Barringer Meteor Crater

Fifty thousand years ago an iron meteorite struck this plain and punched a hole nearly a mile wide and five hundred and sixty feet deep in about ten seconds. Daniel Barringer, a Philadelphia mining engineer, spent twenty-seven years drilling for the buried iron he was certain lay beneath it, dying in 1929 without ever finding the fortune that had mostly vaporized on impact. Geologist Eugene Shoemaker settled the question in 1960, proving the crater's origin with shock-formed minerals. It remains privately owned and startlingly, improbably intact after all that time.

What the plaque says

Barringer Meteor Crater has been designated a Registered Natural Landmark. Under the provisions of the Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935, this site possesses exceptional values in illustrating the natural history of the United States.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Winslow — 18 mi
  The town an Eagles lyric made famous — and the home of La Posada, the last great railroad hotel and Mary Colter's finest work, at the southern doorway to Hopi and Navajo country.
• Walnut Canyon National Monument — 26 mi
  Sinagua cliff dwellings in the limestone — the Hisatsinom

More markers nearby

• Boiler Plate 29A — steps away
• Toth Whispering Giant — 18 mi
• Standin' on the Corner Park — 18 mi
• A City in Motion: Modern Modes — 18 mi