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Thin Sections

6.35 grams.   Mesosiderite-A3/4

TKW 320 kg. Observed fall May 10, 1879, in Emmet County, Iowa.

Found at the arrow (green or red) on this map.

Shawn writes:

These metallic nodules are hard to come buy in collections and the majority of the nodules are at the Yale University Meteorite Collection. Beside the unique nature of the Esherville meteorite, the court case from the Forest City meteorite fall has also applied to a court battle of this meteorite on a property in Iowa. Below is an extract from a document I found some where on the internet about that case.

The largest piece of the meteor fell in a six-foot hole on the Sever Lee farm, two miles north of Estherville. On May11, eight young men of the neighborhood vainly attempted to raise it from the mud and water where it lay buried 14 feet below the surface. Lee's seeming indifference to the meteorite induced the boys to hire a well digger, George Osborn, to raise it. Weighing 437 pounds and measuring 27x22¾x15 inches, 'its fearful rough' black surface was broken with a metallic glitter. The lively interest manifest at Estherville led the farm boys to realize the commercial value of the meteorite. Loading it into a wagon, they set out across Minnesota, displaying a large sign that read: 'I am the Heavenly Meteor. I arrived May 10th at 5 o'clock. My weight is 437 pounds. From whence I came, nobody knows, but I am enroute for Chicago!' Hearing that their ownership was being questioned, the boys returned to Estherville, wrapped their treasure in quilts and buried it in Osborn's cornfield. Later, feeling secure in their ownership, they moved it to the home of one of the group, Chester Rewey. Charles N. Birge, an attorney from Keokuk, through Lee's temporary default in payment on his farm purchased from the railroad company, made claim to the land. On the strength of this, he obtained a writ of attachment on the meteorite, which permitted him to take it away from Rewey's farm. Later he sold it to the British Museum for a reputedly large sum. In the following October, the Lee's were deeded their farm by Birge.

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