FOSSIL FOEESTS OF YELLOWSTONE PARK. 



11 



Above this cliff fossil trunks appear in great numbers and in regu- 

 lar succession. As they are all perfectly silicified, they are more re- 

 sistant than the surrounding matrix and consequently stand above 

 it. Most of them are only a few inches above the surface, but occa- 

 sionally one rises as high as 5 or G feet. The largest tnmk observed 

 in the park is found in this locality. It is a little over 10 feet in 

 diameter, a measurement that includes a part of the bark. It is 

 very much broken down, especially in the interior, probably having 

 been so disintegrated before it was fossilized. It projects about 6 

 feet above the surface. 



At many places about Amethyst Mountain there are numerous 

 fragments of fcssil wood and many hollow trunks. The material 

 in which they had been embedded has been eroded away, and they lie 

 around in somewhat the same attitudes that are shown by all the 

 trunks in the Arizona fossil forests, but there is little doubt that 

 they were originally erect and have simply fallen by their own 

 Aveight because of the removal of the material around them. 



Many of the trunks here, as well as elsewhere in the park, had 

 decayed in the center before they were fossilized, and some of the 

 hollow interiors are filled with clusters and rosettes of beautiful 

 crystals of amethyst, wdiich doubtless suggested the name given to 

 the adjacent mountain. Much of this finely preserved wood, as well 

 as the trunks containing the crystals of amethj^st, was broken up 

 and carried away by collectors of minerals and curiosities before the 

 Government control in the park was made sufficiently rigid to in- 

 sure proper protection. 



SPECIMEN RIDGE. 



In many respects the most remarkable of the fossil forests is on 

 the northwest end of Specimen Ividge, about a mile southeast of 

 Junction Butte and about opposite the mouth of Slough Creek. So 

 far as known, this forest was first brought to scientific attention by 

 Mr. E. C. Alderson, of Bozeman, Mont., and the writer, who dis- 

 covered it in August, 1887. It is found on the higher part of the 

 ridge, and covers several acres. The trees are exposed at various 

 heights on the very steep hillsides, and one remarkable feature of the 

 forest is that most of them project well above the surface. 



One of the largest and best preserved trees stands at the very 

 summit of the slope (see title page). This trunk, which is that of a 

 giant redwood, is feet in circumference without the bark and 

 about 12 feet in height. The portion of this huge trunk preserved 

 is the base, and it- exhibits to a considerable degree the swelling or 

 buttressing so w^ell known in the living redwood. The roots, which 

 are as large as the trunks of ordinary trees, are now embedded in 

 solid rock, 



