, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Through the courtesy of Mr. F. C. Chekal, editor of the Holbrook 

 Nezvs, the U. S. National Museum recently came into possession of 

 four pieces of a meteoric stone which fell near the little railroad 

 station of Aztec, on the Santa Fe Railroad, some six miles east of 

 Holbrook, Arizona. It is this material which forms the subject of 

 the present paper, the data regarding the fall being derived from the 

 account in the Holbrook News, supplemented by correspondence with 

 Mr. Chekal. 



According to the printed account, the fall took place about 7.15 

 on the evening of Friday, July 19, 191 2. It was accompanied by 

 " a heavy explosion similar to that of a heavy blast, followed by a 

 fusillade of smaller explosions which terminated in a thunder-like 

 rumble of approximately two minutes duration. . . . The sky was 

 lightly overcast with patches of high floating clouds, but immediately 

 after the explosion a smoky trail similar to the exhaust of an auto- 

 mobile was visible. The trail disappeared in a direction a little north 

 of east. The volume of the explosion can be best judged by the fact 

 that it was heard at White River on the south, and at Lean's Canyon 

 on the north, or about one hundred miles north and south of Hol- 

 brook. Saturday word was received that a shower of falling stones 

 took place at Aztec, six miles east of here immediately after the 

 explosion was heard. The fall, as near as can be judged, was scat- 

 tered over an area of more than one square mile." 



Through correspondence I learned subsequently that some 250 

 pounds of complete individuals and fragments have been shipped to 

 Philadelphia, the largest complete stone weighing about 14! 2 pounds, 

 and that some eight pounds of fragments yet remain in the hands 

 of local collectors, the entire number of individual samples being 

 estimated at some three thousand. In this respect the occurrence 

 would therefore seemingly be a counterpart <>t the celebrated Pul- 

 tusk fall, the similarity being further heightened by the lithological 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 60, No. 9 



