[meteorite-list] Meteorite Found in 1902 is Still Blazing a Trail (Willamette Meteorite)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Sep 27 16:36:29 2004
Message-ID: <200409272022.NAA24549_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/rick_bella/index.ssf?/base/metro_southwest_news/109611395271981.xml

Meteorite found in 1902 is still blazing a trail
The Oregonian
September 27, 2004

Funny how a cold chunk of rock can spark so much life so long after it
crash-landed on Earth.

But 15,000 years after it punched through the atmosphere -- and 102
years after its discovery in West Linn -- the Willamette Meteorite has
inspired a grass-roots movement to celebrate its unique place in
astronomy, geology and history.

A recent fund-raiser by the West Linn Chamber of Commerce practically
overflowed from the tent set up at the Tualatin River Nursery & Coffee
House, grossing about $6,000.

"I think for the first time in the history of the world, there was a
party for a meteorite on a cloudy, rainy night," says Mark Buser, the
chamber's president-elect. "Everybody was freezing."

The money will go into a pot that will be used as seed money for a
multifaceted project planned to be as much about tourism as about
education and local pride. So far, the coffers hold about $13,500, but
that's just the beginning.

Of course, the chamber wants to retire the tired concrete meteorite
model that has been gathering moss at 14th Street and Willamette Falls
Drive since 1962. Plans call for installing a full-size bronze replica
in its place, with an interpretive display to explain the meteorite's
fantastic journey.

But the chamber, itself, is being reborn in this project.

For the first time, the chamber is seeking high visibility, no doubt an
asset when trying to promote local business. Riding piggyback on the
meteorite, the chamber is eyeing a historic building in the Willamette
District as its future headquarters. The building is slated to be
rebuilt into a retail mix that could include a chamber office and an
interpretive center for the meteorite.

Meanwhile, other ideas are spinning off the project, like the tail of a
comet.

Perry Gargano, the New York artist commissioned to make the bronze,
wants to issue a limited number of one-tenth-size models of the
meteorite. To hold down the weight and the cost, Gargano wants to
experiment with other materials that would mold into an accurate model.

But that's not all. Gargano has experience as a jeweler and is
considering how to interpret the meteorite in a line of baubles.

"Could you imagine meteorite earrings? Pendants? Pins?" asks Buser.

Buser also wants to establish a local chapter of the Ice Age Floods
Institute, a group dedicated to studying the ancient Missoula Floods
thought to have carried the Willamette Meteorite from its landing spot
in Canada.

And that's not to mention forging a partnership with the Cascadia
Meteorite Laboratory at Portland State University.

The Willamette Meteorite is on exhibit at the American Museum of Natural
History in New York, where it has been since 1906. Every once in a
while, someone raises the idea of bringing it back to West Linn.

But at this point, that's about as likely as being hit by rock falling
from the sky.

Some call it petty. Others call it a serious slight. Either way, Bill
Korach sees it as the call of duty.

Korach, Lake Oswego schools superintendent, is huddling with school
board members on ways to make the Lakeridge High School Pacers feel at
home when playing football at District Stadium.

The stadium is tucked into the Lake Oswego High School campus, and some
Lakeridge players feel like visitors when they play their "home" games
-- especially when they look up at big concrete letters saying "Lakers."

Korach, who previously met with the principals and football coaches at
both high schools, said the issue probably would go before student
governments and advisory committees in coming weeks.

"There are strong emotions here," Korach says. "And that's on both sides
of the lake."
Received on Mon 27 Sep 2004 04:22:54 PM PDT