St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-10-25
The Petrihed Forests.
OF THE ROCKIES PRESERVED
INAGATE AND CRYSTAL

relates Oh HIS FASAt w thC ioACo" "a osoAS 49,
the following manner Near the present
line of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad,
through Arizona, nature performed some
unusual antics some years back. Possibly
the period dated few thousand years be-
fore the discovery of this continent, or 1t
NAV have been few hundred thousand
wears ago. Anyhow, the tops of several
large mountains were sliced off, turned up
side down and dropped on great PLAIN
ten miles away from where they belonged.
That the tops tried to get home is shown
by the fact that they struggled 80 hard as
to dig large holes and almost bury them
selves.
may not be entirely correct in this geo.
logical theory, but the mountain tops are
there to prove it and SO are the holes IN
the ground.
After this little exercise the caprice OF
nature took another turn. Out on high
mesa grew forest of cypress, pine and
redwood trees, such as the giants in Mari
posa, Cal. The forest was so magnificent
That nature seemed seized with desne to
perpetuate it. The plain was therefore
Hooded with water, the trees torn up by
the roots and plunged in bath so full OF
sodium that within comparatively brle1
period, say q million of years or less. the
wood. and bark and trees themselves BE-
came solid stone. Then the waters re-
coded and the great forest was revealed 10
the eye of man.
Holbrook, which the World party reach
ed at l o'clock in the morning, Is the near
est station to the forest. Arrangements
had been made for an early start for the
forest, and as a drive OF twenty -elght
miles mnst be made in broiling hot sun
unless we got through with it very early.
| We dragged ourselves from bed AFTER
short nap and soon were slowed away IN
! a "three -seater," as the passenger wagons
| in Arizona are called In this one the
seats were so close together that tall
mans knee would jolt his chin on rough
road, ana so high up that short mans
feet couldn't reach the floor. Considerable
| diversion was obtained through watching
the tall men bite their tongues and swear,
while the short ones, owing to the sudden
and unexpected jolts of the wagon. shot
under the seats like shuttlecocks.
The road to the petrifed forest from
| Holbrook is q good one after the first two
miles are passed. The tourist finds him
self upon level plain stretching away to
a range of black looking mountains, which
do not seem to be more than five or six
miles away But after you have driven
for four or FIVE hours straight at them and
they will look as far off as ever, you will
realize what distances mean in this country
of rare air and bright liz ht.
We logged along at the slowest possible
speed. The big red hands of the little
round driver swung to and fro like the
pendulum of Dutch clock, and at every
stroke landed short whip on the horse
nearest him. He never whipped the other
horse, although it was the lazIer of the
two, if such thing could be possible.
1t required a movement of the body tc
reach him, and that was too much like
work TO suit the little globular driver
So he pounded away all day at the ami
mated hatrack nearest him, but made nc
more impression than if he had been whip
ping q stone wall.
The burning rays of the sun reflected
brilliantly from the little round nose o.
our driver as we climbed the last ascen
: to the plain in which repose the trunks
} and limbs of the thousands upon thousand
) of gigantic trees picked so many year
7 ago py Dame Nature to make moderl
travellers resort. Here and there We came
; across trees rs hard as flint and iridescen
} with color, which have fallen from tn
t plain into the little valley below.
AS We aut EASSot Dc al Cd Wv NfS SOa'
reach were PROSTATE trunks of great trees
. looking for all the world as if they hat
been felled by recent storm and woul'
burn as well as any wood in the world
. A woodlands az might get fire out Of then
r at every blow, but In all that waste OF land
extending for twelve miles down the val
z ley and three or four across 1t, not WOO
: enough could be found to light pipe
) Thousands upon thousands OF trees wer
5 there. countless numbers of twigs an
e limbs were strewn about the ground, bu
e every one of them were solid stone.
= was the cemetery of forgotten age. III
? effect was CHASTITY.
k In little artificial oasis on the bank G
Q dry wash we found q house, 1t was tn
o home of a Mormon stock raiser, and at hl
door we knocked. We asked for brea
a and the housewife assured US that II "
q would make ourselves at home for lit
Q while she would prepare US dinner
The hour and half we waited for it mad
n US all desperate, and we determined
G clear the table at all hazards.
It The woman placed before us first dis
- of C ,amy white stuff with dark strings {
something or other In the bottom of tn
= mixture. It was our first introduction
9 ierked antelope Ia Mormon, and sha
+. not forget it soon. Strings Of meat thu
d might have been stripped from side {
% sole leather or from a boarding hous
y door mat, so far IS fiber was con cern &c
had been smothered in white -four gray
G and allowed to simmer just sufficiently
6 bring out the odor of the mess which ha
10 been condensed in it while drying in tn
% sun a year or two before. 1t was a ricl
l. far.reaching, pungent odor, destructive
Il the appetite, but we had all swallowed
n mouthful of it before anything was sai'
[e We satisfied our apoetites with bres
W and honey, of which there was plent.
>r Butter we didn't care for. 1t didn't TAX
us nearly so long to eat the dinner as
|, took to prepare it but we were ust 1
ID we'll pleased that 1t didn't. It was
is modest priced dinner. too, for all we pa
ID was So.
/, Across the dry wash we took ira
oil which was said to lead to the heart of tt
petrifed woods, we followed it for mi
le or SO, getting farther and farther into IL
ir hills, until at last we had reached a poll
g not usually visited by railroad touris
he who drive over to see the trees. All abol
us on every side were trunks varying fro
- go to 100 feet in length, some as perfect
the day they fell, but all turned to stone.
The sightseer and prospector jumpt
from one stony trunk to another in deligh
70 knocking off a brilliantly colored piece
N wood here and another there, seekir
es new and unusual formations and alwa
d. with success. wanted to bring hon
10 every pretty piece of wood saw tn
te was small enough to lift.
no Here and there were trunks of trees br
30 ken into pieces almost as squarely cut
6 L.. Z l.