THE STANDING FOSSIL FORESTS OF THE YELLOW- 

 STONE NATIONAL PARK. 

 By F. H. KnowUon. 



THE Yellowstone National Park is called the Wonderland of 

 America, and since the destruction of the New Zealand geyser 

 area, it is, perhaps, entitled to be called the wonderland of the 

 world, for within its limits the most varied of Nature's workings 

 may be observed. Its hundreds of hot-springs and geysers, its pre- 

 cipitous canons and rushing cataracts, its snow-capped mountain peaks 

 and mirrored lakes, make it of surpassing interest. The lover of nat- 

 ural scenery may linger long over its beauties and wonders. 



Of the various wonders, perhaps none is more remarkable than 

 the fossil forests of standing trunks. These forests are located in the 

 northeastern corner of the Park, at a place known locally as Amethyst 

 Mountain, or Fossil Forest Ridge. This is really a mountain some 

 ten miles long, and rising nearly, or quite, two thousand feet above 

 the general level of the valley. If it were possible to cut a section 

 down through this mountain, as a slice is cut from a loaf of bread, 

 there would be found a succession of at least fifteen fossil forests one 

 above another. That is to say, at some remote day, geologically 

 speaking, there grew a great forest which was covered up by the 

 ejected material from a gigantic volcano, rivaling in size Mt. Etna, 

 that is known to have existed some ten miles to the north. The trees 

 were entombed in an upright position, and under the action of silica- 

 charged water, were fossilized. The action of the volcano ceased, 

 and quiet was restored for a sufficient length of time for a second for- 

 est to be developed above the first. Then came a second outburst 

 from the volcano, and this forest was buried and fossilized like the 

 first, and so in turn have the dozen or more forests flourished and 

 been entombed. 



Then came the final quiet, the rumbling of the volcano ceased, 

 and its fires were extinguished. But immediately the action of the 

 elements began, and the wearing forces of rain and frost, acting 

 through long ages, have carved out this mountain, in the heart of 

 which may be read the story of its origin. This denudation appears 

 to have been unaccompanied by any of the violent movements so often 

 characteristic of mountain building, and consequently when the softer 

 material is worn away from around the trunks, they stand upright in 

 the exact positions in which they grew originally. 



