290 PETKIFIED FORESTS OF ARIZONA. 



We, your memorialists, most respectfully request that the Commissioner of the 

 General Land Office be directed to withdraw from entry all public lands covered by 

 this forest imtil a commission or officer appointed by your honorable bodies may 

 investigate and report to you upon the advisability of taking this forest under the 

 charge of the General Government and making a national park or reservation of it. 



It is annually visited now by hundreds of scientific men and travelers from every 

 State and country, and some such action by your bodies would preserve it from the 

 vandalism it is now subjected to. 



We would further state that at present there is no person living within the limits 

 of the proposed park, so that no settlers will be disturbed by any such action on your 

 part. 



And be it resolved by the legislative nssembli/ of the Territory of Arizona, That our Dele- 

 gate in Congress be, and is hereby, instructed to use all honorable means to have 

 some action taken by Congress to have this Chalcedony Park set aside and formed 

 into a national park under the care and charge of the General Government. 



Also that the secretary of the Territory be, and is hereby, requested to transmit a 



copy of this memorial to each House of Congress, our Delegate to Congress, and the 



United States Land Commissioner. 



J. H. Carpenter, Speaker. 



A. J. DoKAN, President. 



[Indorsed.] 



I hereby certify that the within memorial originated in the House and is known as 

 House Memorial No. 4. 



Chas. D. Reppy, Chief Clerk. 



Filed in the office of the secretary of the Territory of Arizona this 11th day of 

 February, A. D. 1895, at 11 a. m. 



Chas. M. Bruce, Secretai-y of Arizona, 

 By F. B. Devereux, Assistant. 



In June last the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution received 

 the following letter from the honorable Commissioner of the General 

 Land Office: 



petrified forest, ARIZONA. 



Department of the Interior, General Land Office, 



Washington, D. C, June 17, 1899. 

 Sir: I am in receipt of a certified copy of a memorial by the legislature of Arizona 

 praying that certain lands in Apache County, Arizona, in the vicinity of the town of 

 Holbrook, known as the "Petrified Forest," be withdrawn from entry with a view 

 to creating a reservation or national park for the purpose of preserving the natural 

 wonders and curiosities of the same. 



I have the honor to request that you will kindly inform me whether the records 

 of the Smithsonian Institution furnish any information respecting this locality indi- 

 cating that the scenic features of the same are of such a nature as to render it desira- 

 ble, in the interest of the public, to set these lands apart as a national park. I will 

 be pleased to receive a full expression of your views on this subject, and also as to 

 the importance of preserving the mineralized formations in that region. 

 Very respectfully, 



BiNGER Hermann, 



Commisnioner. 

 The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



