Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-05-03
FOREST OF ENCHANTMENT
Trees That FIourished in Mesozoic
Age, Transformed by Nature Into
Precious Stones.
GREAT PETRIFIED FOREST.

IN Vt1 vi
congress a few days ago of a bill set
ting aside as a national park the great
petribed forest of northern Arizona,
came just in time to ave from destruc-
ton a wonderful natural curiosity
which has but n equal on this CONT
nent. that of the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado.
In the Yellowstone national park in
Wyoming, in California and northern
Mexico, as well as in other portions
OF Arizona, have been found petrified
trees, but none of them are to be com
pared to the immense fossilized forest
which lies close to Holbrook, where
the government ~protectorate is to be
established.
The forest is in the midst of the
great desert of Apache. Fifty miles
to the northeast is the Navajo Indian
reservation, some eighty-five miles to
the northwest is the Grand Canyon of
the Colorado, and intervening are sew
eral ancient Moki pueblos, perched on
their table land or mesas of stone.
Scientists state hat the Arizona
forest belongs far back in the Mesozoic
time, probably to the Triassic forma-
ton. while the smaller forests found
elsewhere are of the tertiary age. The
difference in their antiquity is. there
fore. probably many million years. The
forest proper covers some two square
miles, but petrified trees are to be see
In an area of fifty square miles. 1t is
a remarkable sight. Charles Dudley
Warner states that 1t is a spot where
the most blase globe trotter stands in
mute wonder.
With the exception of a single cot
tonwood trunk, the trees are of an ex.
tinct coniferous species. They lie
prone upon the ground. The sections
or ends of the logs show brilliant red
and yellows and dull blues. The bark
is not brilliant. but dull, and wonder
fully well preserved. Some trees show
even the knots to perfection. Some Of
the petrified logs are four feet in
diameter and from ten to twelve feet
long. They have no branches, but the
hundreds of small pieces, varying from
a couple of inches to n foot in diam
eter, are probably the remains OF
branches.
Here and there are heaps of chips
from the petriied trees. and the beauty
of coloring is b~ewildcring. There are
literally thousands of bushels of chips
that are red moss agate and may be
beautifully polished. There are many
times more chips Of amethyst, gray
topaz and vary-hued agates, showing
the grain of the trees as they grew
millions OF years ago. One may obtain
cross sections of logs. showing in COM
pletest detail the annual ring marks
and separation of the bark from tho
trees. The stone Is Of the hardest and
takes an Incompatible polish
Thousands of pounds of pieces from
these trees, turned to agate, have been
sent all over American and Europe,
to be polished and sold for ornaments.
Indeed. so rapid has grown the work OF
despoiling the forest that in many
places scores of trees have been en-
tirely removed.
The Zuni Indians told the United
States surveyors about the spot where
their polished agates came from, and
Colonel John w. Stedman was proba-
bly, the first white man who ever look
ed upon the petrified forest. That was
in 1851. and two years later he told OF
his discovery in a New York newspa-
per. In July, 1852, Jules Marceau, an
other United States civil engineer,
made a collection of specimens, and
extensive mention is made of it in the
government reports. The tourist and
vardal did not get at it until nea 1880,
when the Santa Fe railroad was built.
The stone was polished and manu-
featured at Sioux Falls, S. d., until a
recent government order stopped the
removal of the stone from the forest.
The cost of cutting and polishing the
petrifcation approaches that of treat
ing diamonds, as 1t is calculated to be
seven-tenths the hardness of a dia-
mond.-Los Angeles Herald.