Part 2

An Indian legend tells that one of their Goddesses wandered into the place which is now the Petrified Forest. She was hungry, cold and exhausted. When she saw the hundreds of logs lying around she was delighted and managed to kill a rabbit with a club, expecting to have a delicious supper. When she attempted to kindle a fire to cook her kill, the logs were wet and would not burn. In anger and her disappointment, she cursed the spot and turned the logs into stone that they might never burn.

As travel became more plentiful over the Santa Fe Railroad and across country, great amounts of the fossilized wood were carried away or destroyed, and the people of the Territory became alarmed about their unprotected treasure. In 1895 the assembly sent this Memorial to Congress.

House Memorial No. 4

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

We, your memorialists, the eighteenth legislative assembly of Arizona, beg leave to represent to your honorable bodies:

FIRST: That there is in the northern part of this Territory, lying within the borders of Apache County, near the Town of Holbrook, a wonderful deposit of petrified wood commonly called the “Petrified Forest” or “Chalcedony Park”. This deposit, or forest, is unequalled for its extent, the size of the trees and the beauty and great variety of coloring found in the logs.

The country ten miles square is covered by the trunks of trees, some of which measure over two hundred feet in length and from seven to ten feet in diameter.

Ruthless curiosity seekers are destroying these huge trees and logs by blasting them in pieces in search of crystals, which are found in the center of many of them, while carloads of the limbs and smaller pieces are being shipped away to be ground up for various purposes.

SECOND: Believing that this wonderful deposit should be kept inviolate, that future generations may enjoy its beauties and study one of the most curious and interesting effects of nature’s forces,

We, your memorialists, most respectfully request that the Commissioner of the General Land Office be directed to withdraw from entry all public lands covered by this forest until a Commission, or officer appointed by your honorable body, may investigate and report to you upon the advisability of taking this forest under the charge of the General Government and making a National Park or Reservation of it. * * *

J. H. Carpenter, SPEAKER A. J. Doran, PRESIDENT

Filed in the office of the Secretary of the Territory of Arizona this 11th day of February A. D. 1895, at 11 a. m.

This appeal was effective and Congress appointed Prof. Lester F. Ward to visit the Petrified Forest and make a report. The report was favorable to preservation, and acting with his usual promptness, President Theodore Roosevelt issued the proclamation which created the Petrified Forest National Monument.

This proclamation, in part, follows:

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS, it is provided by section two of the Act of Congress, approved June 8, 1906, entitled, “AN ACT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES”, “THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS HEREBY AUTHORIZED, IN HIS DISCRETION, TO DECLARE BY PUBLIC PROCLAMATION HISTORIC LANDMARKS, HISTORIC AND PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES, AND OTHER OBJECTS OF HISTORIC OR SCIENTIFIC INTEREST TO BE NATIONAL MONUMENTS * * *

And, whereas the mineralized remains of Mesozoic forests, commonly known as the “Petrified Forest”, in the Territory of Arizona, situated upon the public lands owned and controlled by the United States, are of the greatest scientific interest and value, and it appears that the public good would be promoted by reserving these deposits of fossilized wood as a national monument with as much land as may seem necessary for the proper protection thereof;

Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power in me vested by section two of the aforesaid Act of Congress, do hereby set aside as the Petrified Forest National Monument * * *

Warning is hereby expressly given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any of the mineralized forest remains hereby declared to be a National Monument or to locate or settle upon any of the lands reserved and made a part of said Monument by this proclamation.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 8th day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and six and the Independence of the United States the one hundred and thirty-first.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

In 1911, President Taft made a new proclamation reducing the extent of the Petrified Forest National Monument to its present size of 25,908 acres.

The Blue Forest

While the Blue Forest was included in the National Monument originally it is now several miles outside the present boundary. It is from this section that much of the wood used commercially is obtained. Many find this weird formation the most interesting spot in the entire country. Miles and more miles of blue-gray mounds, varying in size, formed of the crumbling marl have been beaten and blown into a semblance of numberless haystacks. It is arduous climbing to reach the top of this Blue Forest, but the view obtained is well worth the skinned knees and twisted ankles produced by rolling shale. From the highest elevation there is a view that beggars description. One cannot put into words his feeling of desolation, of helplessness, that comes in looking over the formation. Vanishing in the distance the mounds lie in rows that grow gradually smaller and smaller until they melt into the level landscape below. On the tops of these cold, blue mounds great trees lie prone, many of them shattered and cascading their jeweled hearts down the slope....

Here great piles of splintered, colorless wood are found, looking as if the chopper had just left the scene of his labors, the chips of his day’s work lying scattered about. Again, a big tree broken open by the frost, or other agencies, discloses a lining of gleaming crystals, glittering and sparkling in the Arizona sun. Here the great dinosaur lived and died, and from his tomb fossil bones have been carried to universities far and wide. Here the phytosaurus and the stegosaurus breathed their last, and from here was taken the wicked looking upper jaw of a phytosaurus which had weathered the ravages of time and elements. This lies in a glass case in the store at Headquarters, where all may see it and be thankful such creatures roam this region no longer.

Here, the rattlesnake lies coiled in the shade of the sombre hued cones, and scarcely troubles to sound his warning when visitors intrude. Overhead a tireless buzzard hangs suspended. No other signs of life are seen in this dead gray waste, the burial plot of the Dark Ages.

The Painted Desert

Many of the Petrified Forest visitors are intensely interested in the Painted Desert, lying only a few miles from Adamana. On U. S. Highway 66, six miles from the Rio Puerco, one comes to a sign: “Painted Desert Inn”. A mile from the highway this inn is stationed. But before reaching the building, an abrupt climb brings one to the top of the mesa, and spread out before the eyes is the world’s most magnificent palette, with the colors ready mixed,—The Painted Desert. It is a breath-taking vision that bursts on one’s sight, this “El Pintado Desierto” that Coronado stumbled upon and named in 1540. As far as one can see colors mingle and glow. From the most delicate lavendar to the deepest purple, from palest pink to flaming red, greens, browns, chocolate and blues, all the colors are here. This desert does not lie in level sandy stretches, but is formed of mounds and hills, and varying sizes of “haystacks”.

With each hour, as the light changes in the sky, so change the colors of this wonderland. It is truly the foot of the rainbow. Walk down the trail and there is the bewildered feeling that one has strayed into an immense paint factory which has just been badly wrecked! The sand underfoot is light, almost like burnt earth, but the colors are there, mixed by the Super Artist.

This Painted Desert is a fitting frame for the Petrified Forest.

How To Reach The Petrified Forest

The Petrified Forest is one of the most popular and accessible units of the National Park Service, open every day in the year. Westbound tourists traveling by automobile may choose between two great continental highways that will lead directly to the “Forest”.

U. S. Highway No. 66 passes on the north and tourists may enter the Forest either from Adamana or Holbrook. This highway brings the traveler by the famous Painted Desert.

U. S. Highway No. 70 on the Carlsbad-Petrified Forest-Grand Canyon Route, winds through the foothills of the White Mountains by way of Springerville, and passes through one of the most interesting sections of the Petrified Forest.

Eastbound tourists enter the Forest from Holbrook where Highways No. 66 and 70 meet.

The Santa Fe railroad, carrying The Chief, The Navajo, The California Limited and the Grand Canyon Limited runs through Holbrook and Winslow. Either east or west bound travelers on any of these trains may obtain a twenty-four hour stopover. “La Posada” at Winslow combines all the romance and fascination of the old Spanish regime with the most modern conveniences for the comfort of those wishing to make it their home while visiting surrounding attractions. From this hotel, the well known Harveycar Motor Coaches, each with its charming girl courier, conveys guests to the Petrified Forest.

For those wishing to visit the Forest and resume their journey the same day, arrangements have been made to meet eastbound Navajo No. 2, at Winslow, take the guest to “La Posada” for breakfast, drive from there to the Petrified Forest, where the most interesting points, including the Museum, are visited, and then rejoin the train at Holbrook. The program is reversed with west bound tourists on Navajo No. 9. The coaches meeting the train at Holbrook make the “Petrified Forest Detour” and drive to Winslow for luncheon at the hotel, resuming train travel there. This trip affords a convenient and inexpensive means of seeing the “Forest” and is a pleasant interruption of a long train journey. Any tourist agency or Santa Fe ticket office can furnish additional information.

Rainbow Lodge, near the Museum at Headquarters of Petrified Forest, is prepared to accommodate overnight visitors. New rock cabins and food supplies are available.

A public camp ground is provided by the Government.

PRICE 25 CENTS _Postpaid Anywhere in United States_

DAMA MARGARET SMITH Holbrook, Arizona

PRESS OF WINSLOW DAILY MAIL WINSLOW, ARIZONA

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_.