713 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ests, one above another. In the foot- most of them project well above the 

 hills and several hundred feet above the surface. 



valley there is a perpendicular wall One of the largest and best preserved 



of volcanic breccia, which in some places trees stands at the very summit of the 

 attains a height of nearly 100 feet. The slope. This trunk, which is that of a 

 fossil trunks may be seen in this wall giant redwood, is 263^2 feet in circum- 

 in many places, all of them 

 standing upright, in the posi- 

 tion in which they grew. Some 

 of these trunks, which are 2 to 4 

 feet in diameter and 20 to 40 

 feet high, are so far weathered 

 out of the rock as to appear just 

 ready to fall; others are only 

 slightly exposed; niches mark 

 the places from which others 

 have already fallen; and the 

 foot of the cliff is piled high 

 with fragments of various sizes. 

 Above this cliff fossil trunks 

 appear in great numbers and 

 in regular succession. As they 

 are all perfectly silicified, they 

 are more resistant than the 

 surrounding matrix and con- 

 sequently stand above it. Most 

 of them are only a few inches 

 above the surface, but occa- 

 sionally one rises as high as 



5 or 6 feet. The largest trunk 

 observed in the park is found 

 in this locality. It is a little 

 over 10 feet in diameter, a 

 measurement that includes a 

 part of the bark. It is very 

 much broken down, especially 

 in the interior, probably having 

 been so disintegrated before it 

 was fossilized. It projects about 



6 feet above the surface. 



In many respects the most 

 remarkable of the fossil forests 

 is on the northwest end of 

 Specimen Ridge, about a mile 

 southeast of Junction Butte 

 and about opposite the mouth 

 of Slough Creek. So far as 

 known, this forest was first 

 brought to scientific attention by Mr. E. ference without the bark and about 

 C. Alderson, of Bozeman, Mont., and 12 feet in height. The portion of this 

 the writer, who discovered it in August, huge trunk preserved is the base, and 

 1887. It is found on the higher part of it exhibits to a considerable degree the 

 the ridge, and covers several acres. The swelling or buttressing so well known in 

 trees are exposed at various heights on the living redwood. The roots, which 

 the very steep hillsides, and one re- are as large as the trunks of ordinary 

 markable feature of the forest is that trees, are now embedded in solid rock. 



Courtesy of E. C. Alderson. 



Upright Trunk and "Hoodoo" 

 The "hoodoo" consists of volcanic material in which the trees 

 were entombed and uneven erosion has left it standing, a 

 grotesque rock form. 



