Some other details of interest from the Dublin Progress story need to be elucidated. The description of “peculiar stones and pieces of metal, all of a leaden color, presenting much the appearance of the lava thrown out by volcanic eruptions” is intriguing. The slag description is similar to other crash site artifacts, such as the one in the crash near Chihuahua in 1974. Metal slag appearing to be molten and cooled aluminum was discovered. Should samples of the leaden color metal ever be obtained from the mill site (and they probably still would be around somewhere under the soil surface), they could be tested to determine elemental content, pyrolytic history, and alloy composition.

The Progress witness described the craft first as a meteor and then as a cotton bale suspended in the air. It should also be noted that cotton bales in 1891 were much larger than they are today. Various sizes were used anywhere from as large as 10 x 10 x 10 feet to much smaller or larger, but usually big and bulky. A cotton compactor was patented in 1891 to make the standard bale about 55 inches by 22 inches by 33 inches and about 500 pounds known to farmers later, but this type compacter could not have been working in Dublin at that time the same year it was patented. The craft in question was probably several feet wide and long like the larger bales at the time.

Cotton Bale in Houston, Texas, Gin, 1939 (Library of Congress)

Texas cotton bales around turn of 20th century

The mill in Dublin still stands intact at the crash site. The railroad and depot is no longer on the west side of the mill, but is now replaced by small livestock field and a small creek. Sackville Street on the maps attached is now called West Park Street. The Dublin museum curators say that the mill is schedule for restoration and preservation as soon as funds are obtained. Should there be any excavation of the soil around the mill, it would be a good time to get out the metal detector and look for slag or unusual artifacts. I guess I’ll dig mine out of the garage and be ready. Perhaps some wealthy benefactor might consider giving a restoration grant with first archeological rights to whatever is dug up from the area. Manuscript fragments in the strange language described would long be dissolved, but may be in someone’s attic chest around Dublin. In any case, we can all glean from these events that the area around Erath County has been a source of UFO activity for at least 117 years or more. We’ll keep our eyes on the skies around here.

Miller Grist Mill site from northern view.

Texas cotton bales around turn of 20th century

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