AMERICAN METEORITES—HENDERSON 
United States up to July 1948, but this 
figure is only relatively accurate be- 
cause some of the early discoveries are 
so closely spaced geographically that 
in some instances the same meteorite 
may be listed more than once. New 
finds are made from time to time, and 
often considerable time elapses before 
their existence is reported. Specimens 
of these meteorites have been identified 
and preserved in various collections. 
The vast majority of them are discov- 
eries of old falls; only 97 have been 
seen to fall. The land area of the 
United States must have been hit by 
falling meteorites many more than 535 
times, but it is useless to make any 
estimate of the possible number. 
Between 1807 and 1850, 14 falls oc- 
curred, and between 1850 and 1900, 
28 falls were reported. Since 1900 
only 55 falls have been reported. Be- 
tween 1900 and 1948 there were 14 
years in which no meteorites were ob- 
served to fall, and in only 4 different 
years were as many as three or more 
meteorites seen to fall. In 1933 four 
different falls were observed in this 
country, and this is the maximum 
number ever to be reported in a single 
year. 
Of the 97 witnessed falls in this 
country, 28 have occurred in the morn- 
ing, including those reported as occur- 
ring at noon, and 61 have fallen in the 
afternoon. The hour of fall of the 
others was not recorded, but it is a 
well-recognized fact that more meteor- 
ites reach the earth between noon and 
midnight than during the morning 
hours. 
There is wide variation in the num- 
ber of meteorites found in different 
States. Texas leads the list with 83; 
Kansas has 54; Colorado, 40; Ne- 
braska, New Mexico, and North Caro- 
lina, 29 each; Tennessee, 21; Alabama 
and Kentucky, 20 each. Only 20 
meteorites have been reported from 
the three States of Ohio (8), Indiana 
(9), and Illinois (3), doubtless because 
those States were well covered with 
glacial drift. In five States—Dela- 
ware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
259 
Rhode Island, and Vermont ’—no 
meteorites have been found. 
The first of the 97 witnessed Ameri- 
can falls occurred on December 14, 
1807, when astone of 150 kg. fell about 
6:30 a. m. at Weston, Conn. The 
next witnessed fall was on Jan. 30, 
1810, at 2 p. m., when a 1.3 kg.-stone 
fell in Caswell County, N. C.* At 
4:30 p. m. on August 7, 1823, a fall 
occurred near Nobleboro, Maine, and 
about noon on February 10, 1825, a 
stone weighing 7.5 kg. fell at Nanje- 
moy, Md. These were all stony 
meteorites. The first known iron 
meteorite fell in 1835, but the date is 
not definitely known; it has been 
reported as July 31 or August 1. 
This iron, weighing 4.5 kg., struck 
near Charlotte, Tenn. The largest of 
the witnessed iron meteorite falls in 
this country is the Cabin Creek, Ark., 
meteorite, weighing 48.7 kg., which 
fell on March 27, 1886. 
Table 2 lists the largest individual 
iron meteorites found in the United 
States. All these are old and unwit- 
nessed falls. The Sardis iron is the 
only large meteorite found in the 
eastern part of the United States. 
The largest individual stony mete- 
orite ever found in America is the 
Norton County, Kans.—Furnas Coun- 
ty, Nebr., stone. This was a witnessed 
fall. 
Table 3 lists the largest of our wit- 
nessed falls and old falls which have 
been discovered in the United States. 
Kansas and Texas lead the other 
States in number of large stony 
meteorites, and it is interesting to note 
that most of the large stones have been 
found in the West. 
Perhaps the oldest known meteorite, 
from the standpoint of the time of its 
fall to our earth, is the 1,760-pound 
Sardis, Ga., iron (pl. 3, a). Accord- 
3 One meteorite was reported from Ver- 
mont in Science, vol. 96, p. 494, 1942; later 
proved by author to be manufactured iron. 
4 No specimens of this fall have been pre- 
served; hence some authorities do not list 
this. However, the evidence seems to justify 
including it as a witnessed fall. 
