Harold J. Brodrick

“ 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. ”

“ The petrification of wood has never been studied sufficiently, and there are many questions for which satisfactory answers have not yet been advanced.
Although woods in different localities have been petrified by other minerals, the most common is silica. In the case of this petrified wood, the silica was deposited in an agatized non-crystalline form. The normal color of the silica without mineral stain is a white or gray. ”

“ Northeastern Arizona is not the only area known to contain petrified wood, for it has been found in nearly every State and in foreign countries as well. Visitors from distant States are frequently surprised to discover, from a map in the monument’s museum, that petrified wood is to be found near their own homes. ”

“ As forces of erosion lowered the surface of the ground little by little, the petrified logs, too hard to be affected, settled with it, eventually accumulating with sections of other logs that had been buried on a lower level. Thus, the present surface of the ground is rather thickly covered, in many spots, with wood that was originally scattered through approximately the upper 100 feet of this Chinle Formation. In the vicinity of the Rainbow and Third Forest, at least, about 300 feet more of this formation still remains. So far as we know, wood is to be found throughout this entire layer. ”

“ It is the responsibility of all the people, as owners of these outstanding national values, to help the Service keep the wonders of this and other parks and monuments intact for the enjoyment of future generations. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Agate is translucent and has a definite color or pattern. Jasper is opaque and may be either red, brown, yellow, blue, or green in color. Quartz minerals are harder than most types of steel, and there are only about 30 other minerals that exceed it in hardness. In the mineral scale of hardness, quartz is rated at 7 and diamond, the hardest of all, at 10. Petrified wood weighs about 166 pounds per cubic foot. ”

“ What happened during the millenniums that the logs lay buried in their Chinle tombs?
How did these trees turn to stone? Most of our text books tell us that the petrification of wood is a replacement process. Bit by bit, water removed wood tissue and in its place left a mineral deposit in exactly the same form as the original, so that when the process had been completed there was no wood left but in its place an exact stone duplicate. ”

“ The gradual movement and elevation of the earth’s crust caused numerous earthquakes. The shock waves of the tremblor traveling through the earth set up vibrations which caused the deeply buried, brittle, petrified logs to crack. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”