2 TKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Washington" should want some of the bones of the "Great Giant" 

 their forefathers had killed years ago when taking possession of the 

 country, the lava beds being the remains of the blood that ran from his 

 wounds. 



Camping at Bear Spring, I turned the mules out to graze and left the 

 men to prepare an early dinner whilst I rode down the valley to examine 

 the thousands of specimens that lay scattered on each side of the A^alley 

 along the slopes, which were perhaps 50 feet high ; the valley of the 

 Lithodendron, at its widest part, being scarcely a half mile. Along 

 the slopes no vegetation whatever Avas to be seen, wood being very 

 scarce; the soil was composed of clay and sand mostly, and these petri- 

 factions, broken into millions of pieces, lay scattered all adown these 

 slopes. Some of the large fossil trees were well preserved, though the 

 action of the heat and cold had broken most of them in sections from 

 2 to 10 feet long, and some of these must have been immense trees; 

 measaring the exposed parts of several they varied from 150 to 200 feet 

 in length, and from 2 to li feet in diameter, the centers often containing 

 most beautiful quartz crystals. 



I encountered considerable difficulty in trying to procure two speci- 

 mens answering to the General's description, and which I thought would 

 please. After finding the larger of the two fossils sent, I could find no 

 mate, the remainder being of a different species, and the exi)osed part 

 broken in segments too short to answer. Finally, I concluded to unearth 

 part of the same specimen, which entered the ground at an angle of 

 about 20^. 



Bringing back men and teams, I dug along some 30 feet, finding the 

 second dark specimen, which made a good match, and which saw the 

 light, perhaps, for the first time for ages, though both were parts of the 

 same tree. This was on the right bank or slope of Lithodendron, one 

 mile and a quarter from Bear Spring. I got both fossils loaded on 

 the wagons, and camped at the Spring that night. 



iSText morning we left quite early, encountering some difficulty in 

 getting over the rough country, frequently stopping to make a road to 

 get on a mesa or over some aroya ; late the same evening we arrived at 

 Xavajoe Springs. 



From here we encountered no further difiiculties. Arriving at the 

 post 1 reported my return and the result of the expedition. (The post 

 was Fort Wingate, K. Mex.) 



These specimens remained at the post until Colonel Bull, in Sei)tember, 

 1879, had them boxed up and sent to Santa Fe, :N"ew Mexico. From 

 there they were shipped east to Washington, I believe. 

 Very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 



J. T. C. HEGEWALD, 

 {Late) Second Lieutenant^ Fifteenth Infantry. 



i^EW Albany, Ind., 



September 21, 1881. 



