Part 14 (1/2)
Section of Amethyst Mountains.]
The lava flows in this particular section do not seem to have been characterized by great heat. They were composed of volcanic agglomerate, in which there was a large admixture of mud and water, with sufficient heat to destroy life, but not to char or consume its products. The percolation of siliceous waters gradually turned the arboreal vegetation into stone by the process of subst.i.tution, and thus preserved in these silent monuments a record of the events which once transpired there. When the last of the eruptions had ceased, there existed in this locality a vast depth of volcanic _ejectamenta_, composed of many layers, on each of which was standing, buried in the layer next above, the trunks of extinct forest growths.
[Ill.u.s.tration:
_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._
Petrified Trees near Yancey's.]
After the cessation of volcanic activity, the eroding agencies of the Quaternary Period carved out the valley of the Lamar River through these acc.u.mulated flows, and laid bare the remains of their vegetable growths. To-day the tourist may see upon the slopes of Specimen Ridge, side by side, the living and the dead, the little conifers of present growth and the gigantic trunks of unknown species which flourished there eons ago.
Some of the petrifactions are very perfect. Roots, bark, parts showing incipient decay, worm holes, leaves--all are preserved with absolute fidelity. The rings of annual growth may be counted, and these indicate for the larger trees an age of not less than five hundred years. Some of the stumps are fully ten feet in diameter. Here and there the ponderous roots stand imbedded in the rock face of the cliff, where erosion has not yet undermined them. In one case, a large tree that had fallen before petrifaction lies partly exposed, both ends being still imbedded in the rock. Some hollow trees show interiors beautifully lined with holocrystalline quartz.
How long it took each growth to reach maturity; how long it flourished afterward before destruction; and how long the several lava flows suspended vegetable growth; are matters largely conjectural. But at the very lowest estimate the time represented by these various acc.u.mulations can not be less than five thousand years.
That these early trees were of a different species from those which now flourish there, need not excite surprise, for climatic and other conditions are wholly changed. But an equal difference seems also to have prevailed between the successive growths, the trees of which were not only unlike each other, but nearly all were of species. .h.i.therto unknown to science. Fortunately the rare perfection of some of the specimens, particularly of the leaves and bark, have greatly simplified their cla.s.sification, and have given valuable clues to their geologic age.
The products of these petrifactions in time strewed the surface of the ground with such an abundance of specimens as to give the locality its present name. Most of the lighter specimens, and some of the heavier, have been carried away.
Besides the general interest of these old forests to the casual observer, they are of great value to science, for probably in no other part of the globe can a similar chapter of its history be found more clearly recorded.
CHAPTER VI.
FAUNA OF THE YELLOWSTONE.
The universal curiosity of people to see what are popularly called wild animals, especially those larger species which never frequent the precincts of civilization, is a fact of which it is not easy to give a philosophical explanation. In this country the rapid disappearance, amounting almost to annihilation, of the large game is looked upon as a great misfortune; and in later years there has arisen a fixed purpose that protection shall be secured for the surviving remnants of those species which once with the red man held possession of the continent. The statutes of nearly every state give evidence of the universality of this sentiment.
As a means of accomplis.h.i.+ng such a purpose, no inst.i.tution promises to be more effectual than the Yellowstone Park. It ought, in this respect, to be a complete realization of Catlin's dream. Its importance as a game preserve was recognized in the Act of Dedication, and has become more and more p.r.o.nounced as acquaintance with it has increased.
The Park is fortunately better adapted for this purpose than any other tract of similar extent in America. It offers very little to tempt the cupidity of man. Its mineral wealth is buried so deeply under the lava that no miner will ever reach it. Its alt.i.tude and climate unfit it for agriculture. Its forests, though excellent for shade, are of little value for lumber. But as a home for the native species of the continent, it possesses unrivaled advantages. These are admirably summed up in the following paragraph from the pen of Prof. Hague:
[Ill.u.s.tration:
_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._
Park Elk.]
”The broad expanse of forest incloses sequestered nooks, and enticing gra.s.sy parks, with absolute seclusion in mountain recesses admirably adapted for the homes of wild animals. It is the great diversity of its physical features, offering within a restricted area. all the requirements for animal life, which fits it for the home of big game.
Abundant food supply, shelter from wind and weather in winter, cool resorts on the uplands in summer, favorable localities for breeding purposes and the rearing of young, all are found here. The Park supplies what is really needed--a zoological reservation where big game may roam unmolested by the intrusion of man, rather than a zoological garden inclosed by fences, and the game fed or sustained more or less by artificial methods.”[AV]
[AV] ”The Yellowstone National Park as a Game Preserve.” See Appendix E.
[Ill.u.s.tration:
_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._
Park Buffalo.]