28 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 
‘The finders at first supposed that they had come upon a ledge of solid 
iron, but the meteoritic character of the mass was soon ascertained. 
Later one of the prospectors removed the meteorite to his own ranch 
three-quarters of a mile distant, but the owners of the land on which it 
had been found instituted suit for its recovery, and the contest was 
carried to the supreme court of the State before the finder relinquished 
his claim. ‘The specimen was received at the Museum in April, 1906. 
‘The most striking characteristic of Willamette, next to its size, is the 
series of hollows and deep pits which indent its surface. ‘The broad 
shallow hollows on the front side, ‘‘ brustseite,”’ (side now turned toward 
the wall) were probably caused by friction against the atmosphere and 
consequent melting and flowage of the iron during the flight of the meteo- 
rite through the air. ‘The deep pot-like pits on the rear side (the side 
now facing the center of the Foyer) are most probably due to rusting 
while the meteorite was lying in the ground where it fell, and they seem 
to have had their origin in the decomposition of spheroidal nodules of 
troilite. Note also the cylindrical holes which penetrate deeply into the 
mass from both sides. These probably began with the decomposition 
of rod-like masses of troilite. In addition to these holes and pits the 
surface of the mass is indented with small shallow depressions which 
also seem to be a feature of the decomposition of the iron. 
A fractured face shows Willamette to be remarkable for its coarse 
granular texture, the grains being bounded by almost definite planes 
suggesting crystals. A polished and etched surface shows rather broad 
Widmanstiitten lines. Chemical analysis shows that the meteorite 
contains about 91.55 per cent iron, 8.09 per cent nickel and a small 
amount of cobalt, phosphorus and sulphur. 
CANYON DIABLO. 
(Siderite. ) 
Canyon Diablo is a siderite which is popularly famous chiefly from 
the fact that it contains diamonds. ‘This gem stone has been definitely 
proven to occur in only two meteorites, the other being a Russian fall, 
although many masses are known to contain carbon in the form of a soft 
