After discovering that small meteors made of iron had been found at or near the rim of the crater, Barringer was convinced that only a large iron meteor could be the cause of such a geologic phenomenon. Acting more like a businessman or miner trying to stake a claim, and before doing any studies on the potential masses and energies that would have to be involved in such an impact, Barringer seized the opportunity to form company with the intent of mining the iron from the presumed meteor for commercial profit. Without actually visiting the crater, Barringer formed the Standard Iron Company and sought mining permits.
For nearly the next thirty years, Barringer became the sword and shield of often-rancorous scientific warfare regarding the origin of the crater. In bitter irony, Barringer won the scientific battle, the proof eventually accumulated that the crater resulted from a meteor impact, but lost his financial gamble. In the end, the meteor that caused the impact proved much smaller than hypothesized by either Gilbert or Barringer, and the nature of the impact obliterative. On the heels of these finding in 1929, Barringer died of a heart attack.
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