302 PETEIFIED FORESTS OF ARIZONA. 



Petrified Forests is destined greatly to increase. They usually carry 

 with them some concealed tools or instruments, and with these they 

 are perpetually breaking ofi" pieces of objects of which they wish to 

 carry away souvenirs. In this way the finest trunks are being hacked 

 to pieces and disfigured. For example, there are several places on the 

 Natural Bridge where this process has been going on, until quite large 

 holes or unsightly cavities have been dug in the upper side of the 

 trunk. The small chips and blocks that lie detached on the ground in 

 such quantities vary greatly in form and coloration, and it is, of course, 

 always the most symmetrical and brilliant that are first picked up, and 

 these will eventually be so culled out that only the plainer, unattractive 

 pieces will be left. 



It is said that a useful purpose is subserved by sending specimens of 

 the petrified wood to educational institutions. This might no doubt 

 be true under proper regulation, especiall}^ if the specimens were duly 

 labeled and authenticated and placed in properly arranged cabinets, to 

 be explained by the teacher. This will scarcely be accomplished by 

 permitting the free access of all parties with the right to carry away 

 specimens at will. 



Besides this piecemeal method of making inroads upon the treasures 

 of the Petrified Forests, there are ways in which the work may be and 

 to some extent has already been accomplished on a much larger scale. 

 Many years ago the firm of Drake & Co., of Sioux Falls, undertook 

 the work of manufacturing table tops, mantels, clock cases, pedestals, 

 paper weights, and other articles of furniture and decoration out of 

 these sections of agatized wood, by polishing the smooth surfaces and 

 cutting them into the desired forms. I understand that Tiffany & Co., 

 of New York, obtained through this company the beautiful pieces used 

 by them for such purposes. I visited their house at the time they 

 were engaged in this work, and through the courtesy of Mr. George 

 F. Kunz was shown some of the raw material that they then had in 

 hand, consisting of several sections of immense trunks, of the most 

 brilliant colors. While in the park the present season my teamster 

 informed me that he was employed for a long time hauling these trunks 

 out of the upper forest to Carrizo station. Although, according to 

 all accounts, many carloads of it were shipped to the East, he said 

 that there was a larger quantity left at the station that was not shipped 

 than all that was removed at that time. As scarcely any of this 

 remains at the station now, I asked him what had become of it, and he 

 said it had been carried off little by little by anybody that wanted a 

 piece. 



At a later date the Armstrong Abrasive Company, of Denver, con- 

 ceived the idea of grinding up these trunks to make emery, for which 

 they are said, from their extreme hardness, to be an excellent mate- 

 rial. They had a plant for this purpose in Chicago, which they moved 



