The Arizona champion., 1889-03-30
Arizona Champion.
CHALcKDoNy.
Arisona's Fortified Forest Near Hol'
 brook Apache County.

tHtlA ." NM
 It will probably surprise our readers to learn there is very near the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in Arizona, petrifed forest or field of jasper. It is situa- ted in Apache County, eight miles south of Corriza, twenty-five miles southeast of Holbrook, and is divid- ed into three great deposits. He,
 Chalcedony is given in Webster's s Unabridged Dictionary-defned by Professor James D. Dana, of New Haven, Conn.,, as follows:
 "Chal ced-ony or Chaloe-do-ny, from Chalcedon, town in Asia Minor, opposite to Byzantium' MinemlAn uncrystallized translu- cent variety of Quartz, having usually whitish color and a luster like wax"
 When Chalcedony of different colors is arranged in stripes or layers it constitutes Agates, and if the stripes are all horizontal it is Onyx. Chrysoprase is Green Chalcedony, Carnelian, a Flesh Red, and Sara, Greyish Red Variety,
 The chalcedorizcd wood in these deposits is scattered over an area of about 1000 acres. The big trees of Yosemite, California, are the only living rival of this fallen forest,
 This material known as jasperiz ed wood, is most remarkable for its brilliancy and variety of colors, its extreme hardness and it's suscep. tibility of higher polish than any of the worlds jaspeS, jades, mar, bles, onyx, etc.
 This deposit will aggregate prob, ably over a million tons, the great mass of which, however, is so crack ed and shattered as to be of nc commercial value. But from this great accumulation limited qusnti ty of iasperized wool, consisting of sound pieces, has been sele t d, suitable for cutting into various articles of use and ornament, and as objects of art Mir. George F, Kunz, the gem expert for Tiffany X Co, New York city writes:
 Undoubtedly one of the greatest of American wonders is the silici6ed forest in Arizona, known as Chal cedony Park-a park only in name however, for the giant trees which once grew there have long since fallen and silcifed into agate and jasper.
 "The silicifcation probably took place in the following manner: The trees were overthrown and covered with volcanic ashes and tufa; the heated silicifed waters, either gush, ing from springs or forcel up by the violent volcanic action which felled the trees, percolated through the ashes; cooled on reaching the tree-level, and this produced cen. ditions favorable to siliication.
 "Under these circumstances de- composition would be assisted and much silica set free. The waters would become charged with this, the silica being held partly in solu. tion similar to that in liquid glass, the silicate of soda of commerce. The silicious water then slowly penetrated the wood buried in the tufa, and was slowly deposited in the cells of the wood. In this manner the flores of the wood were replaced by the silica.
 "Although silicitied wood Sfound in many localities throughout the world, nowhere is it SO beautifully colored as at this place. Here we have every imaginable shade of red yellow, brown and green. Some times the colors appear in distinct spots, forming mottled appear ance; then again, all blend so i'm perceptibly us to make much more pleasing and harmon ols ef, feet than the decided banding of the agate where the lines of de. markation between the colors are so distinct as to become obtrusiye. The colors abcve mentioned are often relieved by white, black, and gray, and by transparent spaces of