The Prescott daily news., 1917-01-10
DECAY OF PREHIS. TORlC ANIMALS GRE.
 ATED NATURAL GAS
Created Natural Gas-Ozark
 Mountains Once an Island in The Gulf of MexicO-Origin of Natural Gas One of Wonders.


 the beginning, gaseous body or mol ten chaotic mass probably thrown off by some planet, that through long process of cooling gradually took shape as globe with thin crust. |
 The hard crust, which was of slight . thickness in the beginning, but in- creasing as ages passed, was made up principally of granite formation, com monly spoken of as the floor of the earth. At this period there was nei- ther animal nor vegetable life exist ing, as the heat was too intense; gas and oil were out of the question.
 The transformation from gaseous body to hard-crusted globe probably covered a period of many millions of years. During this period there were no mountains nor rivers and the earth had not begun to shrink.
 AS ages passed and the globe cooled sufficiently to allow precipitation of the vapor surrounding it, the Potsdam and the Trenton rocks began to form on top of the granite, in the order named. The earth began to shrink, and it was this shrinking of the crust, due to it's loss of heat, that created 1 the mountain ranges and the high elevated plateaus, and brought to the surface portions of the lower layers of the earth's crust, carrying with them the metals now being mined. Had this upheaval not taken place these metals could never have been reached. l The earth's crust is supposed to be from twenty-five to thirty-five miles thick. The increase of temperature toward the interior varies at different points on the globe as shown by tests made in mining shafts and deep wells. At Butte, Montana, the copper mining shafts show an increase of 1 deg. for each g feet descent. The average increase of temperature has shown 1 deg. fahr. for each 60 to 64 feet des- cent toward the center of the earth
 The cooling and shrinking of the earth is still going on, which accounts to some extent for the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other minor changes taking place in the crust.
 About eight-elevenths of the earth's surface is sunken below the rest and covered with salt water.
 After the earth has become cold body, too cold for habitation, it will 1 appear as a bright moon to some other planet.
 Site of This City Once Under Water.
 The large fossil remains found in Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota clearly prove that this section first appeared above the sea.
 The Gulf of Mexico extended up to the foot of the Rocky Mountains and the Black Hills on the northwest to the Adirondack and Appalachian Mountains on the east and northeast. The northern shore of this original gulf extended westwardly from the | Adirondack Mountains through west ern New York and Ontario. This per iod was ages before the formation of | the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls and | the Niagara River.
 As the old Gulf receded toward the | present gulf, it receded in the form of | large bay, which accounts for the | 45 deg. line in the State of Pennsyl | vania which the oil men of that state | so successfully followed in their oper- ations for oil.
 Ozarks Were an Island.
 The Ozark Mountains were an is- | land thrown up in this large area of l the ocean by the shrinking of the earth's crust. The tendency of this upheaval was to divide the gulf into two smaller arms or elongated bays.
 Following the formation of the diff ferent rocks, the earth was so hot at the equator that life could not exist and at the poles the temperature cor very much to the tropical of the present day. This statement is borne out by the finding Il of petrifed animal remains and tropi- cal plants in the arctic regions. As the earth cooled at the poles it kept driving the animal life toward the and the tinna twill con,o whon