Part 2

In contrast to the plants and animals of those Triassic times living in swamps and marshes, we now have plants and animals that are able to exist with a minimum of moisture. The present ground-cover is seldom over three or four feet high, but includes a wide variety of plants ranging from very small flowering herbs to the several species of gray-foliaged salt brush and other shrubs. With suitable moisture, the spring and fall wildflower displays are often very showy. The early blooms of the chimaya, phacelia, and the large, white, evening primroses are soon followed by desert mallow; vetch; a small white daisy-like Fleabane; the large yellow tulip-like flowers of the mariposa or sego lily; and as the season advances, the paint brush; asters; snake weed; golden aster; rabbit brush; and many others.

In contrast to the sluggish reptiles and amphibians in the Triassic, we now have the fleet pronghorn (American Antelope); occasional coyotes and bobcats, porcupine, prairie dogs, rabbits, and many of the smaller rodents. Several species of harmless snakes and an occasional rattlesnake; slender, striped, long-tailed race runner lizards; scaled lizards, and the bright, green-backed, yellow-footed Bailey Collared Lizard which frequently brings visitors hurrying in to inquire if it is poisonous. It isn’t!

Several species of birds such as the Desert Horned Larks and rock wrens make this their permanent home while many other species ranging in size from the tiny Allan Hummingbird to the mighty golden eagle either stay here during various parts of the year, or pass through in the spring and fall migrations.

Intermixed with the surface deposits of petrified wood and other remnants of the ancient Triassic time are the much more recent remains of early men. Ruins of their homes, fragments of their handiwork, and examples of their arts are to be found in many locations.

These people were pre-Columbian Pueblo Indians, ancestors of our modern Pueblo Indians, and of the same type that inhabited the other pueblo and cliff-dwelling sites in the Southwest. It is probable that there was considerable trading carried on between the people of this area and those at other locations, since many of the same pottery types are found throughout.

This somewhat desolate region was apparently fairly densely populated by little groups of farming Indians. With no survey or study of the monument area having been made, more than 300 ruin sites have been located and there are many others nearby. These ruins of stone buildings are usually from one to a few rooms in size. However, one ruin near the Puerco River Ranger Station is estimated to have had about 125 or more rooms. It is built in the form of a hollow square about 180 feet by 230 feet, around a plaza about 130 by 185 feet. Probably two stories in height, it could have housed nearly a hundred families.

A study of the pottery fragments from each site helps us to tell the approximate time that the particular site was occupied. This time varies from about 500 or 600 A.D. to 1400 A.D., some being used over a longer period than others.

In most cases, the buildings were constructed of pieces of sandstone, but in a few instances the Indians had an eye for color and used pieces of petrified wood which made a very substantial as well as colorful building. “Agate House” in the south part of the Third Forest is one example of such construction. This was partially reconstructed in 1934 in the early Pueblo style by the use of chunks of petrified wood from the heap of the ruins. Indians also used the petrified wood for making arrow-points and other tools and weapons.

These people practiced agriculture, cultivating corn, pumpkins, and beans. They probably wore simple clothing made of cotton cloth or the skins of wild animals. They also made pottery.

Tree-ring studies show that there was a great drought from 1275 to 1299 A.D. This apparently caused a great deal of shifting around among the Pueblo people. Only a few villages in the Petrified Forest area were occupied during the fourteenth century. It is not known whether the people were driven out by the predatory Apaches or because of the drought.

Where did these Indians get water? While there probably has not been any marked change in climate or rainfall since that time, there may have been more springs and seeps along the cliffs. It is possible that these failed during that great drought period.

Pottery designs of these early Indians show an artistic talent, further indicated by the many petroglyphs on the sandstone cliffs and boulders throughout the area. A petroglyph is a picture or design carved or pecked in the face of a rock. These pictures are of figures, geometric patterns, and symbols in many cases similar to those found on the pottery. Some represent hands, feet, human figures and shapes of mammals, birds, or lizards. These appear to be simply a collection of drawings made by various Indians over a period of time. In some cases, they were clan symbols, each passerby adding his own much like a visitor’s register such as we have today or a collection of initials or names unthinking people carve on trees or scratch on rocks. Unfortunately an occasional person nowadays, thoughtless of those that follow, either destroys this ancient art work or defaces it by adding his name or initials to those of an earlier man. “Newspaper Rock” is the most spectacular group of petroglyphs found on the monument.

Homes and tribal lands of modern Indians are located in areas to the south, east, and north of Petrified Forest National Monument—homes that were established in some cases before the first Spanish explorer entered the Southwest.

To the south in the White Mountains are the Apaches. Apparently both the Apache and the Navajo entered the Southwest only a short time before the Spaniards came. Being nomads and predatory in nature, they soon struck terror in the hearts of the peaceful Pueblo people and caused many of them to abandon their homes to seek more secluded and protected sites.

To the east are the Zuni, a Pueblo people that some of the early occupants of the Petrified Forest may have joined. When the Spaniards came, these Zuni were living in seven pueblos that became known as the historic “Seven Cities of Cibola.”

To the north are the Navajo and Hopi peoples. Arizona’s famous Painted Desert forms a long curving border to the Navajo Reservation—a border extending from near the New Mexico line westward to the Colorado River northwest of Cameron. A spectacular portion of it lies in the northern part of Petrified Forest National Monument.

The Painted Desert is a colorful, often fantastically eroded badlands of Bentonitic beds stained with shades of red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and brown by iron minerals. Arid or semi-arid with only a sparse vegetative cover, these soft beds are subject to rapid erosion during Arizona’s season of torrential rains.

The Painted Desert formed a barrier behind which the early Hopi people withdrew to establish their famed mesa-top villages, including Oraibi which has been continuously occupied since about 350 years before the discovery of America. These people still live in their several mesa-top villages, their reservation surrounded by that of the Navajo, their former enemies, who now lead a peaceful, semi-nomadic life.

There is much more to the fascinating story of the Petrified Forest as told to us by naturalists of the national monument. Few visitors take time from their mad rush to “get somewhere quickly” to make the effort to understand the intricate and devious ways of Nature, of which “Time is the essence,” resulting in the spectacular and brilliant display, this glittering jewel of the desert, the Petrified Forest. Stopping only long enough to marvel briefly, many of them feel the urge to take something with them, some concrete reminder of the colorful scene, some bits of petrified wood. Those who successfully “get past” the checking station ranger with their illicit souvenirs usually lose these trinkets, or find them turned to sharp goads which prod their consciences in later years. How fortunate those visitors who, at the expense of an hour or so of time, gain an understanding of what lies behind the scenery at the Petrified Forest, thereby developing an appreciation of the work of Nature and of God as exemplified here. These people take with them, not merely a souvenir, but an experience which they will treasure and enjoy throughout the remainder of their lives.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.