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201

Canyon Diablo,AZ - Coconino County - July 15, 1928 - Meteor Crater Exploration & Mining Company Stoc

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Canyon Diablo,AZ - Coconino County - July 15, 1928 - Meteor Crater Exploration & Mining Company Stoc
Incorporated in Delaware in 1925. Cert. P200, issued to Ledyard Heckscher for 10 shares in 1928. Signed by president Quincy A. Shaw and treasurer Brandon Barringer. Uncancelled. Printer - Franklin Lee Division ABN. 8 x 12.

The company formed in 1925 to explore and mine meteoric (sic) metals which are believed to be contained in a meteorite. Property was located at the site of a 4200 foot wide crater made by a meteorite, estimated to have weighed 10 million tons. Fragments of the meteorite assayed at 90% iron and 7% nickel which led D. M. Barringer, a Boston entrepreneur, to sink a 1600 foot shaft near the center of the crater in an attempt to locate the main body of the meteorite. The shaft encountered a heavy flow of water at 650ft., requiring advanced pumping equipment. Whether the main body will ever be found is an enigma. The shaft is located at the bottom of the crater and is still visible from the rim today. The ground had previously been operated by the probably defunct Meteor (sic.- should read Crater) MC, a subsidiary of U.S.S.R. & MC. (Mines Handbook, 1931, p.369).

The following account is from Norton, 1998, Rocks from Space. Although known for centuries by local Indians, the crater was first discovered by whites around 1870 and the first written account followed a year later. In the 1880s sheepherders tried to sell some of the meteorite fragments found on the surface, thinking they were silver. In 1891 a prospector sent a sample to a mining company who passed it on to A. E. Foote, a Philadelphia mineral dealer. Foote immediately recognized the material as meteoritic and within a short time, left for Arizona to visit the site. Incredibly, he didn't recognize the crater's origin and its relation to the nickel-iron fragments lying nearby on the surface. Foote published an article on his findings that caught the attention of G. K. Gilbert, chief geologist of the USGS. Gilbert sent Willard D. Johnson to the site, probably looking for evidence to support his hypothesis of meteor impact versus volcanic origin for lunar craters. Johnson determined the crater originated from volcanic steam explosion. Not satisfied with this explanation, Gilbert visited the site himself, but also drew the same conclusion, publishing his results in 1896. In 1902, Daniel Moreau Barringer, a lawyer, geologist and mining engineer from Philadelphia saw the economic potential for mining a huge mass of nearly pure iron and the following year, filed a claim on the property without even having visited the site. Upon his first visit in 1905, he drilled a series of test holes and encountered fractured and pulverized rock and fragments of iron oxide containing nickel to a depth of 500 ft. At 1300 ft. he encountered undisturbed rock.

A decade later, Barringer secured funding for more extensive exploration and in 1920 began drilling again in the rim of the crater where, based on his examination of disruption of the wall rocks around the crater rim, he felt the main mass was located. Unfortunately, however, the national attention given the site and the ongoing exploration drew the attention of several astronomers who concluded the meteorite likely disintegrated upon impact, and the likelihood of finding a large body of nickel-iron was remote. These announcements discouraged Barringer's backers, who were reluctant to invest further in the project. His last round of drilling was completed in 1928, but the stock market crash of 1929 ended further exploration. Barringer died the following year. The property is still owned by the Barringer family, but is under the management of Meteor Crater Enterprises which operates the museum and tourist center at the site. Very fine.

The following notes are from the Princeton University website on the Barringer Family Papers in its collection:

Daniel Moreau Barringer (1860-1928) is perhaps best known for his work with the Meteor Crater in Arizona. After graduating from Princeton University in 1879 and then from law school at University of Pennsylvania in 1882, Barringer began to study geology and minermineralogyst at Harvard University and then at the University of Virginia. In the early 1890s Barringer put his geology and minermineralogyls to work as he entered the mining business. It was after his mining career took off that he became aware of the crater in Arizona that would later make him famous. Before Barringer stepped in, the Meteor Crater was known as "Coon Mountain." Barringer proposed the theory that Coon Mountain was actually caused by the collision of meteoric material, most likely a small comet, with the earth. After proposing his theory Barringer founded a variety of mining, exploration, and iron companies in order to further explore the crater, which he studied in depth for a large portion of his remaining career. His theory has proven to be correct.

Brandon Barringer (b. 1899) has led a busy career as an investment advisor and Chartered Financial Analyst, working for many corporations and institutions. After graduating from Princeton University in 1921, he joined the First Pennsylvania Company for Banking and Trusts, serving as Vice President for Trust Investments from 1933 to his departure from the company in 1949. He then began a more concentrated association with the Curtis Publishing Company, publishers of The Saturday Evening Post and other magazines. Barringer worked for Curtis until 1962, having served as a Director and Treasurer. He also served as President of the Barringer Crater Company and the East Texas Iron Company, in addition to acting as a director of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, Bantam Books, and the New York and Pennsylvania Company. He was a longtime member of the Finance Committee of the Wellington Fund.

Brandon Barringer has also been active in many civic and scientific institutions, often serving as a financial advisor, trustee or manager. These organizations include the University of Pennsylvania Museum, Jefferson Medical College, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute, the Nature Conservancy, The National Mental Health Association, the United Fund, and the Meteoritical Society, among others. He participated in archaeological expeditions to Ireland and Libya, and has maintained active interests in such subjects as economics, politics, geology, meteoritics, and anthropology.

The collection consists of correspondence, documents, ledgers, photographs of the Meteor Crater (Ariz.) site, and printed matter of Barringer (Princeton University Class of 1879). The correspondence contains letters which deal with scientific and business activities in mining and meteorology, including those of several companies which Barringer founded or developed, such as the Hanover Bessemer Iron and Copper Company, El Palmarito Leasing Company, the Texas Iron Association, and the Meteor Crater Exploration & Mining Company (general manager, George M. Calvocorresses, a major correspondent). The collection reflects Barringer’s accomplishment in being the first to advance the theory that Meteor Crater was caused by the fall of a meteoric cluster, probably a small comet. There are also letters by fellow college classmate Woodrow Wilson, whose correspondence indicates that Barringer was not only a friend but also a personal adviser on mining and geological matters. In addition, the correspondence includes letters by Theodore Roosevelt, Owen Wister, General Leonard Wood, and Elihu Thomson. [Ref: Barringer Family Papers, 1817-1979. arks.princeton.edu/ark:]
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