At about 8:15 AM on Sunday May 21, 1871 a third Maine meteorite fell at Searsmont in Waldo County. The following is a description of the event reported to a local paper which is quoted by Shepard (1871).
"There was first heard an explosion, like the report of a heavy gun, followed by a rushing sound resembling the escape of steam from a boiler. The sound seemed to come from the south, and to move northwardly. The stone fell in the field of Mr. Bean, the flying earth being seen by Mrs. Buck, who lives near. The hole that it made was soon found and the stone dug out. It was quite hot and so much broken as to be removed only in pieces. The outside shows plainly the effect of melting heat. It struck with such force as to penetrate the hard soil to a depth of two feet."
The total weight of the known specimens of the Searsmont meteorite is about 2 pounds. The largest single piece is an 803.4 g specimen at Arizona State University. A chemical analysis was performed by J. Lawrence Smith, a prominent American meteorite expert of the 19th century. He separated the metal with a magnet and found it to contain 90.02% iron, 9.05% nickel and 0.43% cobalt. This places the Searsmont meteorite in the high iron or H-group of chondrites.
