UPDATED 4/17/2013:
SEM Analysis Results of Metallic Sample
PHOTO OF ONE OF SAMPLES.
SLIDE SHOW OF PHOTOS & GOOGLE EARTH PHOTO OF “ALLEGED” CRASH SITE.
Result of Site Survey Conducted on Aug 29, 2013 (PDF)
Description: If this report is true, it could be the oldest “documented” UFO crash. Through local contacts I was put in touch with a gentleman (referred to as Mr. H.) who is a retired pilot and “treasure hunter” and resides in Dillon, MT. He knew the curator (Everett Johnson) of a museum in Dillon, MT. The curator is now deceased. Mr. H. obtained a diary of a gentleman named Tom Melton who managed the “Knotts Stage Station” south of Dillon in 1870. The diary was obtained to ascertain leads to potential locations of precious metals. An entry was made to the diary on August 14, 1870 where Mr. Melton said that a space craft crashed in a mountain valley south of Dillon. Apparently metallic debris can still be found at the alleged crash site. A site visit will be made when the weather becomes warmer. I hope to obtain some metallic samples and have them analyzed. Other data will be collected.
A Note of Interest: Apparently Mr. H. contacted a retired NASA employee that he knew in Idaho. A few days later he got a call from NASA. NASA was most interested in finding out the location of the crash. Mr. H. would not disclose the location. He received a total of 4 calls from NASA in one day. He didn’t answer the phone on the last 3 calls. Unfortunately the diary has been lost. Mr. H. stated that his wife threw away some his papers after his recent divorce. The papers included the diary.
Updated Information – March 2, 2013: A local geology student who is attending the University of Montana, Dillon Campus visited the site on March 2, 2013. He lives next door to Mr. H and obtained directions to the site. Subsequent to his site visit he called me as he got my name from Mr. H. He took several photos of the site (see above slide show). He was quite emphatic that there was nothing unusual about this site. He said that the site was a volcanic crater (termed volcanic caldera). He found and collected volcanic rock, orange lava, meteorite rocks, quartz and mining tailings at the site. There was no evidence of any crash debris. However, he thought that a few meteorite rocks could be at the site. Perhaps the “space craft” sighting could have been a meteor? The geology student does not plan to have any samples that he collected analyzed.
Updated Information – April 11, 2013: Recently Joan Bird provided a sample of “alleged” crash debris at the above site. A few tests have been conducted on this sample. Also the sample has been sent to a mineralogist who will use a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to determine the elemental composition of the sample. I did some preliminary analysis on the sample before sending it to the analyst. So far I have determined the following properties of the sample:
1. Not magnetic.
2. Does attract magnets (so is metallic) – nothing surprising here.
3. Does not conduct electricity.
4. Part of something that was manufactured.
5. Appears to have sustained damage due to heat and/or pressure.
6. Is not radioactive.
7. Density = 6,582 Kilograms/cubic meter
(This is less than Iron which has a density of 7,850 Kilograms/cubic meter)
(This is greater than Titanium which has a density of 4,500 Kilograms/cubic meter)
Sample is likely a metallic alloy. The composition of the alloy will be determined when SEM analysis is complete.
Updated Information – April 17, 2013:The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis has been received. The results of the analysis can be viewed at:
https://www.ufosnw.com/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/semanalysis.pdf
The analyst stated that the sample WAS NOT an unusual metallic alloy and did not recommend an isotopic ratio analysis.
Updated Information – April 18, 2013: A search of iron or ferrous Alloys shows that an iron and manganese (or tungsten) alloy is used in tool steel. This is suggestive that the fragment could be a piece from a mining tool. (The area has been mined and mine tailings have been found at the site.)
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The possible August 14, 1870, UFO crash or landing near Dillon, Montana (south of Townsend, Montana) and the reported UFO close contact and reported boarding of a hovering UFO about 35 miles east-northeast of Townsend during May of 1940 by 37-year-old miner Udo Wartena, might have been preliminary sightings prior to the nine UFOs seen by light mountain plane pilot Kenneth Arnold near Mount Rainier, Washington, on June 24, 1947. Towsend is about 477 miles due east of Mount Rainier. 1940 plus 7 years equals 1947 when UFOs first appeared en masse over America. This suggests periodic surveys of the Earth by UFOs being made (that the 1940 two UFO occupants told Udo did took place) that gradually increased until the extraordinary “wave” at Mount Rainier on June 24, 1947, and over America during June and July 1947 (over 800 UFO sightings nationwide). What is the ultimate purpose? (1) To bring advanced scientific information and knowledge concerning our solar system and other worlds to humanity. (2) To make known worldwide that UFOs are real and do exist. (3) If nuclear war broke about between battling earth-nations, UFOs might intervene to save humanity otherwise all flesh might be lost. (4) The biblical and huge (1500 miles long) space city called the New Jerusalem with celestial beings would descend to Earth to establish a Kingdom of God.
I found it interesting to actually see the three-inch metal fragment taken from the reported “crash” or landing site of a possible UFO near Dillon, Montana, on August 14, 1870. It could have been a meteor like the meteor that flew from Canada to Florida in March 2013. The meteors come from the wide debris space between the 4th planet Mars and the 5th planet Jupiter in our nine planet solar system. In his 1952 book THE COMING OF THE SAUCERS (co-authored with editor and publisher Raymond Palmer), light mountain plane pilot Kenneth Arnold said that he saw nine UFOs flying in a line about 5 miles long near Mount Rainier, Washington, June 24, 1947. Arnold said there was a wide space between UFO 4 and UFO 5. I felt that the wide space between the first 4 UFOs and the last 5 UFOs seen by Arnold could represent the wide space between the 4th planet Mars and the 5th planet Jupiter in our nine planet solar system. My theory suggested that the nine 1947 UFOs could represent a scale model of our nine planet solar system. In turn, this suggests an intelligent design by the nine 1947 UFOs and an intelligent Creator-Designer. Now out of print, I published two illustrated books concering these events and theories during 2005-2006: (1) PI AND THE GOLDEN SECTION: HOW ALIENS DESIGNED THE COSMOS. (2) THE INTELLIGENT MATHEMATICAL DESIGNS OVER THE GREAT PYRAMID QUADRANT.
The MUFON UFO CONFERENCE book published in 1997 printed an article by Australian UFO researcher Warren Aston. Aston said he visited Townsend, Montana, and read the typed and written notes of a 37-year-old miner named Udo Wartena. In early May of 1940 and near Townsend, Montana, Udo said he was digging a canal to get fresh water and noticed an object hovering in the clear sky. The object lowered a stairway and Udo went aboard and met two luminous beings with pure white hair, but looking young and strong who said they were over 600 to over 900 years old. The three talked in a friendly manner for two hours with the humanoids possibly using a language instrument to understand English and knew 500 languages. The two humanoids said they made surveys and kept watch over the Earth and its regressions and progress and explained to Udo how the UFO operated. They returned Udo to the ground, but told Udo to not talk about the visit because nobody in semi-rural Montana of May 1940 would understand what had taken place. Aston said Udo returned to the site several times with friends to take photos but the UFO never returned. Born in 1903 in the Netherlands and a returned Mormon missionary, Udo passed away at age 86 in 1989 in Oregon. An article I wrote on the May 1940 case was edited and published in the Townsend Star newspaper around Christmas of 1997 when I first read about the 1940 case. On March 1, 2013, I first read about the Dillon, Montana, UFO case of August 14, 1870. The 1940 case was 7 years prior to pilot Kenneth Arnold’s sighting of nine UFOs near Mount Rainier, Washington, June 24, 1947. On July 4, 1947, I saw a UFO over Seattle, Washington. I was a 14-year-old youth living in Helena, Montana, during May of 1940 but didn’t read about the nearby 1940 Townsend Udo case until 1997 and first heard about the 1870 Dillon, Montana, case on March 1, 2013, in Los Angeles California.
Kenneth:
Thanks very much for the information on the 1940 Townsend, MT case. That is the first that I have heard about it. I will be looking into the “alleged” crash near Dillon in a few weeks.