REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 25 



""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 Suryey. * * * There is every eyidence 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 surround- 

 ing this great inland sea. 



"Oyer the entire area trees lie scattered in all conceivable positions 

 and in fragments of all sizes, the broken sections sometimes resem- 

 bling a pile of cart wheels. * * * ji^ phenomenon perhaps unpar- 

 alleled 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 50 feet of the tree rests on one side, 

 making- it yisi])le 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 what- 

 ever 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 larg-e 

 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 nmst have been immense trees; measuring the exposed 

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

 2 to 4:^ feet in diameter, the centers often containing most beautiful 

 ciuartz 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 

 Hol])rook, Arizona, on the picturesque Santa Fe Railroad, there are 

 ruilis 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 the}" were built of logs of beautiful fossil wood. * * * 

 The prehistoric dwellers of the land selected cylinders of uniform size, 

 which were seemingly determined by the carrying- strength of a man. 

 It is probal)le that prehistoric builders never chose more ])eautiful 

 stones for the construction 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, arrow- 

 heads, and knives, which are often found in ruins hundreds of miles 

 from the forest." 



This "wood agate" or "wood opal" is now cut and polished into 

 floor tiling, mantels, clock cases, table tops, paper weights, etc. The 

 silver testimonial to the French sculptor Bartholdi, made by Tiffany 

 & Co., had for its base a section of this wood agate. 



Prof. Lester F. Ward, an eminent paleobotanist, w^ho, while officially 

 attached to the staff' of the United States Geological Survey, also holds 

 the position of associate curator in the National Museum, expects to 

 ^■isit the Pacific coast this sunuuer, and may return by the southern 

 route. He tells me that if you so desire he would be pleased to visit 



