The Coconino sun., 1923-03-09
PET 'RIFTED WOOD FOR
WASHINGTON MONUMENT

1T is really shame that Arizona
has SO long neglected placing her
state stone in the Washington n1onu~
nent in Washington" stated Mrs. Ho-
\ val Smith, in an interview Yesterday
Mrs. Smith was appointed by Cover
nor Thomas Campbell to carry on the
work, with the Daughters of the
American Revolution, of obtaining
enough funds for the placing of this
stone. Each state is in the union has
niche where their stone is placed
and Arizona is late, despite all her
4 wealth of minerals.
"lr was originally estimated hv
Governor Campbell that the cost Of
this stone and the shipping of it ea<st
would be some eight hundred dolla- - .
continued this Arizona club w0 n1on
But that seemed terribly larry '.-''
to raise so | just got busy ayIi sum
TO figure out some way of G. tried
down without doing away W setihg u
the magnificence of it. .lth any OF
First of all we had
estN trees in the one oI the Ilf-
brought down to petrltled forest
course. auth for us. This was, of
sources. .orized by the proper
with thc 1hen we were confronted
"Tt : following situation:
! the -e tree is of course, huge. and
= petrified wood weighs tons. It
vii be necessary to have derrick and
dozens of men to load it into a freight
car. We found also that the freight
cost would be hundreds. Then. too.
there was not a stone cutter in the
state who had equipment on hand to
cut the tree into the proper d1men-
slons to fit the niche allotted to- US.
After much thought and much
correspondence we finally got in touch
With the president of the Santa Fe and
through him have finally arranged to
nave the tree taken by one of their
cars and shipped to Chicago free of
all freight charges" she continued in
an animated manner.
But how in the world did YOU get
Il them to do it?" we asked.
Il Well, after all, it was simple
enough. We appealed to them in this
manner. The fact that one tree, such
as would be shipped over their lines,
would attract untold curiosity in every
place through which it passed. A pet
! r1fled tree! Everyone would want to
see 1t and those who could would want
TO see the even more spectacular
slght-that of the petrified forest.
Ihey can get there by the Santa Fe
route and the company will make in
tourist fare more than it will cost
them for the freight on the tree. Be-
sides we appealed to their patriotism.
DID not their trains run through IAri-
iona, were tley not a part of it.?
Well, then, did they want poor Ari-
zona to go any longer without her
stone IN the Washington monument?
Assuredly they did not and they have
been most wonderful to me and to the
u. A. r., as an organization. The
result IS they have spent unlimited
time IN looking into the matter for
us. e.
eve have, through the Chicago
Santa Fe offices, secured firm to
handle the tree when it arrives at the
Windy City. There it will be cut
down. From the very heart of the.
tree, which you know is the most
wonderful and beautiful part of it all,
and where the rich and famous color
ings and grains show best, a piece
will be taken. This has to be four
feet long, two feet wide and six
inches thick. This will then be polish
ed and made as beautiful as possible.
The name Arizona will be carved
upon its face
"When that is done it will be ship
ped on to Washington, where the
Daughters of the American Revolu-
tion will present it to the governor
of our state, who will in turn present
it to the nation and it will then be
placed by the national society in. the
monument and there unveiled.
"The unveiling is one of the big
events of Washington. The president,
the cabinet, the representatives and
every high official in the army and
navy will be present Think of the
glory to Arizona to have her stone,
the last to be placed, at last before
the eyes of the entire United States.
Do you wonder that we are working
so hard for it? And it will be mon
ument to outT state, to our women who
are working to have it put there, and
to the men and women who are help-
ing to contribute the money for it.
"Just today Harold Steinfeld gave
me $25 to help the fund along. After
the meeting of the Kiwanis they gave
me, man by man, $31.87. Col. Green
way gave $100 to start it off. Cover
nor Campbell gave $40 to help mat
ters on and we want every part of the
state to have their fingers in the plac-
ing of this stone by helping contrib
ute to it," she enthusiastically con-
cluded.
She was too modest to admit that
she herself will unveil it in Washing
ton and that much of the credit for
getting the stone there at all will 60
to her for her untiring efforts in get
ting the money together.-TucSoR
Star,