SCENERY. 157 



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they must have been thrown down. No other explanation 

 will account for the fact thdt all have numerous transverse 

 breaks, cutting squarely across the trunks, with no appearance 

 of having been crushed. No timber could possibly be broken 

 in such a manner : the breaks must have occurred in the stony 

 condition. 



The rock of the ridge is a volcanic sandstone, and was 

 formed by the solidification of wet sand thrown up by a vol- 

 cano, or washed down from its sides. Such a flood of volcanic 

 sand filled up an ancient forest, to a depth of twenty feet or 

 more ; the trees rotted away ; those parts above the surface 

 of the sand disappeared ; those parts below the surface were 

 replaced by stone deposited in water which trickled down ; 

 this petrifaction was harder than the surrounding sandstone, 

 which was washed away ; the petrified trunks, left without sup- 

 port, fell down and were broken into numerous fragments, and 

 there they continue to lie, and to tell of wonderful events that 

 happened thousands of years ago. 



The trees were redwood, of the species which still grows in 

 the same vicinity. 



Another petrified forest, similar to that near Calistoga, is 

 found in the valley of Cedar Creek, in the northeastern corner 

 of the State. 



114. Waterfalls. Besides the cascades of the Yosemite 

 and Hetchhetchy valleys, there are a number of others in the 

 State. There is a cataract, about five hundred feet high, on 

 Fall River, which empties into the Middle Fork of Feather 

 River ; one of three hundred and eighty feet, where the South 

 Fork of the American River slides down over a convex rock, 

 looking like a streak of snow when seen from a distance ; one 

 of sixty feet, in the San Antonio River, in Calaveras County ; 

 another of seventy-five, on the same stream, which falls four- 

 teen hundred feet within a mile ; and one of three hundred 

 feet, called the " Riffle-box Falls," in Deer Creek, Nevada 

 County. 



