PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



Vol. 4. pp. 137-148 PLATES 13-18. MaRCH 24, 1904. 



CO 



THE WILLAMETTE METEORITE. J^'BRakv 



By Henry A. Ward. ^,,^ ^*^ 



(Presented before the Academy, March 14, 1904.) ""ikUEiV 



This most interesting meteorite, noble in size and wonderful in 

 physical features, was found near the border of Clackamas County, 

 Oregon, in the autumn of 1902. At this point in its course the Willa- 

 mette River, 80 miles south of its junction with the Columbia, runs 

 between high banks of sedimentary rocks. At Oregon City, 16 miles 

 south of Portland, these banks come as cliffs down close to the river, 

 which on the western side they follow southward for three and one- 

 half miles to the town of Willamette. This meteorite having been found 

 two miles from this town (to north-west) I have given it the name, 

 as above, of Willamette Meteorite. Its exact locality is Lat. 45° 22' 

 N, Long. 122° 35* W. The region immediately surrounding is a 

 series of hills, distant foot hills of the Cascade Range, with their 

 steeply sloping sides cut into by streamlets flowing into the 

 Willamette. One of these streams is the Tualitin. On a hill- 

 side, three miles above the mouth of the Tualitin, fell, apparently 

 centuries ago, the Willamette siderite, the third largest iron meteor- 

 ite in the world. The region is a wild one, covered by a primeval 

 forest of pines and birch, little visited and largely inaccessible. 

 Here, on the spur of the hill in a small level area, lay the great 

 iron mass, lightly buried in soil and the carpet of accumulated vege- 

 table debris. In the valley, half a mile away, there lives with his 

 family, a humble, intelligent Welshman, Mr. Ellis Hughes. He 

 had formerly worked in Australian mines. He had with him in 

 1902, a prospector named Dale, and together they roamed over the 

 hills seeking minerals. One day a blow on a little rock projecting 

 from the soil showed it to be metal. They dug and found its 

 great dimensions ; also that it was iron. It was on land which 

 they learned belonged to a land company. For some months they 

 kept the find a secret, hoping to buy the land on which the "mine" 



13, Proc. Roch. Acad. Science, Vol. 4, March 24, 1904. 



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