Name: MAYDAY

The place of discovery: Latitude 39° 28' 28" N, Longitude 96° 55.9'W. near a pond on a farm about two miles south-west of Mayday, Riley County, Kansas, USA.

Date of discovery:  FOUND, Ju1y 1955, identified July 10, 1956.

Class and type: STONE, black chondrite.

The number of separate specimens: 2, (However, it is the opinion of Mr. W.S. Houston and E.P. Henderson that it is s fragment of a larger mass that was broken off before it fell). It measures 10" x 8" x 6'', A fragment 2" x 1.5" x 1" was also found.

Total weight: After some slices were removed the known weight is 6,905 grams.

The circumstances of the discovery: Sometime in July 1955, when Mr. Roberts was visiting his farm pond which lies a half mile back of the house he noticed a stone sticking out of the aground just at the top of the bank. Curious, because it seemed a different color fromn the local rocks, he dug it out. It wasn't especially heavy. The original weight was taken but is now lost, but at present, after cutting some 6,906 grams remain. It is obviously a fragment off a larger piece, broken on impact, or at any rate near enough to the ground so that no secondary crust formed. Only about a third of the surface shows the original crust.

The chondrite has also obviously been in the ground for a long time. The broken surface is the same reddish color as the crust area, and the crust has no black on it at all.

Main mass is in the Kansas State College, Manhatten, Kansas. About 5 grams are in the U.S. National Museum.

Source: 1. "The Great Plains Observer", editor W. S. Houston, volum 1, number 5, dated October 1956, and 2. A letter written by E.P. Henderson to E.L. Krinov dated August 1, 1957.