Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Volume III, 1863-1867Various
Science
Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Volume III, 1863-1867
Various
California Academy of Sciences -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
In concluding this notice, the following statement is given of
all that is known of the size and position of the masses of
meteoric iron which have been noticed by various travelers in
Arizona and the adjacent portions of Mexico and New Mexico.
_In the Madera range_, “Sierra de la Madera,” between Tucson
and Tubac, “enormous masses of pure iron, some of which were
transported to Tucson, and for many years were to be seen in
the Plaza of that Presidio.” Francisco Velasco, in W. F. Nye’s
Translation of his work on Sonora, p. 146, published at San
Francisco in 1861.—Two of these masses have been brought to
this city, the one weighing 1,600, the other 632 pounds; the
question arises, how many more are left in the Sierra Madera?
To this, no answer can be given at present.
“At the _Hacienda de Concepcion_, on the road from Chihuahua to
Rio Florida,” a mass of meteoric iron estimated to weigh 3,853
lbs.—Bartlett. The exact locality of this hacienda I have not
been able to ascertain.
“_Ninety miles north-west of Santa Rosa_,” supposed to be
the Santa Rosa in the province of Coahuila, in Mexico, lat.
28°, long. 101° 30’; Ass’t A. Schott, of the Mexican Boundary
Survey, reports a large number of masses of meteoric iron; see
page 34, Part II, of Major Emory’s Report. This statement needs
confirmation.
“_Sancha Estate, some fifty or sixty miles from Santa Rosa, in
the north of Coahuila._” This is the locality of the mass of
meteoric iron, weighing 252 pounds, and now in the collection
of the Smithsonian Institution, figured, described and analyzed
by Professor Smith; see Smithsonian Report for 1855, p. 154,
and Silliman’s Journal, (2) XIX, 160. Professor Smith says,
“various accounts were given of the precise locality, but none
seemed very satisfactory.” It is not unlikely that this mass is
from the same locality mentioned by Mr. Schott.
“_Near the South-western edge of the Balson de Mapimi, on the
route to the Mines of Parral_, there is a meteorite, near the
road, of not less than a ton weight;” on the authority of Mr.
Weidner, of the mines of Freiberg, as stated by Professor Smith
(Smithsonian Report for 1855, page 155), Mapimi is in lon. 103°
30’; lat. 25° 45’ nearly.
“_At the Hacienda of Venagas_, there was (1827) a piece of iron
that would make a cylinder, one yard in length, with a diameter
of ten inches. It was said to have been brought from the
mountains near the Hacienda.” Professor Smith, on the authority
of Dr. Berlandier (Smithsonian Report for 1855, p. 155), makes
the above statement; the exact locality of the Hacienda I have
been unable to ascertain; it is probably nearly in lat. 24°,
lon. 101°.
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