502 H. L. FAIRCHILD OBIGIN OF METEOR CRATER, ARIZONA 



pearance is a very pertinent fact, and no limit can be placed on the 

 amount of this material which has been washed away from the slopes of 

 the crater rim. The flour-like silica is quite impervious to the short 

 rains of that arid region, and the stormwash by the infrequent but power- 

 ful downpours carries the fine and soluble materials far out on the plain. 

 In a thousand years an enormous amount of the C. D. 0. irons might be 

 removed. The fragments now fovmd on the surface are probably only a 

 few of the more resistant fragments or those lately exjDosed by the erosion 

 of the slopes.- If the C. D. 0. irons belong to the same fall as the C. D. 

 irons, then the latter probably represent merely a few unoxidizable frag- 

 ments from the enormous mass of the wrecked meteor, and a part of the 

 wreck may still lie in the crater. 



In conversation with the writer many years ago Mr E. E. Howell said 

 that in his opinion the Canyon Diablo siderites were the most interesting 

 of all known meteorites, because of their number, composition and struc- 

 ture, contents and associations. This judgment has been justified. He 

 also believed that the meteor made the crater and might be partly buried 

 in its depths. He seems to have been correct in the view as to the 

 genesis of the crater, and may yet prove so as to the disposition of the 

 meteor. 



In a few months we shall probabl}^ know more of this matter, as the 

 explorers are imbued with a persistent and commendable scientific curi- 

 osity and intend to continue probing the crater until the drill either finds 

 the meteorite or proves its absence in large quantity. It should be said, 

 however, that failure to find vast amount of the meteoric material in the 

 crater will not be conclusive proof against the meteoric or impact theory 

 of the production of the crater. 



Namb 



The earliest mention in print, by Doctor Foote, of the crater was under 

 the name "Coon Mountain," but the term crater was commonly used in 

 his description, and indeed in most of the writings of later authors. 



The name used by Doctor Gilbert was "Coon Mountain" or "Coon 

 Butte." 



The San Francisco mountain sheet of the U. S. Geological Survey map 

 designates the feature as "Coon Mt." 



Mr Barringer used for his article the title "Coon Mountain and its 

 Crater," while Mr Tilghman used the title "Coon Butte." 



The name Coon butte has come into general use, perhaps because of 

 its brevity, euphony, and its non-commital character, but it is wholly 



