Smyrna times., 1936-01-16
CONES OF ANCIENT
TREES DISCOVERED
Vast Forests Existed Mil
lions of Years Ago.

Washington. - Vast cOne-DearlnS
fOrests-chiefy of sequOias whose
giant relatives are now confined
to California-coyered the northern
United States 120,000,0O0 years ago.
Cones of this ancient forest of
the Cretaceous era, when the DOM
inant creatures on earth were the
dinosaurs, have been obtained by
DR.. r. w. Brown of the United
States geological survey and now
form part of the Smithsonian insti-
tuition fossil plant collection.
Part of them came from ancient
driftwood deposits. now turned TO
Ignite, just outside the District OF
Columbia. The others, including Sc
auoia cones, came from near the
Cannonball river in North Dakota.
Both groups, Doctor Brown says,
probably represent the same vast
trackless forest of the Cretaceous,
although at periods millions OF
years apart.
The Maryland driftwood deposit
near the national capital contained
cones which Doctor Brown has
identified as belonging to the cedar,
fir and spruce family. No fossil Sc
ouoia cones were found, although 1t
is very likely that some of the llg-
nitized driftwood was formed from
logs of this family Sequoia cones
have however, been identified from
the same geological formation,
few miles away in Maryland.
An Age of Giants
The North Dakota fossil cones
were all of this family and TESTIFY
to the enormous range of the an
cient forest, which presumably
fourished from about the beginning
to the end of the Cretaceous period.
Probably, Doctor Brown points out.
the trees were Of different sizes.
Nothing of the dimensions OF the
cone-bearers can be told from the
cones themselves. But 1t Is highly
nrobable that many of the old Sc
QUOTAS may have been OF a size
comparable to that of their present.
day relatives. The Cretaceous was
an age of giants, both plant and
animal. and it is quite likely that
gigantic trees dominated the land
scape of this old woodland.
The great coniferous forest which
had practically girdled the temper
ate zone around the earth began TO
come to an end early in the Eocene
era. when mammals and birds were
beginning to rise to prominence
The seuuoias. through series of
titanic events, were pushed back
to the narrow corner of the world
where they persist to this day
Individual specimens constituting
the oldest living things on earth.
First. toward the end of the Gre
taceous. came the elevation of the
Rocky mountains. This shut of
moisture from the Pacific and
caused drouth conditions over the
middle of the continent which the
rain-loving trees could not endure.
Fragments of the old forest were
left west of the Rockies and In the
East. Then arose the Cascades
| and Sierra Nevadas. causing drouth
! in the area which lay between
| them and the Rockies. The Sc
/ auoias were killed.
Advan Ice Sheets.
Then, twenty million or more
years later, It before the present
period, thel was a great advance
of ice sheets. The seQuoias In the
East and those in the territory
now covered by southern British
Columbia, Washington and Oregon
could not endure the Arctic condi
tions and perished.
The only habitat left for the gi
ant trees was the region of western
California, where the race has per
sisted for more than 10O,0OO,OOt
years. 1t Is almost possible. Doc
tor Brown says. to follow thu
changing contour of the continent
and the changing climate by the
gradual narrowing of the range o.