Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1875 — The Petrified Forest in Nevada. [ARTICLE]

The Petrified Forest in Nevada.

From David Rideout, who has been engaged in preparing a section of a petrified tree for th c e Centennial Exhibition, we learn the followiagrelative to the petrified fqrest in the desert of Northwestern Humboldt: On the plain, about thirty miles west of the Blackrock range of mountains, stands one of the greatest natural curiosities ever discovered in'Nevada. It is a petrified forest, in which the stumps of many of the trees, now changed into solid rock, are still standing. There are no living trees or vegetation of any kind other than stunted sage-brush in the vicinity. Some of those ancient giants of a forest which flourished perhaps thousands of years ago, when the climate of Nevada was undoubtedly more favorable for the growth of luxuriant vegetation Ifhan at present, rival in size the big titles of California. Stumps, transformed into solid rock, stand in an upright position with their roots imbedded in the soil as When

growing, measuring from fifteen to twentysix feet in circumference; the ground in the vicinity is strewn with trunks and limbs, which retain Jheir natural shape and size. Mr. Rideout, determined to secure a section of one of these trees for the Centennial Exhibition, with two other men spent twelve days in cutting it from the stump. This was accomplished by drilling all around the tree and separating it with wedges. The specimen is three feet high and eighteen feet in circumference, and its estimated weight is three tons. It stands on the stump from which it was severed, ready to be loaded, on a wagon. Mr. IlideOut does not feel able to incur the expense of bringing it by team to the railroad, although he had once made arrangements to do _ so. He is anxious to call the attentiofi of the Centennial Commissioners to the matter, and see if they will not furnish the means to get it to the railroad. The countiyin whch it is situated is an inviting fieltl for geologists. Winnemucca (Nev.) Silver Stale.