The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1925-11-04

llNtE lIRl0nTeTr
IL Is good half hours up this wager
ROAD from the Salmon river staoe
ROAD to the so-called "Petrified For
est" u
for years past, cattlemen and
DINERS having occasion to 90 into tbe
nils south Of the Salmon. have
brought awap many rare pieces of
petrliied wood, bark Of trees and other
manner of odd things usually picked
up In localities like this, and thew had
wonderful stories to tell of the great
stone trees and stumps that stood
upon the hillsides, big as Egyptian
obelisks.
But it is only few years past that
people in the vicinity began to 90
there on purpose to see for themselves
the strange sights Of which they had
heard so much To many. it seemed
impossible that there could be trees
~ to 40 feet in circumference. loom
ing up where nothing but scattered
bunch grass, stunted crossword and
gnarled sage brush constitute the only
visible life of the Salmon river bad
lands.
Yet once seen, it is very easy to be
convinced that these are. or once
were, trees-and mammoth ones at
that, though they be row only dead.
stolid monuments of the departed
glory that must have environed this
whole country when in its tropical or
semi-trOpical grandeur. When trees
like these grew and flourished, the
vegetable life of the Salmon river
could not have been other than super
latively grand and glorious.
Whether the trees are kin to the
California redwoods, or the yellow
pines of Oregon and Washington, or
of kind foreign to the trees of our |
day, is left for the eve of science to |
speculate upon. It does not require
the aptness of an epert to prove that
at present they are of the hardwood |
species.
at is only about Is minutes walk
from the road to the petrifactions.
The country is made up of low hills
and quite deep ravines, but is entirely
accessible The formation is principal
v sedimentary. and near the foothills,
approaching the river, sandstone is
Visible in places. The petrifactions
ire very similar to those of the bad
ands of Montana, Dakota and Wyo-
ming, and in the same kind of coun-
~. Similar sections in the states
mentioned are prolific in fossils and
,etrifactions and the bones of many
arge animals and reptiles are annual
V ehumed by the different geological
nd other parties sent there in the
interest of science.
$50 far, no bones, I believe, have
cen discovered in the Salmon river.
ossil fields: but when once scientific !
are begun with that view,
o doupt something more than trees {
ill be brought to light. Great for
SITS are the lounging places of fer
cious beasts and sneaking reptiles, 6
nd on the banks of the lakes sdjoin-
10. the monsters of the deep wallow 8
the mud and sport among the I
lshes.
Generally the larger the growth of e
lie vegetation the larger the animal G
fe contemporary Herewith. The mon :
err grizzly is found only among the U
,rresponding prolific growth of trees e
I'd shrubbery of the Golden state, a
" he must have large trees to climb {
I'd endless berry fields to forage IN,
Sc he would not long remain. The q
,a-constrictor flourishes mid the 4
aides of great tropical forests, ?
here monkeys and balloons do most o
LIGHT TO congregate, otherwise his t
ongated stomach would go begging, a
d he would soon perish. So it is t
asonable to expect that the future I
plorer will awaken further interest n
orr pertifed forests by unearthing
fossil mastodon or something be- Y
ncing TO the animal kingdom IN r
eping with the growth of the trees. q
"Tn future years I am sure that o
q bones of the Idaho beef steer o
II be exhumed in fossil state, AMI L
NAV have a niche in the bone vaults Ct
the Smithonsonian institute, as G
mbers of chemically dried and well {.
sserved skeletons with the hide on u
, TO be seen in the ravines near the II
es and which will soon be entomb- u
in the alkaline sediment of the W
sting hills. Y
sThe ground and debris appear to 81
re slid and banked against the al
mps on the upper side, and one eI
easily mount to the SUM- 'he us