METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 491 



wire rope to roll up on it, as his horse traveled around, as a winch. Then he fashioned an ingenious ear with log body 

 timbers and sections of a tree trunk for wheels, also some heavy double-sheaved pulleys. By wearisome blocking up 

 and leverage he succeeded in capsizing the great mass directly upon the car and lashed it there securely. Then he 

 stretched out his 100-foot hauling wire rope, attached one end of it to the car and the other to his staked-down capstan 

 and started his horse around. The great mass moved slowly for the ground was soft and, even with boards put under 

 them and constantly changed, the wheels sank deep into the mud. Some days they moved little more than the length 

 of the car, on others they covered 10, 20, and one day 50 yards. After three months of almost incessant toil the giant 

 meteorite reached Hughes's own land, where it now rests. 



The Hughes, father and son, had worked unobserved for all these months in the dense forest. Their nearest 

 neighbors, a mile away, do not seem to have been aware of what they were doing. But when the great find was 

 announced people came trooping up the little valley, first from near-by Willamette, then from Oregon City, and then 

 from Portland to see the celestial wonder. News soon came to the Portland Land Company and they promptly claimed 

 the meteorite as having been taken from their land. Hughes refused to give up possession, which latter he believes 

 is a strong point in the matter. So a suit at law has commenced with all prospects of a stoutly fought, legal battle. The 

 suit should come off during the spring of 1904, but it may be delayed. Public opinion is divided as to the probable 

 outcome, but sympathy lies mainly with Hughes, the finder of the mass, who is the only man in common life or among 

 scientific collectors on record as having run away with a 14-ton meteorite. 



The dimensions and shape of the mass are given by Ward as follows: 



Extreme length, 10 feet 3.5 inches. Extreme breadth across base, 7 feet. Extreme vertical height from base to 

 summit, 4 feet. Total circumference of the base, 25 feet 4 inches. The upper dome part is circular in form; from the 

 middle point to the base it expands before and behind into an oval form. * * * But regarding the mass at a right 

 angle to this, which gives an end view, the sides of the central dome part are almost vertical, with very little enlarge- 

 ment or flaring. 



The meteorite has thus the form of a huge abbreviated cone, having its base on two sides so prolonged as to 

 produce an oval, whose long diameter is one-third greater than its transverse diameter. There are no angular out- 

 lines to the mass as a whole; all, whether in vertical or horizontal section, is bounded by broad curves. 



The mass lay buried in the ground with the point downwards. This position, with the apex or cone buried below, 

 is unquestionably the one which it held when it passed through the earth's atmosphere. Its front face in its flight 

 was the apex of the cone. All features of the surface harmonize with this view. The upper half of this apex is devoid 

 of any strise such as frequently occur on the front surface of a stone meteorite. Nor are there here any well-defined 

 pittings. If these have ever existed they are now completely effaced. This part of ttie great mass seems to have 

 undergone but one change since it entered our atmosphere and was subjected to the friction of the air. The denuding 

 influence of this friction may well be considered to have induced the generally round and even character of the upper 

 cone, though no fine polish or striation remains. The one effect noticeable on all this area is the presence of little 

 spots or patches from 1 to 3 or 4 cm. in length, of material which seems more dense and of a faintly deeper shade than 

 that of the main mass. These appear over all the surfaces in question, sprinkled indiscriminately, without order or 

 alignment. They stand slightly elevated above the level of the surface, and might be called scabs. I am disposed 

 to regard them as flows of melted matter, which were once more widespread or contiuuous, but now show simply as 

 patches. 



As to the lower half of the cone, there is first a large border 18 or 20 inches wide, entirely around the mass, which 

 is quite covered with the characteristic pittings, which are well defined and continuous but shallow. They are usually 

 oval in form, with a greater diameter of from 3 to 8 cm. They appear to have no distinct form or alignment; and they 

 meet and merge into one another with only a fuller, slightly pronounced crest between them. 



A second feature in this lower half of the great cone is the series of round borelioles, sprinkled irregularly all 

 around it and more generally near the lower border. These holes, which are so noticeable a feature of the Canon Diablo 

 siderite, as also in the Tazewell and Youndegin (Australian) masses, are beautifully sharp and well defined. They 

 are usually nearly circular in section, 1 to 3 inches in diameter, and from 3 to 4 or more inches in depth. These holes, 

 notably those of the smaller diameter, are sometimes materially larger in their inner portions than they are at their 

 outer orifice. This feature, observable also in the Canon Diablo masses, seems to militate strongly, if not conclusively, 

 against any theory of their having been caused by the boring action of the air in the meteorite's downward flight. 

 They are undoubtedly due to the presence of lengthened cylindrical nodules of troilite or some other sulphuret which 

 have subsequently decomposed and have generally dropped out. An interesting specimen in the Ward-Coonley 

 collection is a mass, some 15 inches in diameter, of Canon Diablo iron with such a circular hole, its orifice being open 

 while all the lower part is occupied by the still remaining troilite nodule. In the Willamette iron no less than nine 

 of these holes pierce the mass from its upper surface quite through to the base below. 



The third feature of this forward face of the iron is one which now makes it the most remarkable meteorite known 

 to science. This is the existence of deep, broadly open basins and broad furrows or channels cutting down deeply 

 into the mass. The basins are distributed alike over the lower cone area. The furrows reach vertically quite across 

 this belt to the lower edge or base of the mass, whose border they break with deep channeling. These deep bowllike 

 cavities and furrows exist more upon one side of the mass than upon the other. One of these cavities measured 19 

 inches long by 14 inches wide and 5 inches deep. Others, some of which from their form might be called basins, 

 others caverns, were of various diameters at the mouth, 5 to 10 inches and from 4 to 12 inches in depth. In all cases, 



