The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-08-08

nlgn unOuSdn0 fctJ, edtlDg away the
wood, and finally when it got under
the fodder, the weight of the
stuff broke the crust in and down it
went into regular pit Of fire. tell
you it was an unsartin place te live on and
I was thankful enough that it didn't get
under the house We'd never have
known what hurt US; we'd just melted
down quick. Yes, there's heaps Of
places in the swamp district that's
eaten out Jest the same way. The fire
will run along for miles, sometimes,
and then crop out where it's least ex-
pected. / knew of one case where a
party of shinglers left their hut one
morning and when they came back it
was gone and fourth Of an acre with
it II it had happened twelve hours
later they'd have gone in. In the Della
ware swamp you will find heaps OF such
places and green hands when they go
down there always think there has been
a volcany, and SO there has, after a
fashion"
THE subject Of underground
forests" said my geological companion,
on our way back, ''is an interesting
one, and in the west there are some
strange sights to be seen. remember
especially one locality about the head
waters OF the Lithodendron River; there
are thousands of trees lying about. as II
some hurricane had swept over the spot
and leveled them to the ground, but in
every case the tree has turned to stone
and the trunks now weigh tons where
they formerly could be tossed about by
the wind. A miner that met told me
that in one locality that he had visited
the trees we're standing, and they came
to camp there. At first they did not
notice It, as it was late in the fall, when
all the leaves were off the trees, but he
sent darkey out to chop some wood.
and as the fellow struck q tree the axe
glanced off and streams of fiery sparks
flew off in such numbers that he was
frightened half to death. and came
rushing into camp shouting that the
place was haunted. He finally went out
again, but was terrified by finding that
even the twigs that he picked up on the
ground were as heavy as lead; they had
all turned into stone lie described the
place as a weird one, the great trunks
standing around here and there like
monuments. some of them being fifty or
sixty feet high. The two most famous
localities are at Fort Wingate, New
Mexico, and the Lithodendron, about
twenty miles from the Navajo Springs
Arizona. From these localities g fine
collection has been taken for the
National Museum at Washington.
"a detail was sent out under the
charge of Lieutenant j. T. G. Hegewald,
of the Fifteenth Infantry, and they
secured some magnificent specimens.
The Navajoes that were tending their
sheep in the vicinity believed the fallen
trunks to represent the bones of former
giants that their ancestors had killed,
and could not understand why the
Great Father ut Washington should
want them. In this place they actually
covered the ground in some spots, the
trunks often being of great size. All
through the valley of the Lithodendron
they are found, thousands of tons lying
scattered along the slopes. The ma
jority were In pieces of twenty or ten
feet long, so broken by changes of heat
and cold. Other trunks were intact;
one measured by the Lieutenant was
two hundred feet in length and nearly
five feet in diameter. the cores often
containing wonderful specimens of
quartz. The specimens were hauled to
Sana Fe, N. NJ, and there shipped East
by rail; but in year or go not a speci-
men will be found, as a company has
organized to secure them, as, when cut
and polished, they make fine table tops.
1t is said that house in Washington
is to have pillars at the door made of
two of these giants of a former age,
that, when polished, showing the rich
coloring, win make something entirely
new in the way of decoration.
'Last summer" continued the geol-
ogst, II tooksa run up the valley of
the east fork of the Yellowstone. There
is a country for you, and, fortunately,
in the National Park and to be saved
from destruction. In going up the
valley you have the beautiful Yellow
stone Mountains to the north and to the
south the famous Amethyst Mountain,
that for its fossil or stone forests is ex-
tremely remarkable Directly opposite
the valley of the Soda Butte Greek rises
the mountain, with an exposed strata at
least two thousand feet high. The
summit is about nine thousand feet up.
AS you follow up the trail you will at
once be struck with the curious surface
of the mountain, and there in one section
you can count distinctly at least twenty
five forest levels formed in this way.
The first forest. perhaps million years
ago, grew and died down; soil accumu-
lated and then another forest grew on
that, until finally the twenty-five have
grown. In the meantime strata to the
depth Of two thousand feet has been de-
posited-that is, the distance from the
present trees growing on top to the first
one below is two thousand feet. You
can count up to suit yourself
how many years it took to accomplish
this. For the first four hundred
feet the display is not very striking, as
the trunks are partially covered, but as
your eye rises you are presented with a
geological illustration that is a marvel.
At 500 feet from the bottom the levels
are as distinctly marked as il they had
been made by hand. every trunk and
the roots standing out in bold relief
the bas-reliefs of nature. Many are
thrown out and PROSTATE, from fifty to
sixty feet in length and from five to six
feet in diameter. In cases where the
roots are seen penetrating the solid
rock the sight is an impressive one,
showing how many years it must have
taken to accomplish such results. Some
of the trees imbedded are over twelve
feet in diameter and, as only the tops
show, they must have rivaled the great
sequoias of California. One remark
able feature is that the bark-texture OF
the wood, grain, etc., are all as distinct
and we'll preserved as if they had been
taken from living trees.
THE trees, however, are not conifers;
the solid rock about them shows this.
Once covered with soft green mating
of grass, it received the falling leaves
and seeds. and now they are found Just
as perfect as in life, only turned to
stone. From these the botanist Is en-
abled to determine what they were and
how long ago they lived upon the earth.
Lesquereux made the first examination,
and pronounced them as belonging to
the lower pliocene or upper miocene
time of geology. They include such
species as aralia, magnolia, Taurus, tilia.
fraxinus. cornus, pteris, alnus, ferns,
etc. All around this locality the same
old remains of forests could be found,
and the fine collections of quartz and
calcite that were spread about undonbt-
odly were all formed in the trunks OF
trees On the opposite side of the river