Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-08-03
AN ANTEDILUYflE.
A Relic Of the Days Before the Serpent
Tempted-The Latest and Greatest of
Gsol0pafy0ss wonders.

/ n
Tempted-The Latest and Greatest o
Colorado,s Wonders.
II sht From the Denver News, J uiy q.
/, Twenty-one miles southeast Of Denver
| Lie the remains Of palm tree preserved il
stone. 1t is ON the hillside, looking down
upon Cherry creek, and hundred feet OF
more above the level of the valley of that
4 stream. The soil is similar to that of most
of the upland plain in Colorado, and cover
ed at present with thick crop of grass and
weeds. Bunches of currant bushes, laden
| With fritz; cltster abott tbs wooden
rocks, and above, to the top of the
/ ridge and along its crest are scrubby young
pines and few large trees. Atthe foot of
the hill, three hundred yards to the west
ward, passes the old stage road from Dem
yer to Santa Fe. The traveller, looking I'D,
could see ledge or moss of rough looking
rocks rising ten or twelve feet above the
surface or the ground and about forty feet
In length. Camp fires have been built against
it and campers have doubtless sought shell
ter from storm and sun under its pro-
jecting front, little dreaming that they re.
clined in the shadow of palm tree. The
pupils of schoolhouse near by have PLAYED
about it many day. Last winter hunter
AO4 Oul opONl1nOuo oOuLuUiCO UPON lI.
and guessed it's true character. Specimens
were brought TO Denver and pronounced by
the best authorities petrified palm wood.
But the mass was reported so large that the
story seemed incredible.
A careful examination reveals the follow
ing facts: The monster tree evidently grew
where 1t lies, and there has been very little
change in the surface of the ground at that
point since its fall. Its fan was toward the
north and across narrow tongue or spu-
of the hill, near the crest, on the south side
of which it stood. The unevenness of the
ground caused the part of the trunk
now visible to break in two pieces. The
first, or butt section, is thirty-nine feet
long, and it has apparently rolled about half
over, down the hill. In the heart was
either hollow or mass of decayed wood,
from four to six feet in diameter. The
upper side of the log has been broken up
by the action Of the elements and frost, de-
stroying between one-third aud one-half its
circumference, and the fragments lie scat
tered about in huge blocks. The more
than half that remains intact is huge
trough; the surface of the earth even with
its brim on the UP hill side and ten feet be-
low it on the down hill side. As before
stated this section is thirty-nine feet long.
As near as can be determined without ex-
cayating the adjacent earth, the diameter of
the tree at the base is twenty-five feet.
Midway of its length, or twenty-three feet
from the base, it is fifteen feet.
The second section is twenty-one feet long
and evidently lies where it fell. Striking
square across the crest of the ridge tie i'm |
mense weight almost buried it in the earth. |
Its outlines are hard to determine without |
digging, but at mid-length, or fifty feet from |
the stump, it is GER ainly nine feet in diam |
eter. The two sections, as described, mea-
sure just sixty feet in length. Above that |
point the body of the tree fell into gulch |
which has been since nearly filed up by the !
wash from the hills above. Digging would |
doubtless reveal much more of the trunk.
And all this immense mass of wood has |
turned to stone, hard and flinty as porphy- |
~. Some Of it looks like agate, finely |
Veined and delicately tinted. Other with |
Opsline lustre; some as white as the driven |
snow, or with the polished surface of chal- |
cedOny. Portions of the trunk must have |
been rotten, for its stony remains are honey |
,ombed and the cavities filed with delicate |
crystals that sparkle in the SUNLIGHT like |
real diamonds. Breaking into the knots |
with heavy blows of the sedge hammer,
reveals miniature caves and grottoes gilt
Jering with stalacities and stalagmites of |
-eal crystal. Specimens of the bark can be
shipped of, looking as natural, doubtless,
IS when its own green leaves waved in the |
breeze and Darwin's inchoate man gam
Doled among their giant stems.
1t is useless to speculate upon the time |
when that giant of the forest flourished of |
he hundreds of thousands of years during /
which torrid sun daily kissed its shining |
caves; of its fall and immersion in the |
'ilicious bath that changed its every fibre
o flint 1t is history in stone, telling
If changes in the condition aud /
Innate of this part of the world that may
veil make one SILVER if he expects to
top here fifty or hundred thousand years
onger. Meantime it can supply material
or the walls of a court house: window sills
md caps for all of Denver, or centre table
ops for the western States. It is the very |
biggest thing-in stone, and among trees it
axes the palm. Call at the NelcS Office, or
It Rev. Hamilton's, and see specimens.