SILICIFIED WOOD-LITHODENDRON CREEK. 
43 
dendron creek grey and pinkish sandstones were found in beds from three to six feet tliiek, hut 
even at this locality the red clay predominates. (Notes, December 3.) 
Fossil ivood and trees , Litliodendron creek .—After travelling a short distance down the Puerco, 
on its northern hank, and crossing several tributary streams, the camp was pitched on the 
borders of a stream to which Captain "Whipple has given the name Lithodendron creek. At 
this place, according to Captain Whipple, the hanks are forty feet in height, and are composed 
of red sandy marl. In these hanks, and on the surface of the ground in the valley of the 
creek, great numbers of well preserved fossil trees were found. Captain Whipple mentions 
this deposite as quite a forest, the trunks lying prostrate and buried in marl. One trunk 
measured ten feet in diameter, and was more than one hundred feet long. Mr. Maroon records 
the occurrence of these fossils as follows : “ Many fossil trees were seen ; some of them are four 
feet in diameter, and are divided into blocks one to two feet long ; they are silicified and are 
brilliantly colored. Some of them contain very clear quartz crystals on the round part of the 
trunk.” (See notes, December 2.) The following figure is from a sketch by Mr. Mollhausen, 
and represents one of the prostrate trunks. 
SILICIFIED TRUNK OF A TREE, LITIIODENDRON CREEK. 
Captain Whipple gives an interesting figure in his report, which serves to represent the 
relative size of one of the trees, and a remarkably irregular surface. Captain Whipple, Mr. Moll¬ 
hausen, and Mr. Campbell are of the opinion that the stumps of these trees are found there ; 
and a sketch, by Mr, Mollhausen, of one of them is here given, together with an enlarged view 
of one of the broken logs. This regular fracture, directly across the stony trunks, is very 
peculiar, and was seen in all of the specimens. Mr. Campbell noticed these interesting relics 
very particularly, and saw, as he thinks, several erect stumps. North of Camp 76 he found 
the trees lying on the ground, and protruding from the bank at least one hundred feet below 
the surface of the bluff. 
The trees are mostly horizontal, and lying in various directions. One of them was found to 
be forty feet long, and from three to four feet in diameter. This was merely the main trunk or 
body of the tree, and no branches were seen ; it must therefore have been much larger originally. 
After these trees are exposed, they seem to lose their solidity, and break up into angular frag¬ 
ments. The trees were most numerous in the valley of the creek, but they were found lying 
on the surface above it. The outer portions are generally of a darker color than the interior, and 
frequently rings of various colors, red, yellowish and grey, are found, which give a variegated 
and pleasing aspect to these interesting remains of a former forest. Simpson, in his journal, 
gives a description of a large fossil tree, and exhibits its various tints by a colored lithograph 
