DESCRIPTION OF FALLS. 



ADARGAS. 



Sierra de los Adargas, Chihuahua, Mexico. 



Here also Conception. 



Latitude 26 6' N., longitude 105 14' W. 



Iron. Medium octahedrite (Om) of Brezina. 



Known for centuries; rediscovered 1780 (or 1784?). 



Weight: 3,325 kgs. (7,315 Ibe.), according to the label in the Mexican School of Mines. 



The first account of this meteorite was given by Bartlett * as follows: 



\Ve came to a Email stream, where, encompassed in a grove of cottonwoods, lay the pretty village (Conception) 

 to which we were destined. On our arrival we stopped under the shade of some large trees, and dismounting at once 

 discovered the object of our search, about 50 yards distant, at the corner of a huge building. This was the residence 

 of Don Juan Urquida (i. e., Urquidi), the proprietor of the hacienda and large estates adjoining, and formerly governor 

 of the State. That no time might be lost, Doctor Webb immediately set to work with his hammer and cold chisels to cut 

 off some pieces from the large mass of iron before us. This he found to be an undertaking of great labor in consequence 

 of the extreme tenacity and hardness of the mass. After an hour's work with a man to assist him, he succeeded in cut- 

 ting off 3 or 4 Email pieces, which did not altogether weigh an ounce, and were barely sufficient for an analysis. Five 

 chisels having been broken, the doctor had to desist from his labors, much to our regret, as we were desirous to obtain 

 some specimens for cabinets. While this was going on, I took a couple of sketches of the mass showing opposite 

 sides, and also took measurements; but the form was so irregular that these measurements can only aid in conveying 

 an idea approximately of its bulk. Its greatest height is 46 inches; greatest width, 37 inches; circumference in thickest 

 part, 8 feet 3 inches. Its estimated weight, according to Sefior Urquida, is 3,853 pounds. While we were at work, 

 Sefior Urquida, the younger, the brother of Don Juan, came out. He said it was originally found about 3,000 varas 

 (270 yards) from its present location, and had been moved at different periods by the people of the hacienda to the 

 place where it now stands. It was brought hither with the design of putting it in a blacksmith's shop to be used as 

 an anvil, although it had never been so employed. An attempt had been made to reduce it, by building a large fire 

 around it and heating it to a white heat. But so intense was the heat from so huge mass that the workmen could not 

 approach it, and all their labor was lost. The expense of this operation was more than $100, and resulted in obtaining 

 a piece of the metal large enough to work into a pair of spurs. 



Smith,* writing in 1855 under the heading "Meteoric iron from Chihuahua, Mexico," 

 quotes Bartlett's description and gives two figures of the mass. He states that the mass is 

 at the Hacienda de Conception about 10 miles from Zapata. 



Connolly, 7 in the Smithsonian Report for 1865, gives the following account: 



In the State of Chihuahua, and at the hacienda of Don Juan Xepumocena Urquida, about 180 miles south of the 

 city of Chihuahua, and directly on the road from the city to the city of Mexico, and 30 to 50 yards from the main road, 

 is what is supposed to be a meteorite. I saw it nearly every year for 20 years, the last time in 1846. It is a large mass 

 of solid iron, standing like a post in the earth, from which it projects about 4 feet. Its diameter at the surface of the 

 ground is 2 to 3 feet. It diminishes in size toward the apex, which is irregularly rounded. The part above ground 

 would weigh a ton or more. How far it is embedded in the earth had never been ascertained. Some small pieces, or 

 chips, had been detached by cold chisels and carried off as curiosities, but these pieces were insignificant in point of 

 size, and their removal has not disfigured the general mass as a specimen. 



Simson 9 says of it: 



About halfway between El Valle and Parral, on a bend of the Rio Florido, at a place called Conception, is a most 

 splendid specimen of meteoric iron. It is 4 feet above ground, and almost pure in quality. It is from 2 to 3 feet one 

 way by probably 2 to 5 feet the other, very regular in shape, and, where worn by the rubbing of hands, etc., of passers- 

 by, is bright, and to all appearances is nearly pure metal. The steel hatchet cuts into it easily. It stood at the comer 

 of the house, apparently to guard the corner from collisions of wagons and the like. The major-domo said that this 

 meteorite had, as he had heard, fallen from the heavens, and had been brought from a distance, from a place where 

 other specimens also existed. Such we found to be the prevailing account of this mass among the people of the place. 



o The reference numbers refer to the bibliography following the description of each fall. 



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