Evening star., 1935-12-08
LAWSON BIOGRAPHY STORY OF JOURNALISMS GROWTH
GHOST FOREST FOUND HERE
Weird Prmeva Woods Dead 100000 Years, Tell Vivt
Story of Evolution Through Fossil Remnants Found
Just Over District Line Along Anaoostia River.

tree-tops. Many billions of miles the
earth has Ea7ei01 s:ifough the celes-
tial field since the last Of the giant
ferns crashed to earth with old age.
1t has left far behind some of the
distant suns which were its closest
neighbors. When the moon rose on
Autumn evenings it was larger and
redder. The satellite has moved fur
ther from the earth in 10000, 900
years.
1t is forest of death-but Of the
death that was before life. 1t be-
longed to that period of geological
time known as the CretaceouS. The
indications, as they are described by
Roland w. Brown Of the United States
Geological Survey, are that it belongs
at the beginning Of this era when the
giant dinosaurs were the dominant
form of life on earth. Some of the
PROSTATE logs, uncovered by the waters
Of the Northwest Branch, measure
nearly feet in diameter. They are
much f1attened and are jumbled or
matted together in a fashion sug-
gesting driftwood. They apparently
were swept down some ancient stream
to this spot.
THESE logs now are Ignite, halted
on the way to becoming coal.
They are jet black, The wood, in
many instances, shows well preserved
cellular structure that indicates its
relationship with kinds of trees grow
ing today. The trees from which
these logs came belonged to the great
family of cone bearers, such as the
cedar, pine and hemlock of today.
1T is conjectured," says Mr.. Brown
in his report just issued by the Wash
ington Academy of Sciences, that il
this Cretaceous deposit should be un-
covered over large area thousands
of logs might be revealed, Stimulating
in many respects but on a smaller
scale, q sight like that in the petri.
fed forest of Arizona. However, such
an exposure would not persist intact
for many days because on drying the
wood checks and disintegrates rap
idly. To preserve cones and wood Of
lAllo hl1lO IL ID A1CCCSSd1y W lAlc
absorbed water from them, but they
must be prevented from drying in air."
Choice specimens now are being
preserved by special methods in the
laboratory of the National Museum.
No effort is contemplated at present
to uncover more of the buried forest
and thus hasten its disintegration.
Immediately on top of this Creta-
ceous log deposit are remains Of
another ancient woodland, also prob
ably brought downstream in the form
of driftwood. But this is probably
only little more than a few thou.
Sapds-or perhaps a million-yearS
old. 1t belongs, one may conjecture,
to one of the intervals between the
great ice sheets of the age Immediately
preceding the present when, it Is
barely possible, man himself may have
been present somewhere in the New
World. The ice sheets never actually
reached the District Of Columbia but
they came far southwark over New
York and parts Of Pennsylvania, mate.
rally altering the climate here.
There are driftwood logs of white
pine, Northern hemlock, and white
oak. The composition of this newer
forest probably was not vastly diff
ferent from that of a woodland in
Maine or New Brunswick today. BY
sieving the gravel through a fine
screen there have been recovered
several decalcif1ed fresh water mus.
sells, insect fragments including those
Of four beetles. and IS species Of
fruits and seeds. OF these IS species,
Mr.. Brown says. probably all but two.
the Northern hemlock and the Shag-
bark hickory. may be found living in
the basin Of the Northwest Branch
today. The nearest native hemlocks
are in the vicinity of Occoquan and
Great Falls, and these appear to be
relict stands abandoned when the
species kept pace northward with the
receding ice sheet. None Of the
shagbarks are known in this region.
although there may be q few scat.
tered trees in nearby Maryland.
THIS forest, of course, is ancient as
man reckons time. 1t grew before
the building Of the pyramids. The
1CODfjpuad On Tenth Pace