PETRIFIED FORESTS OF ARIZONA. 291 



To this letter the following reply was made: 



Smithsonian Institution, 



Wmhington, D. C, July 7, 1899. 



Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 

 17th ultimo requesting information concerning the Petrified Forest near Holbrook, 

 in Arizona, as well as an expression of opinion concerning the desirability of setting 

 aside these lands as a national park, and beg to furnish the following statement: 



The region near Holbrook, Apache County, Arizona, known as the "Petrified 

 Forest," "Chalcedony Park," and " Lithodendron (stone trees) Valley," is of great 

 interest because of the abundance of its beautiful petrified coniferous trees, as well 

 as of its scenic features. The trees lie scattered about in great profusion, but none 

 stand erect in their original place of growth as do many in the Yellowstone National 

 Park. The National Museum possesses three splendid trunks collected there by 

 Lieutenant Hegewald at the request of General Sherman. 



The best popular account of this region is given by Mr. George F. Kunz, and is as 

 follows: 



"Among the great American wonders is the silicified forest, known as Chalcedony 

 Park, situated about 8 miles south of Carrizo, a station on the Atlantic and Pacific 

 Railroad, in Apache County, Arizona. * * * The locality was noticed in 1853 by 

 the Pacific Railroad Exploring Survey. * * * There is every evidence to show 

 that the trees grew beside some inland sea. After falling they became water-logged, 

 and during decomposition the cell structure of the wood was entirely replaced by 

 silica from sandstone in the walls surrounding this great inland sea. 



"Over the entire area, trees lie scattered in all conceivable positions and in frag- 

 ments of all sizes, the broken sections sometimes resembling a pile of cart wheels. 

 * * * A phenomenon perhaps unparalled and the most remarkable feature of 

 the park is a natural bridge formed by a tree of agatized wood spanning a canyon 

 45 feet in width. In addition to the span, fully 60 feet of the tree rests on one side, 

 making it visible for a length over 100 feet." 



Lieutenant Hegewald writes: 



' ' I rode down the valley to examine the thousands of specimens that lay scattered 

 on each side of the valley 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 was to be seen, wood being very scarce; the soil was 

 composed of clay and sand mostly, and these petrifactions, broken into millions of 

 pieces, lay scattered all adown these slopes. Some of the large fossil trees were well 

 preserved, though the action of heat and cold had broken most of them in sections 

 from 2 to 20 feet long, and some of these must have been immense trees; measuring 

 the exposed parts of several they varied from 150 to 200 feet in length, and from 2 to 

 42 feet in diameter, the centers often containing most beautiful quartz crystals. ' ' 



Dr. Walter Hough, of the Smithsonian Institution, who has visited the park, writes 

 as follows: 



"In the celebrated Petrified Forest, which is some 18 miles from Holbrook, Ari- 

 zona, on the picturesque Santa Fe Railroad, there are ruins of several ancient Indian 

 villages. These villages are small, in some cases having merely a few houses, but 

 what gives them a peculiar interest is that they were built of logs of beautiful fossil 

 wood. * * * The prehistoric dv/ellers of the land selected cylinders of uniform 

 size, which were seemingly determined by the carrying strength of a man. It is 

 probable that prehistoric builders never chose more beautiful stones for the construc- 

 tion of their habitations than the trunks of the trees which flourished ages before 

 man appeared on the earth. 



"This wood agate also furnished material for stone hammers, arrowheads, and 

 knives, which are often found in ruins hundreds of miles from the forest. ' ' 



