Dr. John Evans was a geologist-explorer employed by the U. S. Government to conduct a survey of the Washington and Oregon Territories between 1851 and 1856. His final trip, made in 1856, was to Coos Bay and Port Orford on the southern Oregon coast. He collected specimens on this trip.

Dr. Charles T. Jackson, a Boston chemist, discovered the meteorite among the specimens collected by Dr. Evans. Dr. Jackson brought the meteorite to the attention of the Boston Society of Natural History at its October 5, 1859 meeting. The proceeding of the Society published in 1861 were the first public notice of the find, noting that: "....among some specimens recently received from Oregon Territory was a piece of meteorite containing crystals of olivine (and) yielding 9 percent of nickel. It was identical in appearance, and probably in composition, with the Pallas meteorite of Siberia;" noting that it was "...not improbable that pieces may have fallen in the same meteoric shower in both countries as has happened in other instances through less widely separated."

In two later meetings of the Society, Jackson read from letters Evans had written him from Washington. The first Evans letter, read November 2, 1859, stated:

"... the meteorite recently found in that territory is identical to the Pallas meteorite of Siberia."

The second, read November 16, 1859, revealed:

"...(that) the mass, about 3 feet of which was above ground, the mountains, about 40 miles from Port Orford, on the Pacific, and accessible by mules> (And that) he hoped the society, as a body and individually, would take speedy and proper measures to secure its disposition by the Government in the Smithsonian Institution."

The next mention of the meteorite was in 1960. W. K. Haidinger, authority on meteorites in Vienna, Austria, reported to the Vienna Academy that Mr. Nathanial Holmes of St. Louis had informed him about the great meteorite Dr. John Evans found partly embedded in the earth was larger than the Siberian Pallas iron and gave the locality as:

"It lies in the Rogue River Mountains, not very far from Port Orford on the Pacific, about in 42E 35E North Latitude and 123E to 124E Longitude."

Most of the useful information about the Port Orford meteorite can be credited to Dr. Jackson’s efforts to get data from Dr. Evans. After identifying this specimen, he corresponded with Evans in Washington concerning his find.

In an 1861 biographical sketch of Evans, Jackson said:

"One of the most interesting scientific discoveries made by Dr. John Evans during his explorations in Oregon, was that of an enormous piece of meteoric iron containing an abundance of chrysolite or olivine embedded in it. During the Indian war in that region, Doctor Evans ascended a mountain, one of the Rogue River Range which is situated thirty to forty miles from Port Orford, a village and port of entry on the Pacific coast, and obtained some pieces of metallic iron, which he broke off from a mass projecting from the grass-covered soil on the slope of the mountain. He was not aware of its meteoric nature until the chemical analysis was made, but the singularity of its appearance caused him to observe closely its situation, so that when his attention was called to the subject he readily remembered the position, form, appearance, and magnitude of the mass and manifested the most lively interest in procuring it for Government collection in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, a duty I doubt not he would have been commissioned to perform had his life been spared. Dr. Evans had passed away in 1861.

Jackson related that "By the aid of information contained in letters to me perhaps some traveler in those regions may be able to find this very interesting meteorite, and I shall, therefore, transcribe what he says of it. In reply to my inquiry, whether he felt confident he could again find this mass of meteoritic iron, he says in his letter of May 1, 1860:

"There cannot be the least difficulty in my finding the meteorite. The western face of Bald Mountain, where it is situated, is, as its name indicates, bare of timber, a grassy slope, without projecting rocks in the immediate vicinity of the meteorite. The mountain is a prominent landmark, seen for long distances on the ocean, as it is higher than any of the surrounding mountains. It would doubtless be best and most economical to make a preliminary visit to the locality, accompanied only by the two voyagers alluded to in my last letter." The two were of the Canadian Frenchmen employed by the Hudson Bay Company.

Apparently Evans thought about the ownership of this meteorite, for, after consulting the General Land Office and the Indian Bureau in Washington, he concluded the title was vested in the Indians, the land not yet having been ceded to the United States. Evans continues, according to Jackson, by saying:

"As to the cost of transportation of the meteorite to Port Orford, it is difficult to make an accurate estimate. It is situated in a mountainous region, thirty to thirty-five miles from the coast, and the only access to it is by mountain trails. It might be removed in pieces from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds in weight on pack mules, and accurate measurements made of the whole mass without great expense, say from $1,200 to $1,500. But to remove it entirely would either be impractical or involve great expense, unless indeed a river which passes the base of the mountain (Sixes River), and empties into the Pacific, should prove navigable for a raft of sufficient size for its transportation. There is water enough, but it is no doubt much obstructed by fallen timber, and may have rapids, it would be difficult to pass over with such a heavy load. In either case of transportation my first duty would be to explore this river."

In another, undated letter, to Jackson, Evans said:

"As to the dimensions of the meteorite I cannot speak with certainty, as no measurements were made at the time. But my recollection is that four or five feet projected from the surface of the mountain, that is was the same number of feet in width, and perhaps three or four feet in length; but it is no doubt deeply buried in the earth, as the country is of mountainous, generally heavily timbered, and subject to washings in the rains and melting snows of the spring, so that in a few years these actions might cover up a large portion of it...."

In another letter, again not dated, Evans said:

"The locality is about forty miles from Port Orford, in the mountains which rise almost directly from the coast, only accessible by pack train. But each mule might carry three hundred pounds of weight, and if required, make several trips, to secure the whole mass, which might be desirable, and be adjusted together afterwards. But I should suppose that the institution, which might furnish the funds, would desire a portion of the mass."

Jackson said that "every possible exertion was made in Congress with the departments at Washington, to induce the government to take measures for procuring this very valuable meteorite, and to cause it placed in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution, where is could easily be examined by scientific men, but Dr. Evans’ death and the present unhappy state (Civil War) of the country seem to prevent the realization for the present, of this enterprise."

When reading the portion of Evans’ log describing his travels near Port Orford, one should keep several possibilities in mind before forming any opinion about the reliability of the information given.

(1) In reading the existing copy of Evan’s log one is impressed with the fact that nothing is said about seeing or collecting anything like a meteorite. The omission suggests that there may be a missing notebook with some comments about the rock specimens Evans collected on this trip. Such a record logically would remain with the specimens, or be turned over to the office from which Dr. Evans obtained support on his trip.

If it is assumed that Dr. Evans saw the meteorite, and failed to record it in the existing log, it does not prove he did not record the information elsewhere. If no other notebook of Dr. Evans’ is ever found, then the location of the point of discovery of this meteorite may always remain in this confused state. The Evans’ log is not very informative. The existing log somewhat resembles an outline Evans possibly might have been preparing to use in writing a readable story about his travels.

(2) Dr. Evans’ log, together with comments in his letters to Jackson, are all we have to go on to relocate the position of the Port Orford meteorite. No one has established whether or not the handwritten log is the original copy and, as explained below, the majority of it is not in the handwriting of Dr. Evans. It could be a log transcribed by some member of the party.

The log is an unbound, hand-written document, measuring 12 ½ by 8 inches. Its appearance indicates that someone was transcribing a previous document and had difficulty deciphering portions of it. Surely an experienced explorer, such as Dr. Evans, would not carry unbound papers into the field to keep notes on.

To better appraise the reliability of this document the Library of Congress supplied samples of Dr. Evan’s handwriting of about this same year. Four pages were obtained and used as samples of Dr. Evan’s handwriting of about this same year. Four pages were obtained and used as samples of Dr. Evans’ script and were compared with 14 pages from the Evans log. Incidentally, five of the 14 pages were descriptions of his travels from Port Orford across the Rogue River Mountains.

The handwritten material was taken to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s laboratories for study. Their report states that "the majority of the handwriting of Evans’ log in the Smithsonian’s library was not written by the writer or writers of the specimen supplied by the Library of Congress as a sample of Dr. Evans’ handwriting.

This finding does not disqualify the authenticity of the records but it evaluates them more accurately. The persons transcribing a previous record perhaps were instructed to omit the sections dealing with the specimens or there may be another record book with the date about Evans’ collections.

(3) Dr. Evans may have taken a side trip from Port Orford prior to the journey described in the log. If the meteorite was obtained at that time, he might purposely have omitted if from the log.

(4) The meteorite, as Evans suggested, may have been covered by a landslide since it was seen.

(5) Port Orford, between 1850 and 1860, was a small seaport. The chief interest of the inhabitants was the development of the country where most folks were prospectors looking for outcrops of gold or other precious metal. Prospectors were working in the area before Evans got there and had one of them located the meteorite, he either would have assumed it was iron ore or a precious metal, like silver. These men were keen enough to realize that iron ore in this remote place would have little value, but a silver strike would mean a fortune. Hence, the finder of such a specimen would probably think he had an outcrop worth investigating before his return to civilization to find out what he had. Such a prospector might have given someone in Port Orford a piece which later was given to Evans.

During the summer of 1939 Henderson hiked the trails from Port Orford across the Rogue River Mountains, using Evans’ log to try to find the meteorite..

"The ridges on which we are traveling must be at least 1,000 to 1,200 feet above the ocean. Camped at a small spring surrounded by hills. The grass at least two feet high; along our route for the last six miles all through the tall fir, cedar and hemlock trees, the ground was covered with this luxuriant growth of grass, mingles with wild flowers. Distance traveled eighteen miles.

"The trail follows the ridges as far as practicable and consequently the course from their direction is a winding one. Almost all the higher ground had rock in place, cropping out and crowning a considerable portion. Talcose slate seemed to be the prevailing rock, and the other slates along the shore of the ocean; also a light colored sandstone, and the ashy covered rock seen on the beach. Outbursts of granite basalt were seen rising to a considerable elevation. Stopped and let our horses feed and rest. Saw marks and trails of elk along the prairie, but not the animal itself. On almost every elevation ridge or mountain spur were seen exposures of rock just enumerated. Also two or three small creeks, forks of Sixes River, camped at 5 p.m. on a small creek tributary of Salmon River.(Evans camped after 8 hours on the trail and estimated his day’s journey to be 21 miles. He averaged 2 miles per hour for the day, rather good time for rough country and with some time out for observations. On this date or the next, Evans should have been about 40 miles from Port Orford, so if his 40 miles estimate is significant, he may be near the location he reported to Jackson for the meteorite. There are bald mountains in the area near here but none is visible from Port Orford or the sea.)

On January 21, 1993, The World, Coos Bay ran a story under the headline, "Port Orford Meteorite proved Hoax". In that story, three men, Roy S. Clark, Museum of Natural History scientist, University of Western Ontario historian Howard Plotkin and Technical University of Denmark metallurgist V.F. Buchwald, claim that the meteorite specimen allegedly found southern Oregon was actually a piece of the Imilac meteorite shower discovered in Chile in 1820.

Plotkin suggested that Evans was "ill-trained for his scientific field work." Plotkin also suggests that Evans created the hoax for financial gain.

You can make your choice. The meteorite, if it exists, would make a person a multimillionaire. If it doesn’t exist, well, there is nothing the matter with exercise.