856 



H. L. PRESTON 



Bear Creek, about twenty-five, or thirty miles from Denver. 

 Smith 3 in describing this meteorite gave it the name of Bear 

 Creek. As Denver is on the boundary line between Arapahoe 

 and Jefferson counties, and as there is a Bear Creek extending 

 clear across Jefferson county from west to east, emptying into 

 the Platte, according to Henry's description, the locality of the 



Fig. 



■Section showing Widmanstatten figures. (Three-fifths actual size.) 



Bear Creek meteorite must lie in the west central part of Jeffer- 

 son county. 



Therefore it seems likely that the iron noted in the Shepard 

 Collection as "Jefferson, thirty miles from Denver," is in reality 

 a portion of the Bear Creek meteorite labeled " Jefferson," 

 meaning Jefferson county, and that the date of fall, June, 1867, 

 is an error ; particularly so, as the Bear Creek is described by 

 Henry 2 as being "shattered on one end," so that small pieces 

 could be readily detached. "Denver county" has evidently 

 been substituted for "Denver city" in many of the meteorite 

 lists, as no county is given in any of the early reports of the 

 Bear Creek meteorite. Moreover, the Sierra Madre range is 

 west of Denver, and the Bear Creek meteorite is described as 

 having been found on its eastern slope, which in all probability 



* Ibid., Vol. XLIII, pp. 66, 67. 



