Show FORESTS OF STONE probing for lopa beneath tho surface in now jorsey to climp rit corneil to stone V of sonio or yi bomler Wom ler U you want to something annons said a friend who was a member of a government ann oy go down with me to woodbine four miles beyond woodbine out on tho sandy stretch of old aca bottom or bench that 5 termed the cape may wo camo upon dennisville Dennis ville where ah tho dennisen Denni ses of nil timo and evidently settled A local dennis said acro twenty ino hundred of them and nine I 1 tenths were evidently children they lived in scattered sh antici or houses on a long narrow street on each side of which malaria stalks abroad from the great swamps that their boundary the latter however that arc perhaps over twelve square miles in extent are the mean of providing a living to nearly all ho inhabitants of Dennis rille though tho niti iro of thoi r occupation would never bo suspected from external observation were all in the loggin business 1 tall iliin dohms vet as fir a the oye could reach not a tree could bo seen standing that would make even the ghost of a fair log they ain t a browm continued alm man we dig for them allu in as you might say hero s alio tool and mopping into a low hut lie brought nut a crowbar eliat like everything clio teemed and was stretched out inlo a long rod wo wado along continued alio man and probo with this feeler aud whai wo strike a log wo feel around mil it its a cooil one we dig glicr up and if it aint wo let her soak about alic dav of it so blown in jersey you burrow for your logs about it replied alio llio roan you know were obliged to bo a whit odd or so wc vo got alio namo of it the secret of this business said i my friend the geologist is aliat ages 1 ago all this arct waa covered with a line growth of large trees aud alio llio samo aro found growing in somo parts 0 tho but they havia died out and fallen down and unk into the soft mud i and so awn covered up by mould and mud until many other layers havo grown over them but in some remarkable way the wood is preserved and these sunken ancient lugs arc just ai good for shingles and other articles as they acro when alive hence for many years tharo has been a steady hunt for them and dennisville Dennis ville is a result of the industry to the botanist the treo is the evergreen whito cypre w or and the numbers hat once grew over this swamp and that havo been entombed aro beyond conception tho trees bast there aro probably myriads of others turned to itono stono and representing tho past geological ages of alio earth tho logs were worked out by iho men who aro nicknamed and who livo in alio llio midst of the district all their lives when a log is found a dittli is mado about it into which the water foon hows A great saw is then applied and alio llio roots removed ami as a rule alio log will rho to ho surface and can be cut up and carried kofl though in many localities alio shingles arc mado right on the and dragged over alio swamp roads in many cases made of boughs and twig this curious business is not conlin cd to new jersey but over in delaware and maryland there iro similar swamps the business has been carried on for acan one of tho swamps in oscr twenty five fir miles and hardly a bouso in county but what is shingled with tho ancient do posit 1 I tell yc said an old farmer from this region that were livin alivin a on a curious kind t crust round here in pint of fact my farm might bo said 0 o bo perched on a woodpile wood pile there aint no cud to it I 1 built a foundation to a barn some icara ago down in delaware on alio swamp lo 10 auff alio llio further down I 1 dug alic more logi I 1 camo on to and I 1 reckon way down its clean solid wood and alion a iro breaks out in the want to keep wr yes peeled now im a how BO arll ill act civo you a lillar of my experience when 1 first married lubold woman I 1 bought a patch right on the of tho swamp aud h laud ran right into it nebout half a mil that summer it was monstrous dry tanil after tho liras began to break out and adoro wo knew it it had crept up lo 10 a thousand feet 0 alio house dut wo got at it with and as wo thought put it out and did but that night I 1 was awoke by hearin a crash so loud that house had gone down and when I 1 pot out there wai a blasting lire right fodder house I 1 got tharo in about two minutes and I 1 tell 30 I 1 wai scared there laido nor hair ot iho house but a deep lawnin biolo about lifty feet across and tho knows liow ilera and burning red liot I 1 tell vo I 1 got my folks out of eliat diggins for a now it came on to rain the next day and naked it out and I 1 aint adrow m alio long bow when I 1 toil you that thai hull kentry had been by alio lire you it had underground for nigh a thousand feet eating away I 1 lie wood aud finally when it got under tho fodder tho weight of alio broke ho crust in and down it went into a pit of ire I 1 toll you it was an place to live on and I 1 was enough aliat under alio house we d never have known aliat hurl us wed just melted down quick yc sr heaps of places in tho swamp district eaten out jest alio samo way alio iko will run along for miles sometimes and then crop out where its least expected I 1 knew of one caso ca so a party of shingler cr left alic ir hut ono it if it biad happened twelve later havo in in the delaware swamp you will find heaps of such places and green hands han they go down there always think giai been a Tol cany and so then has after a fashion tho subject of underground forests my geological companion on our way bick is an interesting one and in tho west elicio arc some sights to seen I 1 remember especially onu local ty about lie headwaters of the river them arc indi of tree lying about as if some hurricane had swept over tho spot and leveled eliom to tho ground but in every case the arco ani turned to slone and the trunks now weigh tons where they formerly could bo tossed about by tho wind A miner that I 1 met told nu eliat in one locality that ho biad visited tho trees were standing and bamo to camp there at birst jhc thc did not notice it as it was lato in alio fall when nil the leaves were on alio llio traci but lio sent a darkey out to chop some wood and as lie fellow struck a arco the abo glanced off and streams of fiery oil in such numbers that ho was frightened halt to dualla and camo rushing into camp shouting that tho place wa haunted ho finally out again but was by finding aliat even tho twigs that lio picked up on tin ground were as heavy as lead iliev had I 1 all turned into conot lio described alio I 1 place as a weird one tho great trunks it anding around birre and like monuments some of them bring lifar or sixty feet birgh the two most famous localities arc at 1 ort new mexico and alio about miles from ho springs ar ona from localities lino collection lias been taken for the national buscimi at washington A detail was sent out under charge of lieutenant J T C of the fifteenth infantry and secured some magnificent specimen tho that tending sheep in tho vicinity the fallen trunks to represent abo bones of former giants aliat their ancestors had killed j and could not understand why the graat 1 at washington should want atheni in this actually I 1 covered the ground in somo spots ali c trunks being of great size all through the valley of the they ajro found thousands of tons alyin scattered along the slopes alio majority in pieces of twenty or ten feel long so broken by changas ot heat and cold other trunks intact one measured by the lieutenant wai two hundred feet iu length and nearly live feet in dameler damel cr alio coro often containing wonderful specimens of quarts rho specimens were hauled to sana 1 c N M and shipped hast by rail but in a ear or go not a specimen will bo foaud as a company has organized to them as cut and polished they make line table tops it is said that a house in washington is to have pillars at the door made of two of giants of a former ago aliat polished showing tho coloring will make something entirely now in alio llio way of last summer continued the acol og st 1 I took a run up the valley of alio cast fork of alio tharo is a country for you and fortunately in tho national park and U bo saved from destruction in going up tho mallcy you have tho beautiful yellow stone mountains to the north and to alio south the famous amythist mountain eliat for its fossil or stone forests is extremely remarkable directly opposite the valley of the soda butac creek rios ri os the mountain with an exposed strata at least two thousand feet hiigli summit Is about nine thousand feet up As you follow up alio llio trail you will at be struck with the aurous of alio mounta inand thero in one section I il J arr 1 loc cirit lorest perhaps a million years ngo grew and died down wl accumulated and then another forest grew on that 1 finally the avo havo grown iu alio meantime strata to lie depth of two thousand feet has been do pu itce eliat is the distance from the trees growing on lop to the birst one i two thousand acot you can count up to guit yourself how many years it took to accomplish lulls ic r tc four hundred feet alio llio display is not very as the trunks arc partially covered bit ai a i your ayo anu are presented with i geological illustration that is a maryol at feet from the bottom the levels aro as distinctly marked as if they had been made by annd every trunk ami aliu roots standing out in bold relief the bas relief of nature many are thrown out and pro arito from lifty to sixty feet in length and from livo to siv feet in diameter in cases oliero tho roots arc seen alm rock tho sight is an one showing how many cars it must hayo taken to scicli boults somo ol 01 the trees im bedded are over twelve elect lect in diameter and as only the tops how alicy roust havo rivaled alio great I 1 of california one remark 1 ablo ft atturo turo is that the backli diiro of alio wood grain etc are all as distinct I 1 and well M if they had been taken from lying trees tho trees however arc not confers ho iid rock about hem shows th unco covered with a soft green matting of gris it ro aliu tailing and seeds a nl now flioy anro found just BS mereel a in life only afi ptole croie these tho botanist ia eu to what thoy acro and how long ago thoy upon the earth innico the I 1 lisl examination aind pronounced them belonging to the lower pliocene or upper time ot go cology logy glicr include specia as aral iii magnolia daunn tilia fraidus fra inus corens agnns ferns etc all around this locality the old of forests could bo found and tho him collections of und calcino aliat aboul nil formed in alm arnaki 0 tree on alio op side of the river the samo condition of was noticed and tho trunks hero wore st anything larger and moro certainly higher up nt the wa by avor feet hagli and contained alio stony trees to allm very summit fore ta aro found ini vatrious of alio 1 world iti hoard island there ii 1 cavil that contadini con taini a of extremely garfio tract aud in most all coal mine larro are found eliat dato back millions aud mil liona of years in i omo mines accidents often occur from the of alico great trunks as a s alio llio bottom of alio trunk i cut oil down shoots tho stony tree upon alio llio miner without warning in toiuo whore the brcci are solid flioy arc left to support tho ceiling I 1 leavo can a arco tikon from a liuo at kow castlo alio llio larrow anino aliat cwi wwi forty acol in and thirteen feet ini diameter it was worked out of alic coil as carefully as possible but it could not bo all removed as tin trunk wag socio of alic farni of aliis timo acro gig antio and in abo of sciences tharo ia a inc collection showing ganv specimens from all over alio world tunes |