Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-07-23

That summer it was mOnstrOus dry, and
after awhile the fires began to break out,
and afore we knew it it had crept up to
within thousand feet of the house
But we got at it with brush. and, as we
thought, put it out. and did: but tina,
j night was awoke by hearin' a crash SC
loud that you'd although the hull house
had gone down. and when l got out
there was blazing fire right over by my
fodder house. got there in about two
minutes, and l tell We | was scared.
There wasn't hide nor hair OF the house,
but a deep yawnin' hole about fifty feet
across. and the Lord knows how deep,
and burning red hot just like volcany.
l tell We got my folks out of that dig
gins for a while now Fortunately it
came on to rain the next day and soaked
it out. and l amt a DRAWN the long
bow when tell you that that hull ken
try had been tunneled BY the fire. You
see, it had crept along under ground for
nigh a thousand feet. eating 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 to live on and
| 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 $
eaten ont jest the same way. The fire
will run along for miles. sometimes,
and then crop out where it's least ex-
af
party of shinglers left their hut one
morning and when they came back it
was gone and fourth of an acre with
it. If 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
vOlcany, and so there has. after a
fashion,"
1.-The subject of underground
forests" said my geological companion.
on our way back. lis an interesting
one, and in the west there are sOpe
strange sights to be SEEN remember
espec ally one local ty about the head
waters of the Lithodendron River; there
are thousands of trees lying about. as if
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 were standing. and they came
to camp there. At first they did not
notice it, as ii was late in the fall when
all the leaves were of the trees, but he
sent darkey out to chop some wood.
and As the fellow struck 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 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 tie Lithodendron. about
twenty miles from the Navajo Springs,
Arizona. From these localities fine
collection has been taken for the
National Museum at Washington.
"A detail was sent out under the
charge of Lieutenant j. +. c. 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 at 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 living
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 We're hauled to
Sana Fe. n. NJ, and there shipped East
by rail; but in year or 90 not 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. will make something entirely
new in the way of decoration
Last summer" continued the geol-
ogist, Il took a run up the valley of
the east fork of the Yellowstone There
is 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; sol 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