The writer first visited the mountain in the summer of 1901 and
it was the greatest surprise of his six weeks' trip sightseeing
in northern Arizona where are found many natural wonders. He was
fortunate enough to find a three pound meteorite within five
minutes after arriving on the rim, which Mr. Volz said was the
first specimen found by anyone in over four years.
Professor G. K. Gilbert of the United States Geological Survey
visited the mountain several years ago to investigate the
phenomenon and, if possible, to determine its origin by
scientific test. He gave the results of his researches in a very
able and comprehensive address,[3] delivered before the
Geological Society of Washington, D.C. The existing conditions
did not seem to fit his theories, and he concluded his work
without arriving at any definite conclusion.
[3] The Origin of Hypotheses. 1895.
After disposing of several hypotheses as being incompetent to
prove the origin of the mountain he decided to try the magnetic
test. He assumed that if such a meteorite was buried there the
large mass of metallic iron must indicate its presence by
magnetic attraction. By means of the latest scientific apparatus
he conducted an elaborate magnetic experiment which gave only
negative results.
He discussed at length the various hypotheses which might explain
the origin of the crater and concluded his notable address as
follows:
"Still another contribution to the subject, while it does not
increase the number of hypotheses, is nevertheless important in
that it tends to diminish the weight of the magnetic evidence and
thus to reopen the question which Mr. Baker and I supposed we had
settled. Our fellow-member, Mr. Edwin E. Howell, through whose
hands much of the meteoric iron had passed, points out that each
of the iron masses, great and small, is in itself a complete
individual. They have none of the characters that would be found
if they had been broken one from another, and yet, as they are
all of one type and all reached the earth within a small
district, it must be supposed that they were originally connected
in some way.
"Reasoning by analogy from the characters of other meteoric
bodies, he infers that the irons were all included in a large
mass of some different material, either crystalline rock, such as
constitutes the class of meteorites called 'stony,' or else a
compound of iron and sulphur, similar to certain nodules
discovered inside the iron masses when sawn in two. Neither of
these materials is so enduring as iron, and the fact that they
are not now found on the plain does not prove their original
absence. Moreover, the plain is strewn in the vicinity of the
crater with bits of limonite, a mineral frequently produced by
the action of air and water on iron sulphides, and this material
is much more abundant than the iron. If it be true that the iron
masses were thus imbedded, like plums in an astral pudding, the
hypothetic buried star might have great size and yet only small
power to attract the magnetic needle. Mr. Howell also proposes a
qualification of the test by volumes, suggesting that some of the
rocks beneath the buried star might have been condensed by the
shock so as to occupy less space.
"These considerations are eminently pertinent to the study of the
crater and will find appropriate place in any comprehensive
discussion of its origin; but the fact which is peculiarly worthy
of note at the present time is their ability to unsettle a
conclusion that was beginning to feel itself secure. This
illustrates the tentative nature not only of the hypotheses of
science, but of what science calls its results.
"The method of hypotheses, and that method is the method of
science, founds its explanations of nature wholly on observed
facts, and its results are ever subject to the limitations
imposed by imperfect observation. However grand, however widely
accepted, however useful its conclusions, none is so sure that it
cannot be called into question by a newly discovered fact. In
the domain of the world's knowledge there is no infallibility."
After Prof. Gilbert had finished his experiments, Mr. Volz tried
some of his own along the same line. He found upon trial that
the meteorites in his possession were non-magnetic, or,
practically so. If these, being pieces of the larger meteorite
which was buried in the hole, were non-magnetic, all of it must
be non-magnetic, which would account for the failure of the
needle to act or manifest any magnetic attraction in the greater
test.
Mr. Volz also made another interesting discovery in this same
connection. All over the meteorite zone are scattered about
small pieces of iron which he calls "iron shale." It is
analogous to the true meteorite, but is "burnt" or "dead." He
regards these bits of iron as dead sparks from a celestial forge,
which fell from the meteorite as it blazed through the heavens.
In experimenting with the stuff he found that it was not only
highly magnetic, but also possessed polarity in a marked degree;
and was entirely different from the true meteorite. Here was a
curiosity, indeed; a small, insignificant and unattractive stone
possessed of strong magnetic polarity, a property of electricity
that is as mysterious and incomprehensible as is electricity
itself.
Another peculiarity of Canon Diablo meteorite is that it contains
diamonds. When the meteorite was first discovered by a Mexican
sheep herder he supposed that he had found a large piece of
silver, because of its great weight and luster, but he was soon
informed of his mistake. Not long afterwards a white prospector
who heard of the discovery undertook to use it to his own
advantage, by claiming that he had found a mine of pure iron,
which he offered for sale.
