208 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



Nice and Mentone as the resort of the weak-lunged people 

 of both hemispheres. Arizona has, in addition to the 

 beauty of her climate, two of the most remarkable scenic 

 wonders on the globe. The Grand Canyon of the Colo- 

 rado is without question the most sublime and startling 

 of all the works of nature in North America. 



But there is in Arizona a more wonderful scene than 

 even the Grand Canyon itself. In a desert region, a few 

 hours' journey by rail east of the Grand Canyon, is the 

 petrified forest. In other parts of the United States there 

 may be found occasional petrifications of remarkable 

 character, but here are the remains of a great forest. 

 These trees are of a coniferous, extinct species, with the 

 exception of a single cottonwood trunk. They lie prone 

 upon the ground as they drifted in on a prehistoric sea. 

 Water-logged and heavy they sank to the bottom, and 

 were there covered with sand and were changed into chal- 

 cedony. The sand hardened and cemented into stone and 

 finally rose above the waters. This stone forest lay hid- 

 den from view for countless ages. By slow disintegra- 

 tion the imbedding rock all washed away and the petrified 

 trees, being much harder and more durable, were left ly- 

 ing scattered in dense profusion on the surface of the 

 earth, where they had so long laid buried. 



These trees are of the most beautiful colors, and the 

 stone takes as high a polish as granite. Reckless tourists 

 have long been engaged in carrying away fragments, even 

 using dynamite on some of the specimens, while enter- 

 prising money-making men have planned the removal and 

 grinding of these trees into powder to be used as a sub- 

 stitute for emery, the only thing that prevented this com- 

 mercial vandalism being the discovery of a stone in Can- 

 ada that would answer the same purpose. 



Over an area several miles in extent the petrified logs 

 are countless at all horizons and lie in the greatest pro- 



