Year: 1871




The "petrified forest" discovered near
Calistoga last June, or then first made
known to the general public, is one of
the wonders of the State. The name
adopted by common usage conveys an
erroneous impression, for there is no
forest nor any petrifed tree in a stand
ing position. There are parts of dozen
petrified trees lying down and scattered
over an area about three hundred yards
square. The largest is FIVE feet in diam
eter and about fifteen feet long, with
nothing to Indicate what became of the
remainder of the tree. In no case have
any petrified leaves or branches been
found, nor more than twenty feet of the
trunk of any one tree. The diameters
of the trunks vary from one foot to five
feet, the majority being over two feet.
The petri6cation is complete. All the
woody fiber has disappeared, and has
been replaced by grayish crystalliza-
ton that seems to consist mainly of
Ecarbonate of lime. The grain of the
wood is distinctly preserved in appear
anee, and also in the frnness of erys-
tallizaEon, for the petrifactions split
readily with the grain, so that there is
no difficulty in getting long and straight
splinters. The ground near the trunk
is covered with large and small splin-
ters, which a person ignorant of the
vicinity of petrifactions would not sus-
pect at first sight to be of any material
but ordinary wood discolored by the
weather. Knot holes and fractures are
found in the stone, and occasionally
holes lined with transparent crystals of
carbonate of lime.


&-One of the most singular features of
this " Forest is that every stone trunk
Il =,
every break the end is not so smooth as
if sawn, but more smooth than a trunk
broken in its vegetable condition could
be. The wood had certainly turned
into stone, or been replaced by stone
before the trunk broke. But the pieces
are usually short-not more than two
or three feet long, and the stone is
strong, and a piece twelve or fifteen
feet long supported at the ends would
probably not break by its own weight.
We do not know that any person has
broken these trunks by design, and we
have no way of explaining the fractures
except by supposing that the trunks
were petrifed while upright, and were
afterward broken by falling. 20
Major Snyder informs US that while
he was Superintendent of the Buena
Vista Vinicultural Company, piece of
petrltied tree, about sixteen inches
through and two feet long, with square
ends, was found above the wine cellar,
which is cut into tufa and on the ada
cent vineyard of Mr.. Gundlach similar
piece was found. From the Buena
Vista tract to the petrifed forest the
distance, in direct line, is probably
twenty five miles, SO the petrifaction of
large trees and the peculiar fracture are
not confined to small space. s..sE


The tree was probably redwood. The
stone splits better than the common
white oak, and the grain is closer than
some fir which we have looked at; and
the trees are too large for any other
genus growing in the neighborhood save
the sequoia. In the largest tree we
counted ten rings or annual layers of
wood within an inch near the heart,
and twenty eight rings near the out
side. The rings grow thinner as the
diameter of the tree increases. Several