Words can’t accurately describe a Canyon Diablo Meteorite fragments, and it’s far better if you find a picture. By looking at such a picture, you’ll probably find the Canyon Diablo Meteorite fragment to be sleek in appearance, with its natural coloring unique amongst meteorites. We can call most meteorites many things; “pretty” usually isn’t one of them. This isn’t the case with Canyon Diablo or its many fragments.
To date, the source of all Canyon Diablo fragments, that being the Canyon Diablo Meteorite itself, has not been found. The only indication that there ever might’ve been such a mass is Canyon Diablo’s massive 3kmX600ft impact crater, which is known as The Barringer Crater due to the Barringer Family that owns the land. The most common explanation for the lack of a source meteorite is that similar to the possibly meteorite of the Tunguska Event, it vaporized upon impact.
Without the largest mass of the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, much about it remains a mystery, so its weight and years on Earth are educated guesses. Canyon Diablo is classified as a category IAB-MG iron octahedrite meteorite, with the mineral kaemite and cohendrite being most prevalent in the makeup of a fragment. The Canyon Diablo Meteorite is estimated to have fallen 49,000 years ago and while it’s gathered fragments don’t add up to 30 tons, 30 tons is the estimated weight of what the Canyon Diablo meteorite would be in total weight.
It isn’t due to lack of trying that the largest mass hasn’t been found, as millions of dollars have been spent over the course of a century to find Canyon Diablo’s largest mass. While the search is generally abandoned now, if someone were to find this legendary mass, its selling price may be well into the millions…but they’d most likely have to share it with the Barringer Family.
Like its “West Coast Cousin”, the Willamette Meteorite, Canyon Diablo fragments were in America long before it was discovered and the early Native Americans were always aware of it. The Canyon Diablo Meteorite was not worshipped like the Willamette Meteorite was, but the Native Americans still used it to make both tools and weapons for hunting.
The first of Canyon Diablo’s masses were located in 1891 in what is now known as Coconino County, Arizona, and by 1903, the search for a large mass of Canyon Diablo would be the goal of treasure seekers and prospectors alike. Geologist and professional miner Daniel Barringer was the most notable of these prospectors and began buying up land so he could search for this large mass that would be sure to make him richer than he already was. Although many were skeptical that any large mass would ever be located, Barringer spent in excess of $600,000 on drilling equipment and manpower for over twenty years, finding only smaller masses of Canyon Diablo but never the large mass he was seeking. Unfortunately, Barringer died by 1929, never having achieved his dream of finding Canyon Diablo’s largest piece.
In 1953, geologist Clair Cameron Patterson came up with the theory that the age of the Earth itself could be determined by studying the age of meteorites. He used the Canyon Diablo meteorite to test this theory, and later scientists would all agree he was correct: planet Earth is considered to be 4.550 billion years old.
The Barringer Family has made some profit off of the Canyon Diablo Meteorite through turning the crater into an Arizona tourist spot and selling fragments to museums, such as Field Museum of Natural History. The Barringer Crater is no Grand Canyon, but it’s definitely worth seeing for those visiting or passing through Arizona.
Christopher L. Shelby, M.D.