THE WILLAMETTE METEORITE 109 



Mr. Hughes was willing to abandon his efforts to retain the 

 specimen. Title to the great iron was established late in the 

 summer of 1905, and the mass was removed at once to the Mines 

 Building of the Lewis and Clark Exposition at Portland, where 

 it was an object of great attention from thousands of visitors 

 during the closing weeks of the fair. Early in February of the 

 present year the specimen was acquired for this Museum. 



In general form Willamette may be described as a broad- 

 based, low cone. When discovered the blunt apex of this cone 

 was buried deepest in the ground, and the flatter, oval base was 

 uppermost. Although the mass lay so long in the ground as 

 to lose entirely its original exterior through oxidation, the prob- 

 abilities are that the conical side of the mass was forward in its 

 journey through space and our atmosphere. It is the side known 

 to scientists as the "brustseite" of the meteorite, but it would be 

 popularly called the front. The characteristics of the meteorite 

 have been fully described by Henry A. Ward, ^ but the attention 

 of the scientific public was first called to the mass, under the 

 name of " Clackamas Meteoric Iron," by George F. Kunz. 



The most striking characteristic of Willamette next to its 

 size is the series of hollows and deep pits which indent its surface. 

 These are of four kinds : broad shallow hollows on the front side, 

 (the side now turned toward the wall) ; deep, pot-like pits with 

 undercut edges on the rear side of the mass (the side now facing 

 the center of the Foyer) ; cylindrical holes like the bore holes of 

 Canyon Diablo; small shallow depressions which are found over 

 most of the surface. 



The broad shallow hollows on the front side (brustseite) of 

 the meteorite form basins and furrows or channels w^hich are 

 most numerous in the half of the cone farthest away from the 

 apex. Some of these show an approximately radial orientation 

 with the deeper ends away from the apex of the cone, and several 

 look as if they might have been made with a tool like a gigantic 

 "countersink." The broad portion of these pits is generally 

 uphill from the usually pointed bottom. The most prominent 

 of the basins is a double heart-shaped cavity, 18 inches long, 



'Proc. Roch. Acad. Sci., Vol. iv, pp. 137-148, pi. 13-18. March 24, 1904. 

 2 Science, N. S., Vol. xix, p. 108. January 15, 1904. 



