Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-10-18
AN ARIZONA WONDER.
a Pc RIFIED FOREST THAT is A MAR
VEL Or BEAUTY.

It Covers a Hundred Square Miles
and Is Mass OF differing Agate
In Il EeviIderinG Array of Cor
Eeous COIOrinE.
The territory OF Arizona is Il vast
museum OF natural curiositieS includ-
ing many of the most wonderful in all
the world. The atmosphere. the eli
mate, the mountains, the soil. the riV-
ers. the forests are filled with phe-
uomena. many of which exist nowhere
else. In the desert, 800 miles square,
with Flagstaff as 4 center. are spread
out n variety of wonders OF which the
people of this country have little or no
conception. but if they were in Eu-
rope or Asia thousands of our citizens
would cross the ocean to see them.
Being within only two or three days
journey of Chicago and easy of access
by frequent trains of sleeping and
dining cars and other modern luXuries
of travel. they are overlooked by the
multitude and are. practically uu-
known.
To my mind. next to the Grand cam
yon of the Colorado, the most interest
ing and impressive of the natural Won
dcrs OF this great Arizona museum is
the petrilied forest, which covers near
ly 100 square miles, within easy dis
tance. either ON foot or horseback,
from Billings station, on the Santa
Fc railroad, but it can be more easily
reached by carriage from Holbrook,
where better accommodations can be
found. The government explorers have
Christened it ChaIcrJOHy park.
g,Ff H., f',f lnS,
and miles around is covered with 81
gantic logs three or four feet in diam
eter, petridcd to the core. Many of
them are translucent. Some are almost
transparent. All present the most beau
tiful shades OF blue, yellow, pink, pur
pie. red and gray. Some are like 81
gantic amcthysts, some resemble the
smoky topaz and some are as pure and
white as alabaSter. At places the chips
of agate from the trunks that have
crumbled lie Il foot deep upon tie
ground, and it is easy to obtain cross
sections OF trees showing every vein
and even the bark.
Comparatively little of this agate has
been used in manufacturing. although
it is easy TO obtain. Manufacturing
jewelers. of New York have made table
tops and boxes ana other articles from
strips that have been sent them, and
if the material We're not so abundant
its beauty would command enormous
prices. Where you can get Il carload of
jcwelry for nothing YOU are not like
ly to pay high prices for it.
y birds eye view of the petrified for
csts on Il sunny day suggests gigan-
tic Kaleidoscope. The surface of the
earth resembles an infinite variety of
rainbOWS. The biologists say this great
plain, now 5000 feet above the sea,
was once covered by a forest, which
was submerged for ages in water
charged with minerals, until
the fbers of the trees were thoroughly
soaked and transformed into eternal
stone. Many of the trunks are still
packed in n deposit of fine clay, which
was left by the receding waters. but
the erosion of the wind has pulveriZed
much of the clay and carried it off in
the air, exposing the secrets that ma
ture buried under it's surface.
One great tree spans a deep gulch 40
feet wide. 1t lies where it fell CEN
turtles. perhaps ages, ago, and is Il most
beautiful specimen Of petrified wood.
The rings and the bark can be easily
traced through the translucent agate,
and it is firm enough and strong
enough to last as many centuries as it
has already spent in its peculiar posi-
ton. 1t is undoubtedly the only
bridge OF agate in the world and alone |
is worth Il long Journey to see.
The Indians OF the southwest used |
to visit the petrifcd forests frequent |
ly to obtain agate for their arrow and |
spear heads, and the material was |
scattered over the entire continent by |
between the different tribes, |
from the isthmus of Panama to Ber- |
Ing strait. The great deposit here eX-
plains where all the arrowheads OF |
moss agate came from and other |
weapons and implements of similar |
that are found in the Indian |
mounds and graves of the central and |
western states. In the stone age the |
agate of the petriticd forest was the |
very best material that could be OBJ |
tanned for both the implements Of war |
and peace Of the abOrigincs. y scalp |
ing knife could be made very easily |
from one of the chips Of agate and |
could be ground 10 n very fine edge. |
Many crystals Were used for jewelry |
and ornaments also.-Chicago Record. !