S. W. MeCaUie—The Pitts Meteorite. 211 



Art. XVIII.— The Pitts Meteorite; by S. W. McCallie, 

 State Geologist of Georgia. 



The fall of the Pitts meteorite here described was the 

 most striking phenomenon of its kind heretofore observed 

 in the State of Georgia. The meteorite fell in a negro 

 settlement in the western part of Wilcox County near the 

 town of Pitts about 9 o'clock a. m. (Eastern time) April 

 20, 1921. At the time of the fall no clouds were in view 

 and the sun was shining brightly. It was seen as far 

 north as Sunny Side, in Henry County, 36 miles south of 

 Atlanta, and as far south as Moultrie, in Colquit County. 

 In addition to the above towns that appear to mark the 

 north and south limits of its visibility, it was also seen at 

 Camilla, Albany, Seville, Cordele, Hawkinsville, Perry, 

 Macon, and Alma. It was no doubt plainly visible over 

 an area of several thousand square miles, and could have 

 been distinctly seen by fully a quarter of a million people 

 had they been looking in the proper direction. 



My attention was first called to the occurrence by press 

 notices on April 21 and on the 22d I received a specimen 

 of the meteorite from Colonel W. H. Dorris, of Cordele, 

 Ga., accompanied by a short description of the phe- 

 nomena. On April 24 I visited Pitts, with a view of 

 securing at first hand all data possible concerning the 

 exact locality, the attending phenomena, etc. The citi- 

 zens of the town rendered invaluable service in securing 

 the information desired, and also obtained for me for 

 examination and study all of the fragments of the meteor- 

 ite except one, which specimen was later secured from the 

 owner by personal request of Governor Dorsey. Several 

 hours were spent in the vicinity of the fall interviewing 

 eyewitnesses of the phenomena and in making a diagram 

 showing the relative position at which the fragments 

 struck the ground. 



The Phenomena. 



The attendant phenomena witnessed by the observers of 

 the meteorite were similar to those noted in meteorite 

 falls in general and were as follows : 



(1) The rapidly moving fire ball was the first phenom- 

 enon that attracted the attention of the observers. It was 

 described by eyewitnesses at Albany as a rapidly moving 



