NO. 12 DRUM -MOUNTAINS METE0KH1. — ni:NDKKS()N AND rKUKV J 



that a meteorite of this weight falling upon hard rock would be con- 

 spicuously scarred, init it is not so in this case. There is always the 

 possibility that it fell at a place where there was considerable accumu- 

 lation of sand or soil and perhaps the ground at that point may also 

 have been further protected by a rather deep snowdrift. 



The Drum Alountains iron is the eighth largest individual meteorite 

 reported from within the L'nited States. The following table lists the 

 individuals preserved in collections which exceed the Drum Mountains 

 in weight. 



List of individual meteorites from the United States xvhich exceed 

 Drum Mountains in ivciyht 



Weight 

 N.imc State of origin Kg. 



Willamette Oregon 14.175 



Xavaj o Arizona i ,503 



Quinn Canyon Nevada 1,450 



Goose Lake California 1,167 



Sardis * Georgia 800 



Red River Te.xas 743 



Tucson Arizona 688 



Drum Mountains * Utah 529 



• All weights except these were taken from Frederick C. Leonard and Dorothy II. 

 Alley's listing in Poj). Astron., vol. 55, No. 9, pp. 497-502, 1947. 



This 22-pound portion of Drum Mountains meteorite was sectioned 

 into 10 slices. This cutting was done on an endless band saw using a 

 i^-inch band of soft iron (i8-gage) onto which the carborundum 

 is washed with a small stream of water. The two wheels of this saw- 

 are 36 inches in diameter and make 100 revolutions per minute. The 

 cutting band is traveling at the rate of 941.6 feet per minute. Mr. 

 Reberholt in charge of the Mineralogy Laboratory of the Museum 

 made a record of the time required to cut all the slices and the quan- 

 tity of the carborundum used. The 10 slices retjuired 291 hours of 

 cutting time and $61.60 worth of carborundum. These figures may be 

 of some interest to those who wish to know .something about the cut- 

 ting costs of an iron meteorite. The figures are basic, so by multiply- 

 ing the cutting time by a wage that such an operator would receive, 

 adding a factor for power, depreciation of machinery, final polishing, 

 etching, etc., it becomes clear why large slices of meteoritic iron are 

 very expensive specimens. 



