Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-01-22
STONE FORESTS.
How the Fanfoos Fossil Forests of Arizona
Were Efr-s Discovered.

Lithodendron City as yet does not
figure on the maps of Arizona 1t
dwclls in the minds eye of mixed
lot composed of laymen and scientists.
who have pitched several tents on the
banks of the Ethodendron River. and,
baptizing the spot with the limpid wa
tiers, have christened it Lithodendron
City, only to jump the claim on the
following morning and found another
city of the same name at night. per-
haps thirty miles away. so that Litho-
dendron is almost anywhere along the
banks of that river that flows quickly
along, like some laggard that has fall
en- behind the times and, asst abashed,
Is stealing on through scenes that bear
the stamp of long ago.
One evening, as Lithodendron had
been founded for about the fiftieth
time, Milesian gentleman, who form
ed one of the scientific corps of inves-
tigators, was requested TO bring in
some wood for the practical purpose of
boiling coffee. Half an hour passed,
and then the wood-cutter appeared
with wild look on his countenance.
s'Now. amt it curious thing" he
looked as if it had been purposely dull
ed with file. dye know, General.
forninst in the old dart, Father Ma
lone, long life to his worship! told me
ay q country beyand the says where
the trees and the cattle were all turned
to stone. It's jokin' We air. says /.
Yen live to see the day I'm not, says
Father Malone; and more power to
him, I've done that same thing. I'll
produce me resignation av yer honor'n
give me pin and paper and some one
to write; I'm on the home track the
very night Matter? Look at the AK
Divil piece of wood butts turned into
stone! The first bit av tree | found,
laid off me coat and fetched it blow,
when it flew out of me hands, and the
tree let out a stream of light half mile
long. tried five, an each one was
harder than the other, and in the bush
was stone birds a-sleepin' on the limbs,
and each twig weighed ton"
Pat was thus the first to discover a
feature of the valley that formed one of
the quests of the party. namely, the
famous fossil forests that have been the
wonder of every one who has visited
this region.
The slope OF the river, here about
fifty feet in height, presents a remarka-
BILE appearance. Not green object is
to be seen, but all about, strewn here
and there, some erect and others pros
trate. lie myriads of pieces of strong
trees, limbs, trunks and branches of
flint-like hardness-tEe remains of a
once mighty forest. So thick are these
in some places that one can almost inn
agine that this is the bed of some
creek with all its polished boulders
laid bare, only that the remains have
all the structural beauties that charac-
terized them when alive. The cause of
the wholesale destruction of thestone for
ests is undoubtedly due to the extremes
Of heat and cold that have snapped
them off and hurled them to the ground.
The soil here is soft and sandy, with
some clay, perfectly adapted to the
preservation of the remains. The size
of some of these trees might have
compared with the extant sequoia of
the Nat onal Park. One trunk was
225 feet long and about five feet in di-
ameter, and so finely preserved and
photographed in the rock, as it were,
that until the ak glanced from its flint
like bark and sparks of fire followed,
one could hardly realize the change
that had taken place The trunks that
are broken show remarkable features,
and company, it is said, has been or
ganized to cut them up into various ar
ticles of ornament, which when polished
present maryelously beautiful sur
face. The color of the wood is pre-
served, and veins OF the richest red
run here and there, anon changing to
yellow, gray or blue. The remarkable
coloring has given rise to some curious
and erroneous impressions in the mind
of the noble red men principally Nav
ajoes) that summer in the locality.
They have legend that their fore
fathers were vast and powerful race
and that they conquered a mighty giant
that lived on the Lithodendron. The
fossil trees they consider his bones or
parts of the skeleton, and the red stains
and even the lava beds, the blood which
ran from him.-Cor. Aeso York Erea-,
ing Post.