Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-08-21
Another Western Wonder.
A FOSSIL PALM TREE IN CoLoRADo-HOw OIL
Is THE WORLD?

\ FoSslL PALM TREE IN COL0RADO-HOw OIL
Is THE WORLD?
The following is from the Denver City
NelcS Twenty-one miles south of Denver
lie the remains of palm tree preserved in
stone. 1t is on the hillside, looking down
upon Cherry Greek, and a hundred feet
or more above the level of the valley OF
that stream The soil is similar TO that Of
most Of the upland plain in Colorado, and
covered at present with thick crop OF
grass and weeds. Bunches of currant
bushes, laden with fruit, cluster about the
wooden rocks, and above, to the top of the
ridge and along its crest, are scrubby young
pines and few large trees. At the foot
OF the hill, three hundred yards to the
westward, passes the old stage road from
Denver to Santa Fe The traveller look
ing up could see a ledge or mass of rough
! looking rocks, rising ten or twelve feet
above the surface of the ground and about
| forty feet in length Camp-f fires have
| been built against it, and campers have
doubtless sought shelter from storm or
sun under its projecting front, little dream
| ing that they reclined in the shadow of
palm tree. The pupils of a school-house
near by have played about it many a day.
Last winter a hunter for curious sp ecimens
stumbled upon it and guessed its true char
acter. Specimens were brought to Den
yer, and pronounced by the best authorities
petrifed palm wood. But the mass was
reported so large that the story seemed
Incredible
\ careful examination reveals the fol-
lowing facts The monster tree evidently
grew where it lies, and there has been very
little change in the surface of the ground
at that point since its fall Its fall was
toward the north and across a narrow
tongue or spur of the hill, near the crest,
or 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, aud il has apparently rolled
about half over down the hill. La the
heart was either hollow or q mass OF de-
cayed wood, from four to six feet in diam
eter The upper side of the log has been
broken up by the action Of the elements
and frost destroying between one third
and one half its circumference, and the
fragments lie scattered about In huge
blocks The more than half that remains
intact Is a huge trough the surface of the
earth Is even with Its brim on the uphill
side and ten feet below ii on the down hill
side. As before stated, this section is
thirty-nine feet long. As near as can bo
determined without excavating the adjacent
earth the diameter of the tree at its base
is twenty-five feet. Midway of its length,
or twenty feet from the base, it is fifteen
feet
The second section Is twenty-onc feet
long, and evidently lies where 1t fell.
Striking square across the crest o. the
ridge the Immense weight almost buried
il in the earth Its outlines are hard 10
determine without digging, but at mid
length, or nifty feet from the stump, ii Is
certainly niue feet in diameter. The two
sections. as described measure Just fifty
feet Ia length. Above that point the body
Of the trees tell into a 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 AN this immense mass Of wood has
turned TO stone, hard and dinty as
porphyry. Some Of it looks like agate.
finely yeinod and de,icatcly tinted Other
with opa,ine lu-ter; some as white as the
driven snow, or with the polished surface
of eha.ccdony Portions Of the trunk
must have been rotten. for its stony re-
mains are honeycombcd and the cavities
filled with delicate crystals that sparkle
in the sunlight ike real diamonds Break
ing into the knots with heavy blows OF the
-ledge hammer reveals miniature caves
and grottoes glittoring with stalactities and
Staiacmitcs of real crystal Specimens ofI
ot the bark can be chippcd off, lookin. As
natural, doubtless, as when Its own green
leaves waved in the breeze and Darwins /
inchoate men gamboIed among their giant
stems
Ii is useless to speculate upon the time
when that giant Of the forest fourishcd of
the hundreds of thousands Of years during
when a torrid sun daily kissed its shining /
leaves of its fall and immersion in the sill /
cious bath that changed its every fibre to
flint. 1t is history in stone, telling ofI
changes of the condition and climate ofI
this part Of the world that may well make /
one shiyer If he expects 10 stop here fifty /
or hundred thousand years longer. /
Meantime it can supply material for the
walls Of q courthouse, window-sills and /
caps for all of Denver, or center-tables |
tops for the Western States. 1t is the /
very bigge st thing-in stone-and among
trees it takes the palm.