08:25 AM PDT on Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Associated Press

WEST LINN, Ore. -- More than a century ago, a Welsh miner wandering the forested hills of West Linn found a 15-ton meteorite lodged in the earth.

The so-called "Willamette Meteorite." (File Photo)

The so-called "Willamette Meteorite," the largest space rock ever found in the U.S., went on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. But the rock's discoverer, Ellis Hughes, died broke and forgotten.

Fran Soder, 88, has spent the last two years trying to regain recognition for Hughes and the meteorite, which museum curators consider the most important of its kind.

"I feel terrible he's been maligned for so many years," Soder said. "He was viewed as nothing more than a thief."

Hughes found the Willamette Meteorite in 1902, less than a mile from his home on land owned by the long-defunct Oregon Iron & Steel Co.

When the company heard of the discovery, it sent an attorney to investigate, sued and won -- first in Clackamas County Circuit Court and later before the Oregon Supreme Court. Hughes was described as nothing more than a thief, who tried to hold on to what was not his.

Company officials brought the meteorite to the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, where a wealthy New York socialite purchased it for $26,000. It was moved to the American Museum of Natural History the following year.

Now the Willamette Meteorite, an iron-nickel boulder deposited in the Northwest by floods up to 15,000 years ago, is on display in the museum's Rose Center for Earth and Space. Upward of 5 million visitors yearly see and touch its rough, deeply pitted surface.

The meteorite is also revered by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, which produced evidence four years ago indicating that Clackamas Indians knew the meteorite as "Tomanowos," or "Heavenly Visitor." They even dipped their hunting arrows in water collected in its crevices for good luck.

The two sides reached a landmark settlement allowing the museum to keep the meteorite provided that tribal members hold annual ceremonial visits.

Soder hopes to bring the same recognition to West Linn, by commissioning a New York artist to create a full-size replica of the meteorite.

The West Linn Chamber of Commerce agrees and has begun a campaign to raise $25,000.

Soder said that future generations need to know the story of the space rock and its discoverer.

"Imagine it. Thrust out of an exploding planet, traveling at 60 miles per second at 9,000 degrees, spewing molten iron as it flies," she said. It's something I just get thrilled about."