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#318411
                                       February 14, 1977

Dr. Colin Pearson
Curator of Meteorites
Western Australia Museum
Francis Street
Perth, Western Australia 6000

Dear Colin,

    I am sorry to be a day later than expected in getting these exchange specimens off to you. Later the same day I last wrote to you, we found out that there had been a meteorite fall on January 31. A fireball accompanied by intense detonations occurred over Louisville (population 400,000), Kentucky, at 3:30 in the afternoon. Residents were startled, and at least one chimney was shaken, but no one became concerned enough to try and figure out what had happened. The next day a roofer extracted a 1 kg rock out of the roof of a house and insisted that it could only be a meteorite. Since then three more specimens have been recovered, and a search for additional specimens is underway. All four of the specimens damaged structures and were found within the city. There must be more out there to be found.

    Getting back to the matter at hand, a group of exchange specimens for your consideration is being sent to you by air freight. They are as follows:

Allende, Mexico             USNM-4657               2310g
Allende, Mexico             USNM-5688                311g
Murray, Kentucky            USNM-1769                 43g
Paragould, Arkansas         USNM-2286                423g
Cumberland Falls, Kentucky  USNM- 604                127g
Abee, Canada                USNM-2096                 88g
Esterville, Iowa            USNM-1025                111g
Esterville, Iowa            USNM-1025                 28g

The large Allende specimen is a fine exhibit piece. It was found 2 km south of Valle de Allende and was collected by Jack R. Hyde on our field trip of May-June 1969. It was undoubtedly recovered very soon