256 SYLVAN WINTER. 



1883 under Lake Tahoe. For many years an 

 appearance as of a bank of moss had been noted 

 under the waters of the lake ; but on the moss 

 and some accompanying slimy matter disappear- 

 ing, it was seen that they had hidden the limbs 

 and twigs, which could, then, clearly be discerned, 

 of a petrified Pine forest. Fifty feet below the 

 surface of the lake lay this wonderful example of 

 petrifaction, and by the use of grappling-irons 

 lowered into the lake broken pieces of petrified 

 wood were disengaged and brought to the surface. 

 Two acres of ground, it was computed, were 

 covered by this forestal remnant. For the other 

 instance we shall quote from an interesting book 

 already referred to, Mr. "W. G-. Marshall's 

 ' Through America.' ' We drove,' says Mr. 

 Marshall, at page 319 of his first edition, ' to with- 

 in a mile of Calistoga, and then diverged to the 

 right, leaving the main-road and the corn-fields 

 that bordered it, and ascending through forests the 

 spur of a mountain till, in five miles, we came to 

 the wonderful geological curiosity which I will 

 now attempt to describe. Within an area of about 

 thirty acres, mostly on sloping ground, were lying 



