[6][7] There was no impact crater at the discovery site; researchers believe the meteorite landed in what is now Canada or Montana, and was transported as a glacial erratic to the Willamette Valley during the Missoula Floods at the end of the last Ice Age (~13,000 years ago).

[8] It has long been held sacred by indigenous peoples of the Willamette Valley, including the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (CTGR).

Most iron meteorites like Willamette have originated from the differentiated core of planetesimals or asteroids that collided with another object.

Willamette has a recrystallized structure with only traces of a medium Widmanstätten pattern; the result of a significant impact-heating event on the parent body.

The resulting flood involved up to 10 million cubic metres (350 million cubic feet) per second of water discharge, with large blocks of ice rafting down the Columbia River and the Willamette Valley at the end of the last Ice Age (~13,000 years ago).

[8] Some of these ice rafts included boulders (known as 'glacial erratic' by geologists) like the Willamette meteorite, which eventually sank in the flood waters and settled where they were found by humans.

Exposed to the elements for thousands of years, rainwater interacted with the mineral troilite, resulting in a form of sulfuric acid which slowly dissolved portions of the meteorite.

[12] In 2006, a 4.5-ounce (130 g), 7.5-inch (19 cm) piece of the meteorite, derived from the above noted crown section, was purchased at auction and was displayed at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, until it was returned to the CTGR on February 22, 2019.

[24][25][26] In early 2007, in response to a student's request, Representative John Lim introduced a resolution that would demand that the museum return the meteorite to Oregon.

[40][41] The only exact replica of the meteorite was created circa 2018 by Garrick Imatani, an artist and assistant professor at Southern Oregon University, through a process involving photogrammetry of the original at the American Museum of Natural History, via cooperation with the CTGR, and 3D printing.