ON NEWLY DISCOVEEED METEORIC IRONS FROM 

 THE WALLAPAI (HUALAPAI) INDIAN RESERVA- 

 TION, ARIZONA 



By George P. Merrill 

 Head Curator of Geology, United States National Mtiseum 



The iron meteorite here described was first brought to public 

 attention through Mr. William A. Light, superintendent of the 

 Truxton Canon Agency, who, ea,rlj in the spring of 1927, sent 

 a fragment from the larger mass to the Bureau of Mines in 

 Washington, where it came into the hands of Mr. Frank L. Hess, 

 and through him passed to the United States National Museum. 

 A letter addressed to Mr. Light brought the information that there 

 were two masses, recently discovered by an Indian named Dick 

 Grover (PI. 1) on the Wallapai Indian Reservation. He also 

 sent the following detailed account: 



I am glad to submit all the information I have regarding these specimens. 

 I have the smaller of the two at the school. It is an irregular body with tri- 

 angular sides and weighs 273 pounds. Its color is dark brown, and its surface 

 is irregular, resembling metal that has been heated to the melting point and 

 cooled quickly. Its shape is somewhat like an egg. Length is 19 inches, width 

 14 inches, greatest circumference 4 feet. These specimens were found on the 

 slope of a limestone mountain, about 6 miles from the rim of the Grand Canyon 

 of the Colorado River, in Mohave County, Ariz. Both of them were protruding 

 from the earth so as to be readily seen, but three-fourths of the body of each 

 is buried in the earth and stone. They were about 5 feet apart. 



The larger specimen is three or four times the size of the smaller one. It 

 lies where found, undisturbed. These bodies have lain in their present position 

 for many years. The earth is level where they lie, and there is no indentation 

 to indicate that they have fallen recently. They both show a weather-beaten 

 appearance. * * * The earth where they lie appears to have been washed 

 into a crack or indentation. There is very little surface stone on this mark, 

 but the specimens were surrounded by soft earth which extends along the 

 mountain side for 10 or 12 feet. We did not excavate in this soft earth, but 

 left it as we found it. Because the mountain slope is composed of broken and 

 disintegrated limestone, this " crack " filled with softer material, which would 

 have. washed into it in a series of years, indicates that it may have been an 

 open crack or indentation at one time. 



In the course of further correspondence, Mr. Light gave the fol- 

 lowing account by a Mr. R. C. Jacobson, which is of interest as bear- 

 ing upon the possible date of fall. 



No. 2718.— Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 72, Art. 22 



59358—27 1 



