Meteorites were first "discovered" in the mid-1800s in Canyon Diablo about 3 miles from Meteor Crater, and dealers started trading specimens in the 1890s. But, as is the case with much of North American history, Meteor Crater and almost certainly its iron meteorites were known to Native Americans long before European settlers arrived in Arizona.  While it has been reported that the area was once considered cursed by Native American peoples, the fall - which occurred 49,200 +/- 1,700 years ago - took place before human habitation in that region.  In 1903, a lawyer/mining engineer/geologist, Daniel Barringer, recognized the crater as a source of iron and nickel and initiated a search for the main mass which he presumed was below the crater floor.  He spent $600,000 over the next twenty years drilling dozens of holes in his futile search before his death in 1929. It was not until several decades later that the physics behind an impact of this magnitude at cosmic velocity were understood, at which point it became clear that the vast majority of the impacting mass had been vaporized almost instantly (much of which condensed into small spheroids before raining down around the crater). Meteor Crater is the best preserved impact crater on our planet.