3i6 



RECREATION. 



the big trees of the Yosemite valley and the 

 public grounds about Mt. Ranier. The 

 idea was conceived in the fertile mind of 

 Congressman John F. Lacey, of Iowa, who 

 made a most praiseworthy attempt in 

 his bill before Congress to carry it 

 through successfully. The same com- 

 mendable purposes that prompted Con- 

 gress to make national parks in the past 

 characterize the efforts of the promoter of 

 the latest park bill, which are to preserve 

 from injury or spoliation some of the 

 great and interesting wonders of nature in 

 that section of country. Reckless tourists 

 have been carrying away fragments of these 

 petrified trees, resorting in extreme cases 

 to the use of dynamite; while moneyed 

 men, for purposes of business and profit, 

 have planned for the removal and grinding 

 of these trees into powder as a substitute 

 for emery. The only thing that prevented 

 this commercial vandalism, it was said, 

 was the discovery of a stone in Canada 

 that answered the purpose. 



There is no other such Wonderland in 

 the United States where the remains of a 

 great forest are so remarkably preserved, 

 though there may be found occasional 

 petrifications of unusual character. The au- 

 thor of this national park bill describes 

 these curious trees as being of a conifer- 

 ous, extinct species, with the exception of 

 a single cottonwood trunk. He says : 

 "They lie prone on the ground as they 

 drifted in on a prehistoric sea. Water- 

 logged and heavy, they sank to the bot- 

 tom and were there covered with sand and 

 were changed to chalcedony. The sand 

 hardened and cemented into stone, and 

 finally rose above the waters. This stone 

 forest lay hidden from view for countless 

 ages. By slow disintegration the imbed- 

 ding rock all washed away, and the petri- 

 fied trees, being much harder and more 

 durable, were left lying 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. 

 Oyer an area of several miles the petrified 

 logs are countless at all horizons and lie in 

 the greatest profusion on the knolls, but- 

 tes and spurs and in the ravines and 

 gulches ; while the ground seems to be 

 everywhere studded with gems, consisting 

 of the broken fragments of all shapes and 

 sizes and exhibiting all the colors of the 

 rainbow. The state of mineralization in 

 which much of this wood exists almost 

 places it among the gems and precious 

 stones. Not only are chalcedony, opals 

 and agates found, but many logs ap- 

 proach the condition of jasper and onyx. 

 The natural bridge, consisting of a great 

 petrified trunk lying across a canyon and 

 forming a natural footbridge on which men 



may easily cross, must be one of the dis- 

 tinct and celebrated features in the whole 

 region." 



This interesting description given by 

 Mr. Lacey doubtless accurately pictures the 

 marvelous beauty and geological and his- 

 torical phenomena of this most interesting 

 region of western America. The noble pur- 

 pose that the father of this bill entertains 

 to protect the wonders and beauties of na- 

 ture from the hands of the vandal and tc 

 prevent the wanton waste and decay which 

 years without care must induce, should in- 

 sure its enactment. Lovers of nature, o* 

 travel and of study would rejoice in a na- 

 tional park of the Arizona petrified trees 



James S. Glenn. 



SEEDLINGS. 

 As I foretold in my letter published in 

 August Recreation, thousands of acres ol 

 timber are on fire here now. No end to 

 the fire is in sight until the fall snows 

 come. Every available man is out fighting 

 fire. There are so few timber rangers 

 that it seems the fire gets under full head- 

 way before those few know of its existence. 

 The government is penny wise and $ 

 foolish to furnish so few men to pre- 

 vent fire and then be obliged to use so 

 many to put it out; to say nothing of the 

 loss timber. 



S. N. Leek, Jackson, Wyo. 



Will Recreation readers in Maine 

 kindly write me regarding the timber in 

 their localities? Where can maple, beech, 

 basswood and butternut be found? What 

 is the best part of the State for maple 

 sugar making? Where can good trapping 

 be had? 



J. W. Phillips, Otselie Center, N. Y. 



I wish you would take my ad out of 

 Recreation. It is working me to death. 

 I have had letters from nearly every State 

 in the Union. I could have sold all sorts 

 of bear skins and other kinds of skins, 

 game heads, etc., if I had had them. 

 Recreation is a great advertising med- 

 ium. 



Geo. B. McClellan, Red Bank, Wyo. 



The Mullins boat I got as premium for 

 a club of subscribers to Recreation is 

 remarkably good, and runs perfectly. 



W. C. Jackson, Williamsport, Pa. 



Read the offer of a Scholarship 

 in the . . . 



NATIONAL 



ROUGH-RIDER MILITARY 



ENCAMPMENT, 



on page xxxvi of this issue of REC- 

 REATION. 



