HIGH1..UAVS
APRIL 1963
Fl, FTY CENTS
IN THIS ISSUE :
PETRIFIED FOREST
NATIONAL PARK
I HIGHlULJA.V S
VOL. XXXIX NO. 4
RA YJ\!OND CARLSON, Editor
GEORGE M. A VEY, Art Editor
JAMES E. STEVE~S. Business Manager
PAUL FANNIN
Governor of Arizona
ARIZONA HIGHWAY COMMISSION
John J. Bugg, Chairman . . . . . . . . . . . . Florence
\Vilbur F. Asbury, Vice-Chairman . . . . . . . . Phoenix
Bryant \Vhiting, Member . . . . . . . . . . SpringerYille
Arthur F. Black, Member . . . . . . . . . . . Kingman
Stanlev W. Coon, Member . . . . . Duncan
Justin · ·Herman, Director of Highways Phoenix
]. R. Van Horn, State Hwy. Engineer Phoenix
ARIZONA HIGHWAYS is published monthly by the Arizona Highway
Department a few miles north of the confluence of the Gila and
Salt in Arizona. Address: ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, Phoenix 9, Arizona.
S+oo per year in U.S. and possessions; $5.00 elsewhere; 50 cents
each . Second Class Postage paid at Phoenix and at additional
mailing offices under Act of /\,1arch 3, 1879. Copyrighted, 1963,
by the Arizona Higlnvay Department.
Allow five weeks for chang e of address.
Be sure to send in the old as well as the new address.
~ 115
OPPOSITE P .-\GE
"LAVISH COLORS OF THE PAINTED DESERT" BY JOSEF
MUE~CH. View of the Painted D ese rt section, Petrified Forest
National Park, as see n from Tawa Point. Viewpoints along the
Rim of the Painted D esert are the grandsta nd seats from which
the visitor sees the pageant of color, with li ght and shadow
changing the effect to the distant skyline. 4x5 Linhof camera;
Ektachrome; f.14 at 1 / 100th sec.; 6" Xenar lens; October.
FRONT COVER
"CRYSTAL FOREST-PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL
PARK" BY JOSEF MUENCH. This photograph was taken in
the Crystal Forest, Petrified Forest National Park. Here, in a
vivid corner in Mother Nature's "Jewel Box," semi-precious stones
are seen glistening in the desert sun . The area was created a
national monument in 1906 and was elented to national park
status December 8, 1962. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.20 at
1/25th sec .; 6" ·xenar lens ; J\llay.
THE SONG OF THE
PHYTOSAUR
WAS HEARD IN THE LAND
First there " ·as the sea, the ancient se:1, which cm·e red
the land and then the sea subsided. All that remained was
slime and goo and out of this things grew, plant and
animal. This was a long time ago, 1 50 to I So million
years ago, and what do a fe"· million :,e:irs or so matter
between friends. That ,ms \\·hen the song of the ph:nos:mr
,\·as heard in the land. That was \\·hen the stOLT of our
Petrified Forest began.
vVe dedicate our pages this month to th:1t ,\·e ird and
strangely beautiful are,,, to that land of fantastic color.
to that gleaming repository of je,\·eled logs the like of
which cannot be found elsewhere on the earth. \Ve toke
you, with considerable pride, to Petrified Forest National
Park.
Proclaimed a National I\ lonument bv President Theodore
Roosevelt in 1906, Petrified Forest was elevated to
National Park status late last year, and no area in this
wonderful country of ours better deseLTes the title.
Here, in the vast expanse of Petrified Forest and the
P ai nted Desert, vou ,\·ill find scenerv the like of \\ ·hich
you have never ··experienced before. ·Here :·ou can re:1d
the story of the earth, bold!:· ,nitten as if in a brgc,
precious book by trul:· the I\ Llster's hand. Here : · on can
bro,\·se around in a librnrv tlut contains the m ess:1g-e
and wisdom of all creatiot;, Here ,·on sense the \\ ·hfs-p
erino-s of time that o...,·o back to \\'hen time fir st beg·;m, ~ ~ ....
Petrified Forest National P:ll"k, under the custodi:mship
of dedicated men a nd \\ ·omen of th e National P:irk
Service, is one of America 's tre :1sures. The petrified \\ ·ood
and fossilized jewels are yours to enjo:· · Dut a \\·ord of
caution: leave a ll : · ou see as it has been for ages. People
with sticky fingers can get into trouble. During bst
October, for instance, eighteen people ,1 ·ere arrested and
fined for thoughtless!:· and careless!:· picking up a petrified
souvenir or t\\·o in the P :1rk. \Vhar 's there is yours;
only leav e it there and enjo:· it .. . R.C.
COLOR CLASSICS FRO.\! A RlZON.-\ T-HGHWA YS
This Issue
3S111111. slides in 2" 1110111us, I to 15 slides, 40,: eac /.i; 16 to 49 slid C' s,
3S¢ cac/.i; 50 or 111ore, 3 for $1.00. C.1talog of J>re-~·iow slides issu ed
available on request. Address: AR1zo:,..,A H1GH\\"AYs, Pb oeuix 9,
Ari::.01,a.
PF-44 Crystal Forest - Petrified Forest National Park, CO\". 1;
PF-45 Jasper Forest - Petrified Forest National P,1rk, C(H" . 2;
PF-46 !\larks of Time and \\leath er, cm· . 3; PF-47 Golde n \\'atcrs
in Petrified Forest, e<ff. 4; PF-48 The E terrul Giant, p. 13; PF-49
Land of Crumpled Rainbows, p. 14 ; PF-50 The i\ Lmy-Splendored
Land, p. 15; PF-51 Agate Bridge - Petrified Forest, p. 15; PF-52
Touch of Spring in Petrified Forest, p . 16; PF-5.l In the Eroded
Land, p. 17 ; PF-54 Of Color and Distance, p. 17; PF-55 Color as
Far as Eye Can See, center spread; PF-56 All That Re mains of a
Mighty Monarch, · center spread; PF-57 \ Vhere The Ancients
Once Li,·ed, p. 20; PF-58 Colorful Dancing Horizons, p. 2 l;
PF-59 Tepees of Colored Clay, p. 21; PF-60 View from Kachina
Point - Petrified Forest, p. 22; PF -61 \Vhere Once Ancient Seas
Held Sway, p. 22; PF-62 (UL), PF-63 (UR), PF-64 (LL), PF-65
(LR); Jeweled Logs in Petrified Forest, p. 23; PF-66 LaYish Colors
of the Painted Desert, p. 24.
PAGE ONE • ARIZONA HIGHWAYS •
IMPRISONED
RAINBOW
Over rolling hills shouldering into the sky
The scattered bones of a giant lie;
Stone bones which once were resilient wood
And, as graceful trees, in a forest stood.
Was the forest razed? (Geologists dream.)
Were the trunks spread far
by some lazy stream?
But Nature and Time did their work, 'though slow,
And preserved the wood with the
Rainbow's glow.
Natt N. Dodge
PAGE THREE • ARIZONA HIGHWAYS • APR IL 1963
Ancient gossip? Newspaper Rock
Ever-increasing tourist attraction
PAC E FO UR •
PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK
he Petrified Forest area, whose major
interest is provided by the fossilized
trees antedating b y millions of :, rears
the coming of man, is dotted with a
surprising numb er of small stone
ruins of settlements of prehistoric
Pueblo Indians.
This seemingly desolate region evidently was relatively
densely occupied by little groups of farming Indians for
eight centuries, from nearly 1500 years ago to 700 yea r s
ago, with a few v illages containing anot her hundred
years or so, into or through the fourteenth century.
The people had sufficie nt leisur e, somehow, in this
difficult environment, to indulge their artistic impulses by
carving hundreds of petroglyphs on the low sandstone
cliffs and great boulders.
The people who lived in the Petrified Forest region
hundreds of years ago were Pueblo Indians of the same
race see n toda y in the Hopi vi ll ages and other modern
pueblos. They practiced agriculture, cultivating corn,
beans, and pumpkins; and made pottery. They had tools
and weapons of stone, bone, and wood, and they probably
wore simple garments made of cotton cloth and
the skins of wild animals.
In the sixth or seventh century of our era there were
small groups of early people occup yin g th e region, living
in scattered vi ll ages of large circul ar slab-lined pit houses.
These pit hous es consisted of a shallow excavation walled
with a row of large slabs of stone, covere d over with a
construction, perhaps shaped like a flattened dome, of
poles, brush, and mud.
The early people made fairl y good, but undecorated,
pottery, both a polis hed brownware and cruder, rough,
light-gray, t y pical Basketmaker ceramics. It is pos sible
that the two kinds of pottery represe nt two groups, or
tribes , of Indians, coming into the Petrified Forest from
differ ent directions.
From a thousa nd yea rs ago to about th e middle of th e
thirteenth century there, appare ntl y , was a fairl y large
pueblo population in the Petrifi ed Forest, as more th an
a hundred village site s of the period ha ve been located.
The y are most ly very small se ttlements, no longer of
slab hous es but of sma ll adjoining rooms of sto ne masonry
bui lt on t he surface.
The pottery of this epoch includes brown utilit y ware
and severa l t y pes of black-on-white and black-on-red
painted ware. Some of this pottery was received b y trade,
not locall y manufactured, from va riou s o th er areas.
A RIZO NA 1-llGH\VAYS •
FROM A NATIONAL PARK SERVICE BULLETIN
There must ha ve b ee n more seeps and springs tha n
there are n ow along the escarpments to provide suffici e nt
water for a fa rming population of th e size indicate d.
It woul d be quite possi ble for many springs to h ave failed
without any notable climatic change or d ecrease in rainfall.
In the fourteenth centur y, characterized by pol ychrome
pottery, a pink or tan ware w ith black designs outlined
in w hite, there were onl y a few vi ll ages in the Petrified
Forest area and they were notably larger than the tiny
earlier settlements.
Trade w ith different regions is evid enced by the finding
of fo urtee nth century Zun.i and Hopi pottery , as well
as pottery from the vVhit e i\.1ountains to the south, rel
ated to the former.
The people evidently collected into fewer and larger
groups toward th e e nd of the thirteenth century, and
abandoned the area within another hundred years, joining
either the Zufii people to the east or the Hopi Indians to
the northwest. Whether they left because of failure of
water sources or because of Apache attacks is not known.
One of the fe w late sites is the Pu erco Ruin, occupied
from very early tim es on into the fourteenth century.
This ruin, located adjacent to the main road through the
monument, is built in the form of a hollow square about
230 feet b y 180 feet, around a plaza 185 by 130 feet. It
probably was two-storied, and could have housed a hundred
families.
In the so uthern end of the monument are several sites
that were built of chunks of petrified wood. One of
these , known as Agate House , ·was partially reconstructed
in aboriginal style in 1933.
The ancient people also u se d petrified wood occasionally,
e xtremely hard though it is, for flaked stone instruments
such as arrowpoints.
Pictures and designs were carved or pecked in the
sandstone faces of the low escarpment, formin g the edge
of the mesa just so uth of the Rio Puerco, and on great
boulders fallen a·way from the cliff. A few are readily
see n at the Pu erco Ruin, and th e r e are man y others on
and near Ne,vspaper R ocle These petroglyphs include
geometric patterns, similar to painted pottery designs,
and life figures.
Petrogly phs can se ldom be "interpreted"; they probably
have no m ystic m ea ning, no story to tell. They may
b e cl a n symbols in some cases, inscribed by pa sse r sby , in
the same way that unthinking persons today scribble
their names on rocks and buildings; or they may be art
for art's sake, simpl y casual decorations and art de signs.
l'AC F Fl\"£ • ARIZONA HlG 1-l WAYS
IPIED WOOD OF TH E
•
Petri fi ed · .. ~·ood : foul!ci ill every state
vVildlif'e iu bacilrmds of' JJ etri fi cd Forest
Th.ct vo,.;c:ty c' >r< d, fc
or~ thy , i:i:ecre>f'h.,e-, r.,,.. c ,\
TH ESE ANIM A LS ARE 0Ff£N SEEN :
~ ,,.,., •••ne••
,, . ;..,,,~...,,....
,,....,....,
PETRIFIED FOREST
NATIONAL PARK
BY IDA SMITH
Entrance to Petrified Forest National Park
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOSEF MUENCH
N ational park status for Petrified Forest
National Monument has long
been a cherished dream of many
Arizonans and others throughout the
United States," said Secretary of the
Interior Stewart L. Udall when, on
November 7, 1962, he signed an order
designating the monument a national park. The cherished
dream came true thirty days later, on December 8, when
the Petrified Forest became our thirty-first national park.
The park, with its jeweled trees, contains the largest and
most colorful occurrence of petrified wood in the world;
a rare treasure to which Arizonans can point with
justifiable pride. Surrounding the wood lies a colorful
and spectacular landscape whose dramatic story is unsurpassed
by any other in the world.
The 94,161-acre park, with its new facilities, will be
dedicated early this summer by ceremonies planned by
the National Park Service. Seecretary Udall is scheduled
to make the dedication address. The ceremonies will be
held in the new Painted Desert Visitor Center.
Legislation for the new park status was sponsored in
1958 by then Congressman Udall and Senator Carl
Hayden. The authorization was passed by Congress the
same year but, before the order could become effective,
8, 174 acres of private and state land within the park
boundaries had to be acquired by the federal government.
The question is often asked, "What is the difference
between a national monument and a national park?" A
national monument is proclaimed as such either by Presidential
order or by an act of Congress for the purpose of
preserving a special feature; botanical, geological or
archeological. A monument may have exceptional
scenery, but this is not a requisite as it is with a park. A
park is so designated by an act of Congress to preserve an
outstanding example of scenery or landscape in its
original wilderness state.
The dream of national park status for the Petrified
Forest had its beginning back in r 895 when the Arizona
territorial legislature set aside the land of the area for a
national park. But when President Theodore Roosevelt
established the Petrified Forest National Monument in
1906, the landscape areas surrounding the petrified trees
were thought of by some as "God-forsaken desert" -so
the rainbow-hued trees were commemorated in a national
monument; their mysterious and silent "badlands"
forgotten, so to speak, until the strange and impressive
part which they played in the story of the great trees was
to be interpreted by the cooperative efforts of scientists
and naturalists many years later.
It was no easy matter to acquire even the monument
status for the Petrified Forest. At the turn of the century
people were still too close to the necessity of conquering
the wilderness rather than preserving it; too occupied
with wresting a livelihood from the land instead of admiring
petrified rainbows. Many had not the background
that opened their eyes to the beauties of nature. With
the completion of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (later
l'AGE S IX • ARIZONA HIGHWAYS • APRIL I 96 3
to become the Santa Fe) across Arizona Territorv in
188 3, news of the petrified trees spread. It was not· any
sense of wonder that brought certain visitors to view
the stone trees, but the greedy question, "How much
can we make out of them?" The great raid began. Logs
were dynamited. An abrasive stamp mill was established
near the little town of Adamana to pulverize the petrified
logs. Prehistoric Indian ruins were looted.
Arizona was still a territory, but many who visited
the Petrified Forest, and realized its importance, became
alarmed. A citizens' petition was sent to Congress. Professor
Lester F. Ward of the U.S. Geological Survey
made a careful investigation. Due to his report, the Act
for the Preservation of American Antiquities, which had
been sponsored by Representative John F. Lacey, was
passed by Congress, and under this authority President
Theodore Roosevelt on December 8, 1906, estab lishe<l
the Petrified Forest National i\lonument. Dr. YVard was
the Forest's first scientific observer. Al Stevenson, who
lived in the vicinity, was the new monument's first
guardian, serving as such until 191 2 for the fee of $ r
per month.
In the early r9oo's, w hen Adam Hana and his wife,
Anna, instituted the first Petrified Forest tours from their
ranch, the tolerant amusement of some of the natives
regarding the tours was lessened when they found they
could rent their horses and carriages to the visitors. The
little town of Adamana was named for the Hanas.
In 1929 custodian status ,,·as changed to th:1t of
superintendent, and Charles J. (\Vhite .\lountain) Smith
became the monument's first superintendent. [n 19:q
M. V. Walker was appointed its first full-time naturalist.
For many years thereafter a dedicated staff of monument
officia ls and rangers guarded the rainbo\\· fore st
for future generations to see. Scientists and naturalist,
decoded the fantastic story \\Titten in the petrified \\·oo<l.
the fossi lized plants and anim:1!s found in the area. and
in the Painted Desert badlands. Hundreds of thousands
have visited the Forest each , ·ear, haYe learned the
story from the rangers and naturalists, and h:1\"e gone
away \\·ith a new and more thoughtful perspecti,·e. In
1932 the most spectacular part of the Painted Desert ,1·as
added to the monument. \ Vith the increase of ,·isirors
and better kno\\·ledge of the monument's great ,·:due,
pressure for park status began to come from man:, inAuential
directions both near and far.
"Due to the support of all interested persons," said
former Monument Superintendent Fred C. F agergren,
"the efforts for park status have finall:· borne fruit. Prominent
among those persons are Secretar:· of the Interior
Stewart L. Udall and Senator Carl I-Ll\·den. The bte
\Viii C. Barnes, noted Arizona historian, e:\-State Se nator
Lloyd C. Henning, G. L. Noel, former Holbrook postmaster,
Fred A. Schuster, former manaQ:er of Holbrook's
oldest merchandise store, and J. R. ~1\lcE,·o,·, former
president of the First National Bank of Holbrook, all
The Painted Desert
PAGE SEVEN • ARIZONA HIGHWAYS •
Visitor Center
lent their staunch support." Hence, a park was created!
Fagergren served as superintendent of the Petrified
Forest National Monument from 1955 through most
of 1962, during which he and his thirty-two-member
staff "·ere active in the ne,v park improvement program,
for which in excess of a million dollars had been allocated
under the Mission 66 program. Chief among the improvements
is the new Painted Desert Community immediately
north of the U.S. 66 interchange with its Park Headquarters
and Visitor Center. "The Headquarters and
Visitor Center were officially opened August 23, 1962,"
said former Superintendent F agergren. At this writing,
plans for the new community will include an assembly
hall, maintenance buildings, employees' apartments, and
a future school. The original Rainbow Forest JVIuseum
will be maintained with it; exhibits of petrified wood and
fossil plants and animals. The Painted Desert Museum
will be expanded to include the complete story of the
Petrified Forest. Concessions at both ends of the park will
furnish visitors with souvenirs, meals and gasoline. An
additional $.:J.00,000 was later allocated for a public works
program, ,.vhich includes fencing the park boundary. The
new improvements are expected to be completed by June
1 , in anticipation of increased visitation. Visitors to the
· Petrified Forest jumped from 67 1 ,ooo in 196 1 to a total
of 705,013 in 1962.
Heading F agergren 's staff ( and still there) were Chief
Park Naturalist Philip Van Cleave, Chief Park Ranger
Phillip Iversen, Administrative Assistant Vera M. Tagert,
and General Foreman Troy J. Strickland.
Late in 1962 Fagergren was transferred to Wyoming
to be superintendent of Grand Teton National Park.
Superintendent Charles E. Humberger, formerly assistant
superintendent of Zion National Park, has taken over
as superintendent of the new Petrified Forest National
Park.
The park area embraces the most colorful parts of the
Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. Sections of each,
whose outcroppings are scattered outside the park, are
geologically identical to their counterparts within the
park, though not so colorful. The most spectacular parts
are unified within the national park boundaries. "It is
easy to think of the Painted Desert as 'separate' from
the petrified forests," says Chief Park Naturalist Philip
Van Cleave, "but we are making a conscious effort to get
away from this concept, and to think of the Painted
Desert section of the park, and the Petrified Forest section."
Each section is part of and supplements the other.
Examining Old Faithful
In a fo re st of stones
Balanced log
To preserve and protect national parks and monuments,
a policy was established in 1923 known as the
National Park Standards. The policy was based on ideas
of Franklin K. Lane, former Secretary of the Interior,
and Steven T. Mather, first director of the National Park
Service, and strengthened in 1944 due to increased travel
and modernized transportation.
Highlights of the policy declare that a primeval park
( or monument )shall be a sanctuary for the preservation
of all animal and plant life within its limits-that all native
species shall be preserved as nearly as possible in their
aboriginal state-that wilderness features shall be kept
unmodified except as the public shall be given reasonable
access to outstanding spectacles-that with respect to any
unique geological formations or historic or prehistoric
remains within its confines, each primeval park shall be
regarded as an outdoor museum, the preservation of
whose treasures is a sacred trust. Educational and spiritual
benefits to be derived from contact with pristine wilderness
are of prime importance to all people, and call for
the existence and vigilant maintenance of primeval areas
by responsible government agencies-that sanctuary,
scientific and inspirational uses must always take precedence
over nonconforming uses.
Preserved in the Rainbow Forest i\foseum lies the
green branch of a curious, star-shaped tree. It is known
as the monkey puzzle Araucaria. Its family is native to
South America and several South Pacific islands. Species
of these were imported to this country some years ago as
ornamental trees. Microscopic examination of the cells
of these trees and those of the most numerous species of
the petrified trees in the Forest reveals their strange
relationship. So the species of petrified tree was given
the botanical name, Araucarioxylon arizonicum, but it is
commonly known as Araucarian.
There are two other outstanding species of petrified
trees, though less common, in the Petrified Forest. These
will be described later. But the Araucarians are the most
numerous and most colorful of the great trees that lived
170 million years ago in a lush, green forest. How Nature
transformed the ancient trees to stone is one of the
strangest stories ever told, parts of it still a mystery.
Cross-sections of the fallen Araucarians glisten with
agate, jasper, and other semiprecious gem stones. The
material derived its brilliant coloring from the area's
large variety of minerals. And in the Araucarian is
found the most striking "picture wood" in the world.
One almost imagines that Nature tried not only to preserve
in gemstone the great trees, but also pictures of
the forests and deserts and glowing sunsets of that
primeval time.
PACE l\lNE • ARTZ01'A HICH\\'AYS • APRIL 1963
Protected rigidly by the government for future generations
to stud y a nd admire, th e jeweled trees lie in
sta te in one of the w orld 's m os t fantastic preserves .
One cannot visit the Petrified Forest and se nse its
immensity in time without a desire to know th e answers
to its sil e nt riddles. And one cannot view the li ving
Araucaria with out being reminded of their ancient relatives,
from whom they were se parated b y geologic
changes millions of years ago . Their conspicuously outstretched
branches seem to beckon, "Come with us and
take a journey back into time."
We go back in retrospect 1 70 million years, and stand
at the edge of a Triassic forest. Here we find the Araucarias,
some 200 feet tall and twelve feet in diameter,
forming a shelter for lu xurious ferns and club mosses.
Other conifers, and several unidentified tree species, are
growing not far away . Among them ancient streams
wind, keeping the swamp lands flooded. Here the mighty
Phytosaur roams, weighing nearly a ton; his nostrils on
top of his head . He is a crocodile-like reptile with webbed
feet and flattened tail. Lung fishes swim in quiet pools,
and along the marshes clumsily moves the huge Stegocephalian,
a primitive amphibian with a third eye in the
top of his head. We wonder if we are viewing creatures
from some grotesque fairy tale-or is Nature performing
a kind of strange experiment. As yet there are no seasons
or flowering plants as we know them, and no singing
birds, but only seasonal floods. Here the ancient Araucarias
have flourished for thousands of years.
It is the latter part of the Triassic Period. Scattered
throughout the area are hundreds of fallen giants. Some
were uprooted by the wind. Some perhaps were killed
b y fire and di seas e. Soon those that are left w ill go to
their long rest, too. And the waters will cover them and
was h many of them away from the pl ace where they
grew.
vVe close our eyes, and w hen we op en them again
there is no forest. Only the low murmur of a Cretaceous
sea as it c overs a vas t p lain. But before t he arm of the
sea came in , th e streams carried the fa llen gi a nts to their
resti ng pl aces and buried them. The:-7 broug ht great quantiti
es of mud, sa nd, and mineral-lade n vo lcanic ash dmv n
from the mountains, a nd covered the (treat tr ees to a
depth of 400 or more feet; like colossa l \.obins covering
babes in the woods. This curi ou s m antle is ca ll ed the
Chinle Formation. And far above their resting place, w e
watch the ebb and flow of anci ent seas as thev add m arine
deposits to cover the Chinle Formation wit!{ still another
blanket which will ultimately attain a thickness of 30 0 0
feet .
A hundred million years p ass, during w hich one of
Nature's most exquisite and unbelievable arts is perfected.
It is as though she were trying in one sublim e effort to
·atone for the tragedy and sadness of death. Or to disprove,
perhaps, its seeming tragedy a nd to place in the
earth where Mankind would someday find it, a symbol
of immortality. For in the mud of the Chinle Formatio n
Arizona's jeweled trees are born. The slow and mysterious
fossilization of wood had begun.
Silica-laden waters carrying traces of iron, manganese
and other colorful minerals seep into the frame work of
the fallen giants. Cells and crevices are filled with silica,
its traces of iron to become beautiful shades of red, yellow
and brown as the iron oxidizes. It is tinted with the
In the Rainbow Fore st
r
l'AGE TEN • ARIZONA HIGHWAYS • APRIL 1963
In t h e Blue Forest
blacks and purples of carbon and manganese, and in rare
places ·with the blues and greens of copper a nd chromium-
these colors to be preserved in silica as today we
preserve things in plastic, except that when silica hardens
it is much harder than plastic or even glass. As ages pass
and the water slowly subsides, the mineral-discolored
silica ( or quartz) preserves the identifying features of
the (disintegrated) wood.
Now something is happening to the ancient sea and
the hidden plain that was flooded. It is near the clo se of
the Cretaceous Period. i\tlany miles away, two huge
mountain systems are being born; the Sierras and the
Rockies. As they slowly lift their great heights toward
the sky, the flood plain is lifted with them. This is how
deserts come to be.
During the next sixty million years the agatized trees,
enfolded in their Chinle mantle, are slowly being uncovered
by the erosive agents of wind and rain. Eventually
the 3000 feet of overlying deposits are swept and washed
~nrn y . Then, a part of the uppermost Chinle Formation,
and finally, after centuries of time, much of Arizona's
rainbow forest lie s glistening in the sun. Some of the
trees ha ve been broken into sections, in pl aces as uniform
as though a giant had sawed them; but the "giant"
is thought to ha ve been the rhythmic tremors of volcanic
activ ity that pushed the Sierras and Rockies up and
trnnsformed the Petrified Forest into a desert . Other
breakage of the brittle logs ha s obviously been caused
by the se ttling of so il , and b y erosion. Here our journey
into the prehistory of time ends, and that of history
begins.
It is not known what white man m ay first have
viewed the Petrified Forest. Coronado must ha ve seen
the Painted Desert as early as 15 39, since he recorded
his impression of it as "El Desierto Pintado. " The first
written report of the "stone trees" was made in 18 5 1 bv
Lieutenant Lorenzo Sitgreaves. In 18 5 7 Lieutena11t
Edward Beal passe d through the area \\ ·ith his experimental
camel-train and told of seeing the petrified trees.
After a time the careful work of scientists pieced
together much of the remarkable story of th e fallen
giants. Their proved findings have become history. But
in his bookl et "Agatized Rainbows, " Harold J. Brodrick
says, "The petrification of wood has never been studied
sufficiently, and there are many questions for which
satisfactory answers have not yet been advanced." Scientists
believe that some of the trees grew upstream perhaps
a hundred or so miles west and southwest of the Petrified
Forest. Evidence bears this out. However, there are
stumps still standing in the Petrified Forest.
Six "forests" are named within the 94,161 acres of the
Petrified Forest National Parle These we know of course
are not actu a l forests, but are log accummulations that
were washed together. If so il were removed from log s
still buried, we might find that two or more of the forests
are parts of the same accumulation. A large number of
logs are s till buried.
"In the early da ys," says Chief Park Naturali st Van
Cleave, " the forest nearest Adam:rna became ' First Forest,'
the next on the route, 'Second Forest, ' ending up at the
southwest corner of the area ,,·ith 'Third Forest ' and
'Rainbow Forest.' Two other forests \\ ·hi c h were visited
as separate side trips from Adamana \\ ·ere named ' Black
Forest' and ' Blue Forest.'
P A GE E LEVEN • AR I ZONA HIGH"' AYS •
In Rainbow Forest Museum
NOTES FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK OFFERS
A DAZZLING WONDERLAND OF COLOR AND
FANTASTIC LANDSCAPES FOR THE PLEASURE
OF THE CAMERA- PACKING VISITORS.
OPPOSITE PAGE
"THE ETERNAL GIANT" BY DARWIN VAN CAMPEN.
This photograph shows Old Faithful Log in Petrified Forest National
Park, one of the most famous of all petrified logs in the
area. A polarizing filter \Vas used to reduce the glare of the polished
surfaces of the logs. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.14 at
I/25th sec.; 90mm Angulon lens; August; bright sunlight; vVeston
Meter reading 300; ASA rating 64.
FOLLOWING PAGES
"LAND OF CRUMPLED RAINBOWS" BY DARWIN VAN
CAMPEN. Photograph taken in Jasper Forest, Petrified Forest
National Park. vVhile every section of the Petrified Forest shares
in the colorful heritage of this fantastic land, the logs of Jasper
Forest seem particularly determined to break the bounds of the
spectrum with their brilliant and varied outbursts of color. 4x5
Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.22 at 1/ 50th sec.; 90mm Angulon
lens; August; bright sunlight; Weston Meter reading 400; ASA
rating 64.
"THE MANY-SPLENDORED LAND" BY JOSEF MUENCH.
View from the Blue Mesa, Petrified Forest National Park. Narrowleaved
yuccas (Y. angustissima) put up their delicate bud stalks
on a crest looking down over the blue veinings of clay hills of
the Painted Desert on a setting which, aside from the flowers,
might be something like a moonscape. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome;
f.20 at 1/ 10th sec.; 6" Xenar lens; May.
"AGATE BRIDGE - PETRIFIED FOREST" BY JOSEF
MUENCH. Agate Bridge, Petrified Forest National Park. If man
could have arrived sooner in this remarkably colorful desert area,
he might have found hundreds of petrified logs as long as this
one, which here has been supported as it bridges an arroyo. It
will not break of its own weight as others have, as their clay
wrappings and supports were eroded away. The log is 111 feet long,
with a bridge span of about forty feet and is found in Jasper
Forest. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.18 at 1/ 50th sec.; 6"
Xenar lens.
"TOUCH OF SPRING IN PETRIFIED FOREST" BY JOSEF
MUENCH. Photograph taken in Petrified Forest National Park.
Spring has added the charm of the yellow Sego lily (Calocbortus
nuttalli) to the rich tones of a log of petrified wood, to make a
contrast not alone in textures but between the flora of some 170
million years ago and the fresh flowers of today. 4x5 Speed
Graphic camera; Kodachrome; f.18 at 1/1oth sec.; 6" Ektar lens;
May.
"IN THE ERODED LAND" BY JOSEF MUENCH. In Jasper
Forest, Petrified Forest National Park. Great chunks of logs,
turned to semi-precious stone, tumble out on the open desert in
the brilliant Jasper Forest. In the background are clay hills, the
material nature used to wrap the ancient trees while they were
being transformed. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.14 at l/50th
sec.; 6" Xenar lens; May.
"OF COLOR AND DISTANCE" BY DAVID MUENCH. Photograph
taken in the vicinity of Agate House, Petrified Forest
National Parle Petrified wood is shown here scattered over the
uneven ground where it has been eroded out of the painted clays
of the Triassic Age. Visitors see here the world's finest display of
petrified logs, big and small, enhancing the stark beauty of the
desert landscape. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.16 at
1/ 50th sec.; 6" Elnar lens.
Polished petrified tree
"Land of Crumpled Rainbows"
DARWI:-- VAX CAMPEN
"The Many-splendored Land" JOSEF MUENCH
"Agate Bridge - Petrified Forest" JOSEF MUENCH
"Touch of Spring in Petrified Forest"
JOSEF MUENCH
"In the Eroded Land" JOSEF MUENCH
"Of Color and Distance" DAVID MUENCH
0- "All that Remains of a Mighty Monarch" CARLOS ELMER "Color as Far as Eye Can See" CARLOS ELMER 6
"Where the A11cie11ts Once Lived"
JOSEF MUE'.\'CH
"Colorful, Dancing Horizons" DAVID MUENCH
"Teepees of Colored Clay" JOSEF MUENCH
"View from Kachina Point - Petrified Forest" JOSEF MUEN~ H
"Where Once Ancient Seas Held Sway" JOSEF MUENCH
"Jeweled Logs in Petrified Fore st" JOSEF MUENCH
CENTER PA NELS
"COLOR AS FAR AS EYE CAN SEE" BY CARLOS ELMER.
Photog r ap h taken along the main n orth-south road through Petrifi
ed Forest National Park, l ooking east. The eroded hill s of colorful
clay a nd sa nd add to th e interest of Arizona's Petrified Forest,
especiall y w h en the billowing clouds of summert im e add to the
mood. Burke & Jame s Panoram; Ektachrome E-2; f.9 at 1/ 100th
sec.; 5" Ross lens; brig ht da y ; Meter reading 400; ASA rating 32.
"ALL THAT R E MAINS OF A MIGHTY ,\'IO~ARCH" BY
CARLOS ELME R . Anothe r view of Old F aithful L og, P etrified
Forest Nation a l Park. The hu ge expanse of Old Faithful Log is
probabl y the most famous pi ece of petrified woo d in th e world.
It is found along a trail l eading from the back door of the Museum.
Burke & J ames Panor a m; E ktachrome E-2; f.9 at 1/ 1ooth
sec.; 5" Ross lens; summer; bright d ay; m eter r ea ding 400; ASA
rating 32.
"WHERE THE ANCIENT S O NCE LIVE D " BY JOSEF
MUENCH. Photog r a ph shows Agate House , P etrified Forest.
H e r e are prehi storic ruins, an ancient hou se , built of se mi-precious
stones! There are my ths te lling of cities w hose streets wer e paved
with gold, but w h ere else wo uld yo u find houses built of such
rainbow shad es - a nd se mi-precious stones? Agate H o use was
occupied by prehistoric people some 800 year s ago. It was reconstructed
in 193 3. 4x5 Spee d Graphic camer a; Kod achrome;
f .16 at 1/ 10th se c.; 6" E lnar lens; May.
"COLORFUL DANCING HORIZONS " BY D AV ID
MUENCH. The Painted Desert section of P etrified Forest National
Park. Looking from the Rim of the Painted D esert (as
the ea rly Spanish ex plorer s n amed it), the visitor sees a badland
of fabulous colors, never the same from one visit to th e next.
4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome ; f.16 at 1 / 50th sec.;
6" Elnar lens; June.
"TEPEES OF COLORED CLAY" BY JOSEF MUENCH. A
view of a portion of the Painte d Desert as seen along the road
in P etrified Forest National Parle These formati ons are called
the T epees, named, of course, for their r esembl ance to the pointed
tents of the Plains Indians. They are huge cla y hills, s howing
bands of colors in the cl ay and sa ndstone. 4x5 Linhof camera ;
Ektachrome; f.14 at ! / 25th sec.; 6" X en ar lens; A ugust.
"VIEW FROM KACHINA POINT, PETRIF IE D FOREST"
BY JOSEF MUENCH. In the Painted D esert sec tion of Petrified
Forest National Park. The v iew is from K ac hina Point. 4x5 Linhof
camera; Ektachrome; f.20 at 1/ 50th sec.; 6" Xenar lens; July .
"WHERE ONCE ANCIENT SEAS H ELD S\VAY" BY JOSEF
MUENCH. In the J asper Forest, Petrifie d Forest 1'ational Park.
Lo gs, ly in g among the cla y hills o f an anc ient landscape, ha,·e
been "c hopped" into lengths, a lon g brea ks probabl y resulting
from earth disturbances w hil e the y were still hidd en in the clay.
They have fallen apart as they were tumbled out in the final
process of eros ion. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f . 16 at 1/ 50t h
sec.; 6" Xenar lens; July.
"JEWELED LOGS IN P E TRIFIED fORE ST" BY JOSEF
MUENCH. Here are sh own poli shed petrifi ed logs at R a inb ow
Forest Museum. Polishin g of the se petrified logs brings out the
colors caused b y minerals w hic h seeped into the lo gs alo ng with
the si li ca w hich help ed h arden them int o their pres ent form. No
t wo p ieces of petrified wood are e1·er quite alike and w h en cut
and poli s hed show a variety of colors as we ll as fascinatin g patterns
a nd desi g n s. 4x5 Linh of camera; Ektachrome; f.20 at !/25th
sec .; 6" Xenar len s ; October.
OPPOSITE PAGE
" JASPER fOR EST - PETRIFll'. D FOR EST NAT IO NAL
PARK" BY JOSEF i\IUL-"Cl-1. Photograph ta ken in the J asper
Forest, P etrifi e d Fore st National Park . There seems no e nd ro
the numb er of lo gs, lyin g on cL1y slopes and almost f o rmin g
rive r s as t hey h aYe roll ed do w n banks, breaking apart to sho w
the brilliant colors hidden under th e dar k bark and showin g knotholes
as we ll. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektac hrome ; f. 16 at !/25th se c.;
6" Xenar len s; ,\ lay.
T e pee Formatiom
P ark's Visitor Center
"In more recent years, we have applied the name
'Jasper Forest' to First Forest; 'Crystal Forest' to Second;
and 'The Long Logs' to that part of Rainbow Forest
previously known as Third Forest. The reason for these
name changes was to avoid the frequent misinterpretation
of the old names wherein visitors assumed that First
Forest was geologically the first, hence the oldest, etc.
The new nam es are not without drawback in that Jasper
Forest is not by any means the sole locality for jasperized
wood, but the new names are more descriptive and, we
hope, less confusing. The area previously named Blue
Forest, we now refer to as 'Blue Mesa,' for the blue coloratio
n of the shale bed s exposed here, rather than of
the petrified wood."
The Chinle Formation in which the petrified logs
are found received its variety of bright colors from
traces of minerals included. It consisted first of mineralized
volcanic ash which nature later converted .into
clay-like material called bentonite. Erosion of the multicoiored
bentonite beds gave the Petrified Forest its
picturesque pinnacles and weird "badlands."
J as per Forest contains a n abundance of highly colored
broken logs, and the long log that forms Agate
Bridge. This log is I r I feet long, and the bridge has a
span of forty feet. Agate Bridge is the most noted petrified
log in the world.
In Crystal Forest, the silicified logs are whitish. Bentonite
clay is norm ally whitish, the same as silica, unless
it is colored with minerals, so it is evident that Crystal
Forest contained les s mineralization with color. Here vve
find hollow pl aces in logs containing quar t z crystals.
Long Logs Forest contains the finest of the long logs.
Petrified logs range up to 160 feet in length. It was here,
800 o r 900 years ago, that prehistoric people built a
house of petrified wood. Its ruin is the famous Agate
House. Agate House was reconstructed in 1933 by Dr.
H. P . Mera, noted anthropologist .
Rainbow Forest contains some of the most beautifully
colored sections of petrified logs. One of the largest Is
"Old Faithful." In Rainbow Forest Museum are displays
of polished sections of petrified wood, and fossils of
animal and plant life that inhabited the Forest in Triassic
times. These fossils tell us something of climatic conditions
here 1 70 million years ago . The fossil leaves are
said to be the m ost beautiful ever discovered. Their impressions
were found in the shales of Blue Mesa and other
Nature's je7.velry shop
PAGE TWENTY-SIX • ARIZOXA HIGHWAYS • APR IL I 96 3
Ancient rock pictures
places in the Forest. When cracked from the blue-grny
shale, the fossil le aves disclosed vivid red; bro:wn and
black colors. The elevation at Rainbow Forest is 5,472
feet.
Photogra pher lVIoulton Smith describes the tiny muse
um here in 1930: "It contained a small exhibit of petrified
wood only. Several pieces had been sent to Germany
to be cut and polished. One of these was a sphere. There
were few lapidaries in the United States then, compared
with the thousands today."
Blue Mesa is notable for its pink petrified logs. John
Muir, famous naturalist, n ame d it "Blue Forest" in 1906.
In 1930 President Herbert Hoo ver proclaimed it a part
of the Petrified Forest a tional i\lonument. The logs
here can be seen on three le ve ls. Here are numerous chip
piles. But souvenir hunters, beware' These chips are protected
by Uncle Sam along with everything else in the
Park. If each of the thousands ,\·ho visit the Park annually,
took just one little chip, soon there would be none
left for our grandchildren to see. Not far from Blue
Mesa is the famed "Newspaper Rock," Indian petroglyphs
. Petroglyphs are drawings that ha ve been pecked
or chiseled in stone. Those in the Petrified Forest ha\·e
been called the cl ass ic examples of such in the Southwest.
Black Forest, disco vered by Lieutenant A. W. vVhipple
in 185 3, lies out in the Painted De se rt. Its dark petrified
,\ ·oo d makes a striking contrast to the red, yellow, orange,
blue, purple and brown colors of the P ai nted Des e rt. In
the far northwest corner of the Painted Dese rt stands
Pilot Rock, the highest point in the Park. Its elevation
is 6,234 feet.
The fantastic colors, eroded pinnacles, spectacular
badlands, and agatized logs-all were formed directly or
indirectly by wind, rain, earth mo ve ments and min e ralladen
waters following the lines of leas t resistance. Their
formation a nd distribution was by whimsical chance-or
,\·as it ) vVhen millions of years iater we summari ze the
overall story of the submersion, the long process of transformation
, the uplifting again, and the uncovering of one
of Nature's most exquisite works, we wonder!
i\lore th an one hundred prehistoric Indian ruins of
archeological value are scattered on the mesas throughout
the area. They are of the Puebloan culture and date
back to pre-Columbian tim es, A.O. 800 to 1 -fOO .
After the Petrified Forest became a n ational monument,
those who had plundered it transferred their o p-
PAGE T\VE:'<TY-S EVEN • ARIZO:\ . .\ HIGH\\" AYS •
Cross section, polished petrified log
erations to privately owned land in the vicinity. One such
property was a hundred and ten sections of ranch land
owned by Johnny Jones, not far from the Painted Desert.
Of the raiders, Johnny's son, Stanley said, "Those moochers
are no better than horse thieves!" After dickering
with the merely thoughtless, and chasing the aggressive
ones away, Stanley salvaged most of the specimens on
his father's ranch, which included some of the finest of
petrified picture wood. To bring out the striking patterns
in the picture wood, the Woodworthia and the
Schilderia, he cut and polished them. The results are
strikingly beautiful.
Three outstanding species of petrified wood have
heen found in the Park and adjoining areas; the Araucarian,
which is the most numerous, and which contains
the picture wood; the HI oodworthia arizonica and the
Schilderia adamanica. W oodworthia, a conifer, is found
mostly in shades of gray, sometimes with black markings,
green and blue, except when in close association
with the more colorful Araucarian. The Schilderia, a
gold and black wood, has peculiar radiating rays, and is
not related to any species known today. "It seems likely,"
s:1ys Chief Park Naturalist Van Cleave, "that the latter
t\{·o may be of later appearance than the Araucarioxylon."
Crystals of quartz, calcite and barite are found in
crevices in the petrified wood. The qm.rtz occurs in
clear, amethyst, black, and other colors, according to the
minerals that colored them.
Certain less colorful types of petrified wood are found
in other Arizona localities. In some earlier writings it is
stated that petrified wood may be collected outside the
national park, but in September, 1962, Congress passed a
bill to "lock up for safe keeping the petrified wood on
public domain lands." So it is now unlawful to collect
petrified wood on any government-owned land.
The first known public exhibition of petrified wood
took place in 188 5 at the New Orleans Exposition.
Among the first gem stones and polished pieces of this
wood to be displayed were those of Hatch, Drake and
Company at the 1889 Paris Exposition.
Gem stones in petrified wood are described the same
as those occuring elsewhere: Chalcedony is noncrystalline
quartz and is normally white. Agate is colored chalcedony.
It is translucent and may be all one color or variegated.
Jasper is opaque chalcedony and may be red,
brown, yellow, blue or green or a combination. Picture
wood is found in all of these in the Araucarian, the
tree-like formations often caused by manganese, which
PAGE TWENTY-EIGHT • ARIZONA HlGH"' AYS • APR I L 1963
has a tendency to form in dendritic or tree-like patterns.
More than three hundred living plant species have
been identified in the Petrified Forest National Park. A
fine herbarium is in process. A check list of birds, at
present count, numbers 131 species, thirty of which are
residents. Instead of the huge reptiles of Triassic times,
the Park has several small varieties of harmless (beneficial)
snakes and lizards. There are also a few rattlesnakes,
the only poisonous species, but these are seldom
seen. The Park's mammals are the antelope, occasional
coyotes and bobcats, porcupine, prairie dogs, rabbits, etc.
The Park is open the year round. A picnic ground
equipped with tables, shade and water is avai lable for
free daytime use only. There are no camping facilities.
Meals and gasoline may be obtained at Park concessions.
The road through the Park is closed to through travel at
night. The nearest towns with hotel and cabin facilities
are Holbrook, Arizona, approximately twenty miles west;
Gallup, New Mexico, ninety-two miles east; and St.
Johns, Arizona, approximately forty-two miles southeast.
These mileages vary slightly depending upon the routing
used. Communications for further information should
be addressed to Superintendent, Petrified Forest National
Park, Holbrook, Arizona.
One of the most beautiful descriptions of the Petrified
Forest and Painted Desert was written by the Forest's
first superintendent, Charles J. (\rVhite Mountain) Smith
in 1938, in his petition to the National Park Service to
then have the monument designated a national park. He
described the scenic features; the nature-carved formations
in their "contrasting color effects of blues, grays,
reds and brmvns ... The soft tones of yellow, pink,
orchid, battling with bolder colors of red, blue and
purple."
He said, "At sunrise a luminous haze lies softly over
the formations, giving them a velvety sheen no painter
has been able to capture on canvas. At sunset, when the
last red beam of light drapes itself across the shadowy
depth of the gorge, then beauty itself dwells in every
faint line, softened and screened by the dying light."
Touch of spring in Petrified Forest
PAGE TWENTY-NINE • ARIZONA H!Gff\:VAYS •
Diorama of a T riassic scene: Exhibit in Rainbow Forest Visitor Center
Dicynodont reptile of T riassic period Reconstruction drawing- Triassic lung-fish
PAGE THIRTY • ARIZONA HIGHWAYS • APRIL I 96 3
PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK
p ...._._.TOM~
ht Pl@p T.1/QM, C1iwt
CHIEF PARK NATURALIST PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK
PHOTOGRAPHS: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
rizona's Petrified Forest is known
around the world for its spectacular
display of countless great logs of
semi-precious stone. These fossil trees
are truly remarkable both from the
standpoint of the variety of quartzfamily
minerals included, and the in-finite
number of superlative "gems-in-the-rough" that
assail the visitor's eye.
Surely Petrified Forest National Park owes its existence
and its world renown exclusively to these fossil
giants of a bygone flora of I So million years ago; and, just
as surely, 99 out of 100 visitors to the park "fail to see
the forest for the trees," seeing only fossils that represent
a single species typified by preservation in vividly colored
agate and jasper.
In addition to this most plentiful and spectacular
species of tree fossil ( Araucarioxylon arizonicum), two
other trees of the Triassic forest of this area are common
enough to be widely known and easily distinguished:
W oodworthia arizonicum, and Schilderia admnanica.
If this were the end of our story, our picture of this
Stegocephalian amphibian-180,000,000 years ago
ancient forest would be but a vague and hazy scene. Fortunately,
we have a great many more bits and pieces to
add detail and interest to the picture, for at least eight
other species of fossil woods of "tree size" plants have
been found in the Chinle Formation of this vicinity. In
most of these cases, our knowledge is based on but a
single specimen; only a fragment of a single plant.
Such are the vagaries of plant fossili zation that " ·hile
some plant tissues may be abundantly preserved in their
original and most minute detail, the wood of another
plant may be incapable of fossilization except under a set
of rarely-met-with ideal conditions. Hence it is unsafe
to assume that our forest in life was made up of plants
in the same ratio or proportion as is represented by the
surviving fossils. Some of the rare species of fossil woods
might well have been very common plants of the era.
While we may presume that other large plants that were
common to the Triassic forest remain yet undiscovered,
we must also assume that some quite common forms failed
utterly to attain preservation in the fossil record.
For these reasons, we might compare our efforts toward
a reconstruction of a Triassic forest scene to the
PAGE THIRTY - ONE • ARIZONA HIGHWAYS • APRIL I 96 3
Metasequoia-detail of living wood
process of assembling a tremendous jig-saw puzzle picture
with the foreknowledge that a great many of the pieces
have been lost beyond recall.
Although the ,vood fossils of which we have been
speaking are the most enduring and easiest to be found
among our jig-saw puzzle pieces, we have already seen
how few they are in number, at best providing us with
a sketchy outline to our picture. For interesting and
beautiful details to add to our scene, we must look to a
host of other sorts of fossils.
Undoubtedly, our richest source of information on
just such details lies in the almost limitless quantities of
very fine-grained shales in which are to be found beautifully
preserved leaves, twigs, flowers and seeds, as well
as microscopic grains and spores of fems and fungi, each
capable of precise identification because of the perfection
of its preserved detail.
The paleobotanist, or student of fossil plants, like his
colleagues in the other sciences, is a very cautious or
conservative individual. In fact, leading paleobotanists
Arcrucarioxy !on-detail of petrified wood
throughout the world have adopted a set of international
rules which require adherence to caution and against
"jumping to conclusions" in the matter of naming plant
fossils. As the various fossilized parts of a given plant
are discovered, each will be described in detail and each
is given a separate name. Thus it often happens that the
leaves, wood, flowering parts, pollen spores and roots of
a single plant may long be known under as many different
scientific names until, at last, incontrovertible proofs are
at hand by which to demonstrate that the many parts
are, indeed, parts of a single species of plant.
While this seemingly confusing state of affairs docs
have its drawbacks, it makes the search for "proof of
connection" between plant parts one of the exciting and
fascinating, albeit time-consuming, parts of our project
of restoring the Triassic forest scene. For instance, we
presently have well over a score of species of fossil leaves,
but in only a case or two do we have any indication of
what leaf belongs to a certain plant stem!
At this juncture, let's go back once again to consider-
Fossil leaves, central one is a cycad leaf, others fern
ation of the several species of tree fossils to see what sort
of effort necessarily must precede our ability to "easily
distinguish" one species from another. Despite the fact
that our chose.n fossil may be a log, perhaps one hundred
and fifty feet in length, with a diameter of eight or ten
feet, its precise identity is locked in microscopic details of
growth habit and cell structure that require magnification
often as great as 250 power for adequate study.
Since the important characteristics of cellular structure
are oriented differently within the wood tissue, it
will be necessary to prepare small specimens of our fossil
so that no less than three different sections or planes may
be studied under the microscope. These essential sections
are: 1) a transverse section or cross section; 2) a radial
section whose plane is along the grain of the wood and
along a radius from the center to the outside; and 3) a
tangential section which forms a plane at right angles to
both the transverse section and the radial section.
Preparation of these sections is, in itself, a considerable
undertaking, for our fossil of agate is appreciably harder
than glass or common steel. We start by sawing a thin
slice, perhaps 1/16 inch thick, from each. of the needed
planes. The sawing will be done on a diamond saw, a
thin steel blade charged or studded about its perimeter
with minute bits of crushed diamond. Our specimens
need be only about the size of a postage stamp in area.
The next step is to grind each of the thre~ sections do:vn,
to a thickness which is only a minor fract10n of the thickness
of this printed page, so that it may be studied under
light transmitted through the tissue-thin rock section.
Too often, at this point, the student will find it necessary
to abando? some of his se~tions in preparatio?,
because of unsatisfactory preservat10n of structure detail,
and start over once again to produce a usable section.
Not infrequently, the preparation of these three essential
microscopic-slide sections will require literally weeks of
careful and patient grinding before the student is ready
for their study. Yet only by this process can we add, bit
by tiny bit, the details which add interest and beauty to
our "restored" but admittedly always incomplete picture
of the Triassic forest as it looked 180 million years ago.
The diorama exhibit in the Museum of Rainbow Forest
Visitor Center has been prepared as a means of conveying
to the visitor the extent of our present knowledge
of the Triassic forest. While each and every element of
flora and fauna that is included is firmly based on fossil
facts, it fails to put across one very important question:
How great are the blank spaces in our jig-saw puzzle
picture? We will add a detail here and there as. future
discoveries, future study and future research, provide the
clues, but the picture can never be completed.
Fossil fern leaves
Microscopic detail, fossilized wood
Fossil fern leaf impressions
PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK
PHOTOGRAPHS NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
* Th e proclamation of President Theodore Roose·ve lt creating Petrified Forest National Monument in 1906
Petrified ?oreat Wational Y~nWD.11nt,
Arill\Ona.
BY TKll PlU!S:r.DElTT Olf Tl!E llR'ITJl'D STATES Olr All.ERICA,
A P R O O L A M A T I O :I.
Whe:re&s, it is provided by aeotion two of the .ADt or Congress,
approved lune 6 1 1906, entitled, •An Aot tor the preae~
ation or American Antiquities,• "That tho President or tbe
United States 1a hereby a11thor1:ed, in h.ia diacretion, to declare
by publio procl.&ma.tion historic land marks, h1etor1o and
preh1ator1c struoturea, and other obj ects of h1ato r1o or aoienUfic
interest that are situated upon the lands o••ie<l. or controlled
by the Government or the United States to be National
Monuments, and ,uq reuerTe u a part thereof Jlaroele of land,
the 11ml. ta of Which in all caoee shall be confined to the
smallest area comp&tiblo with the proper care and managoment
of the obj eot to be protected; •
And, whereas. the mineralized remains ct lleeozaio toreata,
oQlll!!l.Only knolfll &8 the "Petrit'ied Forest,• in the Territory of
Arizona, situated upon the pnblio lands olflt ed and controlled
bY the United States, are of the greatest soientific intarest
and value and 1t a,ppoa.ra th&t the public good would bo prvmoted
by reserving theae depo Iii ta ot foseUized wood as a lh,tional
m<n Wllent with aa l!llloh land as may be neceasa.ry tor the proper
protection thereof;
Now, therefore, I, THEOJJOIUI: ROOSEVELT , Presid.ent ot the
United States of America, by virtue of the power 1n me Teated
by aeotion two of the l.lforesaid Act ot Congress, do hereby
set a.side ae the Petritied _11oreat Ni•1;1onal l!onWllent, aubJ•ot
to an,r valid and exieting rights, the ·deposits of lllineralf.Hd
toreot r-1n• f1tllaUII. '-» Gila and A{>aohe oonntiu, ~iz•':14•
nro partJ.o,11.lai'l,- looah4 and deecriboll a.a tollowm, t~ ir1t1
Sa<>tiona l to 16 inolua1Ye in t ownehip 16 north, ran c: • 7.3;
sections 20 to 2S inclusive and section:, 31 to 36 1nclueive in
town!lhip 17 north, range 2~; aeotions 1 to 1 2 inclusive and
seotion 18 in t ownsh ip 16 north , range 24 ; sections 2 to 11
inclusive and eeo tions 1 4 t o 36 1nclus 1Te i n town~hip l? north, .
ange 24; seotiona 5, 6> 7 and a, in town&hip 16 north, range
and sections 19, 20, 29, :50, 31 and 32 in township 17 north,
25 • all east ot the Gila and Salt R iv e r Meridian as ehown
map hereto attached and m&do a part of this proclama-is
hereby expressly g1Ten to a.11 unauthorized
~.
~ orest re.mains hereby declared to be a
r to locate or settle upon any o f the lands
tot said monument by this proclrunat ion .
l\ I have hereunto eet my hand and
, i n the year of our Lord
PAGE THIRTY-FOUR • ARIZONA HIGH"' AYS • APRIL I 96 3
R epresentative Joh n Fletcher Lacey, May 30, 1841-Sept.
29, 1913. Congressman L acey was born in TVest Virginia,
but 1noved to Iowa at 14 years of age. As a long- time
chairman of the House Committee on Forests, he helped
to frame most of the legislation relating to conservation
between 1889 and 1907. H e was author of "An Act for
the Pres ervation of Amer ican Antiquities" of 1 906 ( often
called the "Antiquities Act!") which gave th e President
of the United States the authority to establish National
Monuments by Presidential Proclama tion. It was under
this authority that President Th eodore Roosevelt created
Petrified Forest National Monument.
Specimen of a petrified log on exhibit in the
U. S. National 1\lluseum, J.Vashin gton. This
sp ecimen was collected and sent to J.Vashington
by Lt. John F. C. Hege ~<.Va ld under
orders fron.z G eneral Sher111an. Lt. H ege~<.Vald's
expedition was authorized under Ft. J.Vingate
Special Orders No. 24 under date of April 30,
187 9, to "proceed via N avajoe (sic) Springs as
far as the Lithodendron, for the purpose of
collecting the pictured specimen for the National
Museum."
ZUNI AND COLORADO RIYERS, 7
valley destitute of timber, but covere d with a thick growth of
rank unnutritious grass. The hills bounding it on either side
are of gradual slope, with here and there a rocky point of a
conglomerate of gray sandstone and pebbles jutting out into
the bottom.
September 28, Camp No. 5.-Proceeding down the valley, it
widens out into a broad plain, which the recent profuse rains
had made soft and muddy. To avoid this w e turned off from
the river, and made our way across the hig h land, but gained
little by th e exchange, for the soil w as so light and thinly covered
with grass that the mules sank to tneir fe tlocks at e very
step. The ground ,vas strewed with p ebbles of agate, jasper,
and chalcedony, and masses of what appeared to have
been stumps of trees petrified into jasper, beautifully striped
with bright shades of red, (the predominating color,) blue,
white, and yellow. The rocks were gray sandstone, some-tim
es of a slaty structure. ~
September 30, Camp No. 7.-The ri \·er here runs through a
deep a.nd rocky canon, which we skirted, and crossed below
it. to the s?uth bank, findir:i,& the ground much broken by ravmes,
which were only visible when w e ca me directly upon
them. The surrounding scenery r esembled that of the northweste
rn prairies, the country being bare of trees and the horizon
unbroken, except in one direction, wher e a high conical
peak, that had served us several days as a lankmark, varied
the uniformity of its outline.
October l, Camp No . 8.-The river, winding to th e north,
gave us a straight course across the high land, soft and sandy,
as usual, and frequ e ntly intersected by deep ravines, until we
again encountered it, flowing now between bluff sandy banks
fnnged with cotton-wood trees, and presenting at l encrth the
appearance of a river, but still with little water in its bed. I
re::narked cropping out of the side of a bluff a sea m of fibrous
gypsum three or four inch es thick. In the course of the clay's
march the San Francisco mountains became visible to the
west, and to the north several singular volcanic peaks.
A page from " R EPORT OF AN ExPEDJTIO~ DowN
THE Zu5iI AND CoLORADO RIV ERS , BY CAPTAIN
L. SITGR EA \'ES, CORPS OF TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS,"
S ena te Document, 32d Co11gress,
2d S ession, Executive o r d er, 110 59, 1853. The
Sitgreaves R eport is the first known 771e1Ztion
of the occurrence of petrifie d v.:ood i11 the re gion
of present-day Petrifi ed National Park
to have appeared in print.
An early -day tour
of Petrified For est
(c irca 1910). The
sc enery was i11teresti11g
at that time.
PAGE THIRTY-FIVE • ARIZONA HIGHWAYS •
I
a
PERSPECTI VE
at
not
were
things
little
the
sma ll
so
looked
things
b ig
the
there
Up
see k
I
mind
of
peace
the
found
I
peak
mounta in
climbed
day
The
-MILDRED N. HO YE R
BILL roR THRFF DOLLARS
Pietro help ed around all da y,
W ith errands sma ll and large,
Then sm ilinglr came to co ll ect
With reasons for h is charge.
"For groce ries I mad e three comes;
On three goes I was se nt ;
And these all add up ro six gones
At fifty cents a went."
- 01.i VE BREED
APR I L GA ,\fl<'.
In springtim e
c,·e r v breeze delights
in fl; ,in,~- skv-h ii:d~
w hi~ c c·louci-kit;s.
-C1.roR -11. T.o vr 1.1 .
BO ISTEROUS i\ l ARCT-T
March w ith its swaggeri ng bluster
Is a restless h ov
Bottled up with mischief,
W ild w i th jor'
March is noisy laughter
Flun g against the sky;
L in es of gr ey geese wingin g
Swift and high.
A gay-eyed shoming gypsy
Strutti ng dow n t he h ill s,
Urging· spring to wa ke n
A nd don her fri ll s.
March is bu lging nature
Bur stingcoui her scams;
Happy wate r rushing
Do w n singing str eams.
Kites w ith w h ite tai ls hobbing
In tumbled skies of blue;
A ncmone and crocus
T h rusting t hrough .
Colts turned o u t to pasture,
L".agcr eyed and w il d ;
Marc h is rugged w inter's
Audacious chi l d.
-EM ILY CAREY ALLEMAN
all
PAGE THI R TY - SIX
YOURS SlNCEREL Y
CHRISTi\lAS ISSUE :
... For man y years we have been gi,·en a
subscription to ARIZONA H JGHW AYS as a
Christmas g ift. It is one gift that we look
for ward to from month to month. It even
seems as if each is s ue is better than the last.
Our D ecember issue arri,·ed-and after
our employees had re ad it-we brought it
home and read it ourseh·es. Instead of putting
it away we propped it up in a chair
w here we could admire the cO\·er picture.
The enclosed snapsh ot is t he result. Our pu ss
cat seems to like t he ma gazine as much as
we do 1 T he picture was not pose d at allit
j ust happen ed and our copy w ill go in
our album as a m emo r y of Christmas 196 2.
Thank you for many, many year s of good
reading .
i\ l rs. Joe W. Reed
S a nta i\ laria, California
() And " 1i1any , m ,m y ')'ea rs of good readi11g"
to tbe Re ed's puss c,1t.
* NEW HOTEL AT GRAND CANYO"N"?
. . . Sc1 ·cra l years ago l read t hat a mining
company h a, ·ing property on the South R im
of Grand Canyon proposed to build a hotel
there. Did a n y thin g eyer come of that
proposal?
A. M. Doldman n
Ithaca, New York
• Comer,.'ntionists and ot/.Jers interested in
keeping Grand Ca11yon Natio11dl Park 1r11-
711 arred i11 any way "c.l)i/l be glad to kno·w
t/.iere 'I.viii be no /.Jotel hanging o ·ver tin Som/.,
R im of Grand Ca nyon. TV estern Equities,
l11c., fo rm erly vVestern Gold & Uranium,
Inc., late Inst year deeded .its 20.64 acre pntl''
llted 'll7ining claim on the South R im to tbe
Federal Go-,·ermnent. Under tin ter'l//s of
Pu blic La-w 87 -457 nnd tin deed of com·ey,
mcc, t/.ie company /.Jas the rig/.Jt to renJO·i-e,
!'o r a p e riod of t-wenty -fi1.:e years, ore 1111derly
hzg part, lnnd adjacent to its claim. Ore so
;·r'l.llo,· ed is mb_ject to the payment of royalties,
·which , according to tin National Park
S ,·r ,·ice, 71/aJ' exceed $ 600,000. All n,.i11i11g
fJ /J eratiom -will be conducted underground
so as not to disfigure tl.1e scenic park terrain.
Tl.1e co711pnny also has the ri ght to operate
its inn and related cottage and guest facilities
thro11g/.J 1966. On ter71!ination of the
Co711p any's mining operat.ions, the claim 'lvil l
be cl eared of de1.1e/op111ents and ret11rned to
its natural state.
* ARIZONA HIGHWAYS:
CUMULATI VE I TDEX, 1952-1961
... I ha ve been a subscriber to AR IZONA
H 1GHW AYS since 195 5, and n e edless to say I
find it most enjoyable. I h ave a complete file
beg inning w ith t he first is sue I recei ve d and
I often go back to o l d copies to refer to
some subject or photograph in w hic h I am
especially interested .
Have you ever t hought of putting out an
ind ex? I am sure many sc hool teachers, such
as myse l f , would find an index invaluable.
Lucy C. Stearn
Oklah oma City, Oklahoma
• TV e often receh:e inquiries from readers
concerning an index for our 71/aga;:.ine. TTl e
are 1W"I.V pleased to am1ow1c e t/.Jat t/Je Ari::,
ona Library Association has spomored t/Je
publication of an AR IZONA HI GHWAYS
Cw111t!ative Index for the years 1952-1961.
T In price of $3 .00 for the Cu711u/ntive Index
includes the 1962 'll7imeogra/;hed .mpp/e111ent .
It is the hope of the com71!ittee t/.Jat a suppfe711ent
'I.Vil/ be published annually, witl.1
co711pilntion each ten years . Any profits accruing
from these sales "I.Vill go to t/Je
sc /.Jolnrs/.Jip fund of the Ari::,ona L ibrary Association.
O rders for t/.Jis Cm111tlnti-ve Index
s/.Jrmld be 111ailed to : Arizona State Depart-
111ent of Library and Arc/Jives, Capitol Buildh1g,
1700 TV . TVas/Jington, Phoenix, Ari::,ona.
• •••••••••••••••••
OPPOSITE P AGE
"MARKS OF T IME AND vVEATHER" BY JOSEF MUENCH. Photograph taken on
the Blue Mesa in Petr ified Forest National Park. This photograph dramatica ll y demonstrates
the way in which the ancient petrified trees of Petrified Fores t are broken as time
and relentless erosio n wears away th e earth in which they were deposited aeons ago . T h e
massi1·c lo gs, w ith s upport gone, form jumbled masses of sto ne as they roll clo w n the s ides
of Blue Mesa. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.1 6 at 1 / 25th sec.; 6" Xenar lens; IVlay.
BACK COVER
"GOLDEN WATERS IN PETRIFIED FOREST" BY DARWIN VAN CAMPEN.
Taken along the main road in Petrified Forest National Park near the turn-off to Blue
Mesa. The photograph er says: "vVe were drivi ng through t he Petrified Forest in the early
even in g look in g for a s u itable spot to photograph t he coming sunset w h e n we discovered
t his little stream, formed apparently by mel ted snow from t he Blu e Mesa area. It made a
handy l ittle mirror as it trickl ed its way t h rough the sand." 4x5 Graphic View camera;
Ektachrome; f.18 at 1/ 5th sec.; 127mm E lnar lens; February; Weston Meter reading 25;
ASA rating 64.
• A RI ZONA HIGH , VAYS • APR I L I 96 3
