[meteorite-list] THE BELLY RIVER METEORITE - new information

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Feb 9 17:43:26 2005
Message-ID: <20050209224324.1506.qmail_at_web51707.mail.yahoo.com>

Here is a "Meteorite finding yarn" that I found on the
Internet. It was originally in the Journal of the
Royal Astronmical Society of Canada (JRASC).
               <http://rasc.ca/>
I thought I'd contribute this to the List, not just
for archival purposes, but because these real-life
stories seem to be favored reading. Enjoy. --Bob V.

DISCOVERY OF THE BELLY RIVER METEORITE:
NEW INFORMATION

By Boyd Wettlaufer
and Anthony Whyte
Edmonton Centre
(Received: June 15, 2004; revised August 9, 2004)

Abstract.
Details concerning the discovery of the Belly River,
Alberta meteorite, published by LaPaz (1953) in his
preliminary note, require correction. The 7900 g H6
chondrite was not discovered as a result of an
aircraft forced landing, nor was it found east of the
Belly River at approximately longitude 113° 00´W and
latitude 49° 30´N. The correct location of the find is
longitude 113° 29´ 22½W and latitude 49° 39´ 44½N.

Lincoln LaPaz of the Institute of Meteoritics
(University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico)
provided the first description of the Belly River,
Alberta meteorite in his Preliminary Note
(LaPaz 1953):

"In the winter of 1943-4, a R.C.A.F. plane made a
forced landing on the eastern side of and near to the
Belly River in southern Alberta, Canada, at a point
approximately in longitude W. 113° 00´ and latitude N.
49° 30´.
Chief Photographic Officer B. Wettlaufer was one of
those aboard the plane who set out on foot to scout
out the area in which the plane had been forced to
land. In the course of his reconnaissance, he chanced
upon a dark, reddish-brown rock exhibiting such a
remarkably pitted and sculptured surface that he
picked it up and lugged it all the way back to the
plane, although it weighed in excess of 17 lbs. And
his return hike was made in a near blizzard with winds
of such force that he was sometimes thrown off his
feet…"

The reality was somewhat less dramatic. One of us
(Wettlaufer) was an instructor in aerial photography
at the RCAF training station at Pierce, near Fort
Macleod, Alberta during the 1943-1944 period.
My job was to train student airmen in photography. I
would take up four students at a time in an Anson
aircraft and assign them a number of targets to
photograph — a farmer's barn, an elevator, a church
steeple, etc., so I flew over every part of the Fort
Macleod area.

During one of these flights I spotted some tipi rings
on the east bank of an old meander of the Oldman River
and that weekend my wife and I drove to near the site
to see if it was of native or RCMP (Royal Canadian
Mounted Police) origin. We parked on the road (Highway
3) just north of the boundary line of the Peigan
Indian Reserve a few kilometres south of Fort Macleod.


There was a big wind blowing, so my wife stayed in the
car while I went looking. I had a walk of about 500
metres, checked out the tipi rings and started back
across the farmer's plowed field. The farmer had
stones off the field piled in a couple of piles that I
checked for any native artifacts. I found no
artifacts, but did find a very interesting stone with
a rusty iron appearance and pockmarked surface. It was
quite heavy for its size (about 25- to 30-cm long
and 15-cm thick)and I recognized it as a meteorite.
(LaPaz (1953) gave its mass as 7900 g and it was later
classified as an H6 chondrite.) I struggled to carry
it back to the car against the wind for a hundred
metres; gave up and dropped the meteorite; then,
realizing its scientific value, picked it up again and
finally made it back to the car.

I kept the meteorite with me through several more RCAF
postings — Portage la Prairie, Montreal, Ottawa, and
Edmonton. After leaving the service I moved with my
family and meteorite to Albuquerque, New Mexico in
1946, graduating from the University of New Mexico as
an archaeologist in 1949. During this time I met Dr.
Lincoln LaPaz of the Institute of Meteoritics (IOM)
and sold the meteorite to him with the proviso that
the IOM share it with the Geological Survey of Canada
in Ottawa. With the aid of topographical maps (Canada
NTS maps, 1:50000 scale, sheets 82 H/12 (Brocket) and
82 H/11; Fort Macleod) provided by the second author,
Wettlaufer was able, in 2004, to retrace the route of
his trek and reconstruct the events leading to his
discovery of the Belly River meteorite sixty years
ago. Wettlaufer's retraced path follows the right
(eastern) edge of map 82 H/12 and ends on the left
(western)edge of map 82 H/11.

LaPaz's published location is down in the right bottom
(southeast) corner of map 82 H/11. The correct
location of the find is longitude 113° 29´ 22½W,
latitude 49° 39´ 44½N, east of the Oldman River. In
the system of land descriptions on the Canadian
prairies, the farmer's field is identified as NW 1/4,
Section 20, Township 8, Range 26, west of the Fourth
Meridian. This location is 40 km northwest of the
location given by LaPaz. Although the name Belly River
is inappropriate it has been in use since 1953 and was
accepted by the Meteoritical Bulletin (no. 8, Moscow,
1958). The authors have been advised by the Bulletin
that, in the interest of avoiding further confusion,
the name will not be changed.

Researchers should note the revised location of the
fall as it has implications for possible paired falls.

References:
LaPaz, L. 1953, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 1,
106

Boyd Wettlaufer

Anthony Whyte

Boyd Wettlaufer was born in Asquith, Saskatchewan. He
joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1938 and was
stationed in Alberta when he discovered the Belly
River meteorite. He subsequently attended the
University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, graduating as
an archaeologist. His work at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo
Jump in Alberta would lead eventually to its
designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.
In 2004 the Governor General of Canada announced the
appointment of Boyd Wettlaufer to the Order of Canada
for "his groundbreaking archaeological work in western
Canada," no mention being made of his meteorite
discovery. Now a Member of the Order of
Canada, the 90-year old Wettlaufer lives in Victoria,
BC.

Anthony Whyte, a graduate of the University of
Alberta, is a life member of the Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada and a Past-Secretary and
Past-President of the Edmonton Centre. He is a
backyard observer and a solar eclipse chaser with 17
minutes of totality. He is the author of a book on
Pluto and is presently writing a book on the
meteorites
of Alberta. He lives in Edmonton.
Received on Wed 09 Feb 2005 05:43:24 PM PST