Garfield County News | 1955-02-24 | Page 79 | Prospectors Uproot Petrified Forest

Prospectors Uproot Petrified Forest The virgin "forest" of petrified trees containing some of the largest specimens yet found In Nevada and located about 150 miles north of Reno on the road leading from Gerlach to the old mining camp of Leadville are being sabotaged, according to a report by Nevada state park chairman, Thomas W. Miller, to Governor Charles H. Itussell. In reporting to the governor. Chairman Miller said, "some of the largest and most extensive of the petrified tree deposits give evidence of having been uprooted by bulldozers and other power machinery In an endeavor to either dislodge the specimens or to perform the necessary location work on mining claims that have only been taken up there within the last six months." Craters 30 feet In diameter and 10 to 15-feet deep have been gouged out by power machinery in several locations, and smaller petrified specimens give evidence of having been systematically despoiled. In his report Chairman Miller sought that a ruling from proper legal authority "to ascertain whether the filing of a mining claim on what is public domain or state lands permits those filing to violate our antiquity as have been looted and despoiled In that particular area."