The Winslow mail., 1926-07-09
Mesa Man Finds
Petrified Forest
Out Prospecting

MESA, Ariz. - Discovery OF
hitherto unknown petrified forest
in the heart of the Deer creek coal
field. almost at the eastern line OF
Pinal county, is reported by Edwin
Watson, head of the syndicate
which has recently become inter
ested in coal development there.
Watson returned from trip to
the field last Tuesday night bring
ing with him a section of petri-
fled tree trunk two feet in diameter
and standing about eighteen inches
in height. He also brought num-
Der of smaller pieces Of petrified
wood.
These samples are structurally
identical with wood from the fam
GUS Petrified Forest of Northern
Arizona, which lies across the
boundary of Apache and Navajo
counties east of Holbrook. They
wholly lack, however, the brilliant
colorations which are common
there.
Used to be Black
The Deer creek wood in Watson's
possession is now a dull darkish
gray He swears, however, that
when he picked it up it was as
black as coal.
In fact, when he found the new
forest Watson had no thought that
he had discovered anything more
than slack coal lying about on top
of the ground. He had been climb
ing down steep mountainside,
crawling under the brush and in
some, places just sliding along on
the seat of his pants, when he came
to an open area that was covered
with big black Jumps. He struck
one with his prospecting pick and
was amazed to hear the supposed
coal ring like a piece of quartz.
Upon further investigation Wat
son convinced himself that the
blackish Jumps were indeed stone
that had once been wood. The forms
of three trunks and branches were
plainly apparent over a space of
about ten acres.
Watson carried some of the wood
to camp and as soon as it was out
of the immediate vicinity it began
to lose it's color This phenomenon
the discoverer does not pretend to
explain, but he thinks it possible
that gas is escaping somewhere in
the neighborhood and depositing
some sooty substance. He says that
strong gaseous odors are evident.
He Found 1t First
So far as is known, Watson is
the first man to find petrified wood
in that part of the state. No refer
ence to a forest on Deer creek is
found in any government report.
It is a certainty that many men
have passed that way but the
chances are that the rest of them
casually mistook the petrified wood
for coal. In district where there
is so much coal, that would be a
natural supposition.
Another interesting find was
made by Watson not very far from
the petrified forest. He had heard
legend of rich gold mine which
some company or other started to
operate and then was compelled to
abandon in 1870, when federal au
thorities learned that they were on
an Indian reservation.
A Lost Mine!
Watson has found an old mine,
with crumbling buildings and other
evidences t hat considerable
amount of money was spent A
great pile of one-inch pipe is ly-
ing there, and except for a few
rusted pieces on top it is perfectly
preserved by the dry atmosphere.
Nearby is a spring of ice cold wa
ter. Slides have covered the en-
frances to the mine workings.
Not being a metal miner, Watson
doesn't take much interest in the
possibility that he has rediscovered
great gold deposit. He is more
impressed by the advantages which
the spot has for a winter resort.