The Willamette Meteorite
A settler secretly dragged a 15-tonne iron meteorite across his neighbour's land, and ended up in court.
What was reported
The Willamette Meteorite is the largest meteorite ever found in North America, a mass of iron and nickel weighing about 15.5 tonnes. Long before settlers arrived, it was known to the Clackamas people, who called it Tomanowos and regarded it as a visitor from the sky with spiritual power.
In 1902 a settler, Ellis Hughes, found it on land owned by the Oregon Iron and Steel Company and spent about three months secretly hauling it to his own property. The company sued and won, and in 1906 it was sold and given to the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Explanations offered
It's an iron meteorite that probably landed farther north and was carried to Oregon by ice and the great floods at the end of the last Ice Age. Its deep pits formed as it weathered. Under an agreement made in 2000, members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde hold a private ceremony with it each year.
- When
- Found in 1902
- Where
- West Linn, Oregon, USA
- Witnesses
- Ellis Hughes, a settler, and the Clackamas people long before him
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.