PETRIFIED FOREST
National Monument, Arizona
Cover Illustration:
This is “Old Faithful”. Just at the top of the hill it lies in stark grandeur.
DESCRIPTIVE—HISTORICAL—ILLUSTRATED
By
DAMA MARGARET SMITH
COPYRIGHT 1930
Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona
By Dama Margaret Smith
The Petrified Forest
In Arizona, that land of mystic beauties and many wonders, lies a great tract of land that, once upon a time, was covered with waters of the sea. How many centuries ago the ocean waves sparkled and rippled over what is now the desert, no one can definitely say. But from the nature of the stratum is which great logs are embedded, and the fossilized reptiles found, it is known that they were entombed during the Triassic age, many millions of years ago.
Petrified logs are found over a wide area, more than a hundred square miles being covered with varying amounts of the “stone” trees. This fossilized “forest” is greater in area, more highly colored, and contains more petrified wood than any like deposit in the world.