It is a singular fact that recent investigations seem to have proved
that an event of this kind actually happened in North America --
perhaps not longer than a thousand or two thousand years ago. The
scene of the supposed catastrophe is in northern central Arizona, at
Coon Butte, where there is a nearly circular crater in the middle of a
circular elevation or small mountain. The crater is somewhat over four
thousand feet in diameter, and the surrounding rim, formed of upturned
strata and ejected rock fragments, rises at its highest point one
hundred and sixty feet above the plain. The crater is about six
hundred feet in depth -- that is, from the rim to the visible floor or
bottom of the crater. There is no evidence that volcanic action has
ever taken place in the immediate neighborhood of Coon Butte. The rock
in which the crater has been made is composed of horizontal sandstone
and limestone strata. Between three hundred and four hundred million
tons of rock fragments have been detached, and a large portion hurled
by some cause out of the crater. These fragments lie concentrically
distributed around the crater, and in large measure form the elevation
known as Coon Butte. The region has been famous for nearly twenty
years on account of the masses of meteoric iron found scattered about
and known as the ``Canyon Diablo'' meteorites.
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