ufo entry burn over salt lake city, seen from as far as los angeles to the west and denver to the east. pointy intake valve shape

On a Thursday evening in 1970 or 1971 about 6 pm as it had just gotten dark here in Los Angeles. My family was taking out the trashcans for Friday morning’s pickup.  My mom yelled for everybody to come quick. My sister, father and I came running.   In the sky there was a fireball that looked like an Apollo doing a reentry burn.  But it was coming out of the north.  Once the entry flair diminished you could see the object.  It looked like a huge intake valve with the small end pointed.   It traversed the sky toward the south it was still traveling at speed and went out of sight over the edge of the horizon.  There were glowing spots on the back (the large part of the object)  |)=======>     My mom told me according to new paper reports that it entered the atmosphere over salt lake city and was seen both from Denver and Los Angeles. She also described newspaper reports that thousands of people had seen it and that it landed in the South Atlantic Ocean.  She also said the papers and TV covered it Friday and Saturday but not a word on Sunday or thereafter.
Source of report indicates that date of the event is approximate.  PD