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No platinum, but still a treasure

Anthony Glass was an American trader who was lured westward by tales of treasure in the unexplored territory known as Texas. In 1808 he led an expedition that saw a big treasure -- one that had a big influence on the politics and science of the day.

Glass and his party traded with the Wichita Indians along the Red River. And they became the first white men to see a large meteorite that was known as the "medicine rock" because it was revered by several tribes. Glass chipped off a piece and brought it back to his home base in Louisiana.

The fragment caused a sensation. Many thought it was platinum, and two teams set out to fetch the rest of the meteorite. The first to arrive couldn't move the one-ton meteorite, though, so it was left for the second team, which traded guns and blankets for it.

But this second team had trouble, too. The meteorite was hard to move. What's more, Spain claimed the territory, and a Spanish military force set out to stop the trespassers.

After a year of effort, though, they finally arrived in Louisiana. The men turned down several offers for the meteorite and shipped it to New York, where a chemist found that it was made not of platinum, but of iron.

The explorers didn't profit from the meteorite, which was named the Texas Iron. But their foray prompted Spain to step up its patrols. And the meteorite was one of the first to receive extensive scientific review. Today, it's on display at the Peabody Museum at Yale University.



Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2004

Air Date: December 1, 2004

A long road for a revered meteorite

Every meteorite follows a long and winding path before it reaches Earth. But some of them follow more fascinating paths after they get here.

An example is the Wichita meteorite -- a 320-pound piece of iron and nickel that traveled around Texas during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Because such chunks of metal are rare, the meteorite was revered by several Texas Indian tribes, including the Osage, Wichita, and Comanche. One trader reported that the Comanche rubbed their bodies against it to cure illnesses. There are also reports that Comanche leaders held their most important meetings around the meteorite in a secret cave until the cave collapsed. The Comanche spent two years digging it out and moving it to a rock ledge, where artist George Catlin may have painted a picture of it in 1834.

Traders pilfered the rock in 1856 and moved it to San Antonio. Later it was moved to the Texas Capitol in Austin. When the building burned down in 1881, the meteorite was pulled from the ashes and stored in a warehouse.

It was part of the Texas exhibition at the St. Louis world's fair in 1904, and the Texas centennial celebration in Austin in 1936.

A few pieces of the Wichita meteorite have been chipped off and sent to scientists and museums around the world. But the bulk of the meteorite -- about 225 pounds of it -- is on display at the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin.



Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2004

Air Date: December 2, 2004

Comanches Giving Arrows