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65 HS1 834228961 62 HQ 83894 Section 8
Page 43
43 / 217
LOGAN, UTAH JOLTED BY VIOLENT EXPLOSION AND GAPING CRATER
FOLLOWING MYSTERIOUS "STREAK OF LIGHT"IN SKY: First gueSS --a
meteorite, but as the evidence was assembled by foremost authorities,the
theory dissipated. Here's the story thanks to the help of Mrs. John German
of Woodscross,Utah who probed the Salt Lake Tribune files for the early facts
--before SILENCE!
produce the crater found west of here Sunday, and probing operations at the
scene have been discontinued,geologists said. In a 73-word statement,3 sci-
entists gave reasons why they ended their investigation, but it contained no
opinion on who or what made the hole,or how it was made.
"The statement,signed by J.Stewart Williams,professor of geology,UtahState
Agricultural College,Lincoln La Paz,director,Institute of Meteoritics, Uni-
versity of New Mexico and Clyde T.Hardy,USAC geology professor read:
'In the region extending from Clarkston south to Paradise, exhaustive interro-
gation of numerous persons who saw or heard the explosive phenomenon at
midnight on May l has been carried out. The testimony thus obtained and material
evidence recovered as a result of subsurface investigations at the site of the
explosion west of Logan have disclosed that the crater was not produced by a
And from the Tribune, May 5:"Dr.Lincoln La Paz spent his first full day
here,working with Dr.J.Stewart Williams and Dr.Clyde T.Hardy. On his
a 'whopper'if it contains a meteorite. They decided to place a frame around
the crater and cover it with wire mesh. Workers will stand on movable planks
and probe with a pipe.In this way they will know they have probed every place
possible under the mesh.
My recommendation is that we excavate until we find what made the hole,
said Dr. La Paz, who is credited with recovering the world's largest aerolite,
weighing more than one ton.
The incident occurred on May 1 bringing"500 phone calls"to the Logan City
Police Dept.Residents reported their houses "shaken'and TV viewers said
their reception was disturbed. A check made later with Hill Air Force Base
and Salt Lake City indicated no planes in the area for several hours. A war
veteran described the 16 ft.wide and 6 ft. deep hole as looking like a"bomb
crater." Sod was found scattered in all directions for more than l00 yards.
On Aug.31,'54,I wrote Dr.Clyde T.Hardygeologist who worked on the pro-
ject, asking if any substantial evidence as to its (the explosion's) source had
been uncovered. Following is Dr.Hardy's reply of Sept.11,1954:
"Reference is made to your letter of Aug.31 re. the explosion and crater west
of Logan. Although a fireball was reported by several people previous to the
ground explosion, I am personally convinced that they were confused. One es-
pecially competent observer describes a ground flash only and he was favorably
situated to see all aspects of the occurrence."
SignedClyde T.Hardy
Assoc.Prof.,Dept.Geology
Ref.File:Case 20)
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