The American Museum Journal 



^'o'- ^■'- JULY, 1906. 



No. 3 



THE WILLAMETTE METEORITE. 



|HE Museum is particularly fortunate in having 

 secured, as a gift from Mrs. William E. Dodge, 

 the Willamette Meteorite, the largest meteorite 

 which has been found in the United States and 

 one of the three largest known. The great hol- 

 lows and deep pits which characterize the surface of the mass 

 combme with its enormous size to make this the most remark- 

 able and interesting meteorite known. 



Willamette is a siderite, or a mass composed of an alloy of 

 iron and nickel, and its chief dimensions are: length, 10 feet; 

 height, 6 feet 6 inches; thickness, 4 feet 3 inches; weight, as de- 

 termined upon the railroad scales at Portland, Oregon, 31,107 

 pounds. About 100 pounds can safely be added to this' weight 

 for portions removed and carried away between its discovery 

 and the -time of its acquisition by the Museum, so that it is 

 withm bounds to say that the weight of the mass when found 

 was at least 31,200 pounds, or about 15.6 tons. 



All the gi-eat meteorites that are comparable with Wil- 

 lamette in size and weight are likewise siderites, or irons. 

 They are Ahnighito, weighing 36.5 tons, Bacubirito, estimated 

 at about 27.5 tons, the larger Chupaderos, 15.5 tons, San Gre- 

 gorio, II. I tons, the smaller Chupaderos, 6.9 tons, and Bemdego, 

 5.9 tons. Willamette's dimensions exceed those of the larger 

 Chupaderos, and it therefore ranks as the third known meteorite 

 in both size and weight. 



Ahnighito, or "The Tent," is the largest of the three iron 

 meteorites brought to New York from Cape York, Greenland by 

 Commander Robert E. Peary, U.S.N., and with its associates, 

 the "Woman" (6,000 pounds) and the "Dog" (1,100 pounds), 

 IS at this Museum. Bacubirito lies where it fell ages ago near the 

 spot where now is located the Httle village in the State of Sinaloa, 

 Mexico, which gives it its name. The two Chupaderos irons! 



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