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PETRIFIED FOREST and PAINTED DESERT PETRIFIED r~ HIGHll.JAVS JULY 1958 FORTY CENTS In This Issue: PETRIFIED FOREST and PAINTED DESERT PETRIFIED VOL. XXXIV NO. 7 JULY 1958 FOREST RAYMOND CARLSON, Editor GEORGE M. A VEY, Art E ditor In that intermixture of anthropology, archeology, JAMES E. STEVENS, Business Manager geology, biology, mineralogy, astronomy, history, antiq­ LEGEND uity, geography, topography, poetry, distance, vastness, emptiness, scenery, sunshine and starlight that make up T r-rn Y uccA Mon-r AND THE FLOWER 2 this wonderland we call Arizona the most strangely beau­ D ESC RIPTIO N OF ONE OF OLD i\lloTH ER N _• \TURE's STR ANG EST LOVE AFFAIRS. tiful and weirdly fantastic is that area known, and with poetic appropriateness, as Petrified Forest. GEOLOGY OF TH E PAINTED D ESERT (Whew! We really drooled a bib full that time!) AN D THE PETRIFIED FoRLcS T 7 A LEARNED DI SCUSS ION OF FORCES As of this moment, the official name of this part of \Vl-I ICH MOULDED TI-IE LOVELY LAND. our state is Petrified Forest National Monument. The THE ENCHA;\TF!) S1·0NF FOREST learned ladies and gentlemen of Congress, and with the A N INVITATIO N TO \l!S IT ONE OF President's ready consent and bold signature, ha ve passed ]~'. Aiffl-I 'S MOST FASCINATING AREAS. a law changing the i\!Ionument to Petrified Forest Nation­ LAST STAN D OF Tiff G,wu:s:n SLOTH al Park with a provision that certain private lands in the CAVE IN LOWER GRAND CANYON '~'AS area be acquired by the Government. Acquisition of these HAUNT OF PREHI STORIC ANIMALS. private lands is going forward with haste and ,1 ·ith the DEEP IN THF H FART OF SYCAiVlORE CANYON 34 expenditure of not inconsiderable monies; so it is possible ]sor.ATE D WILDER NESS EXPANSE IS that when you read this Arizona will have one less Na­ i\TrR •\CTION FOR THE VENT URESOME. tional Monument but one more National Parle ERNEST W. McFARLAND You might ask, as we have asked, \\'hy a Monu­ Governor of Arizona ment or Park; vVhat's the difference? A Nati'onal {Vlonu­ ARTZONA HIGHWAY COMMISSION ment, in general terms, is a protected area containing one Wm. P. Copple, Chairman . Yuma item of national interest ( examples: Tonto, Saguaro, L. F. Quinn, Vice-Chairman . Miami Tumacacori, Montezuma Castle, Rainbow Bridge). A Frank L. Christensen, Member Flagstaff National Park is a protected and preserved area containing 1Vlilron L. Reay, i\ lernber ......... ... Safford specific items of national interest, but also possessed of John J. Bugg: Member . Florence vVrn . E. vVilley, State Hwy. Engineer . Phoenix scenic beauty of national and 7..uorld reno--wn and reputa­ Justin Herman, Secretary . Phoenix tion ( examples: Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce). (The good gentlemen of the National Park Service A1u::60NA H1GI-IWAYS is published monthly by the Arizona Highway may blanch at such a pedestrian explanation, but let it Department a few miles north of the confluence of the Gila and Salt in Arizona. Address: ARIZONA HIGHW AYS, Phoenix, Arizona. be said, with all enthusiasm, that Petrified Forest has all $3.50 per year in U.S. and possessions; $4-50 elsewhere; 40 cents the ingredients of specific interest and incomparable each. Entered as second-class matter Nov. 5, 1941 at Post Office in scenery to be worthy of the name "National Park" and Phoenix, under Act of March 3, 1879 . Copyrighted, 1958, by the Natio11al P::irk it w ill soon be.) Arizona Highway Department. This month we take you on a journey to Petrified FRONT COVER Forest. We hope you find the journey both pleasant and "GlANT TURNED TO STONE" BY CARLOS ELMER. 4x5 educational, and we hope you'll agree with us th::it Amer­ Burke & James Press camera; Ektachrome; f.16 at 1/ 1oth sec.; ica's newest National Park is something to see and to Goertz Aerotat 6" lens; August, bright sunlight; Meter reading 250-400 foot candles. ASA 12. Scene: about two hundred feet remember. ... R.C. from Monument headquarters and i\lluseum Building, Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona, near Holbrook. This is Old Faithful petrified log, which is easily the most famous piece of petrified wood in the world. Old Faithful log must rank with the leaders as one of America's most photographed natural wonders. COLOR CLASSICS FROM ARIZONA HIGHWAYS The huge root structure, shown here, towers about 9 feet in height, and the log, itself, measure about 50 feet in length. The experience This Issue of seein g this huge stone tree makes one grateful that such natural 35 mm. slides in 2" 'l'llOrtnts, 1 to 15 slides, 40¢ each; marvels have been preserved for the enjoyment of all. 16 to 49 slides, 35q, each; 50 or 711ore, 3 for $1.00. OPPOSITE PAGE PF-26 Giant Turned to Stone, cov. 1; PF-27 Polished "POLISHED STONE-ONCE LIVING WOOD" BY JOSEF Stone- Once Li,·ing vVood, cov. 2; PF-27 A Polished MUENCH. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; daylight Ektachrome; Stone-Once LiYing Wood, cov. 2; PF-28 E rosion in f.29 at 1/ 2 sec.; 5" Tessar lens; June. Both of these pictures were Color, cov. 3; PF-29 In the Heart of Petrified Forest, cov. taken inside the Museum at the Rainbow Forest in the Petrified 4; PF-30 Rainbow Colors in Stone, p. 17; PF-, 1 In Blue Forest National Monument. They arc polished pieces showing the Forest of Petrified Forest, p. 18; PF-p The F,~llcn Mon­ beautiful colors and rhc way in w hich the material takes a high arch, p. 19; PF-33 Agate House- Petrified Forest, p. 19; polish after cutting. Petrified wood, found in a number of places PF-34 Panorama- Painted Desert, center spre,1d; PF-,, in Arizona, is avidly sought by collectors. Petrified wood, w hen Landscape of Shimmering Color, p. 22; PF-,6 Arch ~f cut and polished, is used in many striking ways for jewelry, book­ Petrified vVood, p. 22; PF-37 vVildcrness ·of Color­ ends, etc. Collecting of specimens in the National Monument is Painted Desert, p. 23; PF -38 Walls of the Blue Forest, p. 2+ prohibited. ~ 115 ~~ PAGE ONE • ARLZON A HlGH\VAYS • JULY 1958 Closeup, Maj.ave Yucca blossom 1\!lojave Yucca m Bloom Yucca schidegra (mohavensis) flower clusters. Lighting the hills and canyons of the coastal regions is the shimmering beauty of fifteen foot flO\ver spikes of the Candles of God. A tourist might well hazard the guess that the yucca is some kind of cactus. They are often found growing side by side and, to the non-botanist, there might seem to be a certain similarity in appearance. Certain it is that the rapier-like leaves of the yucca are as protective in their sharpness as are the thorns of the cactus. And yet, ower strangely, the naturalist knows the yucca as a lily, a Mature fruit, Joshua Tree member of the g-reat order of Liliaceae; a brother under the ski n to the ~ore tender and succulent garden forms 1110th larvae near mature stage of lilies with which we all are familiar. This kinship is BY VESTA M. AND RALPH D. CORNELL recoQ·n izable in the individual flowers of the yucca and PHOTOGRAPHS BY RALPH D. CORNELL it is -doubtless to this kinship that we owe the ethereal quality of the tall blooming tarers_ which reach toward n the far-flung distances of the Ameri­ from early March to late autumn. Equally prominent in heaven out of a harsh and forb1ddmg background. can Southwest there are many natural interest is the life cycle of the yuccas, for therein lies a Yucca flowers are white or shaded with cream, red phenomena that are unique and of tale of wondrous cooperation between the plant world or violet, usually cup shaped or somewhat flattened into intriguing interest to casual observer and the insect world. saucer-like form. Their petals are thick and of an almost and experienced naturalist alike. Let There are some thirty-odd varieties of yucca native alabaster translucency. They grow, tightly clustered, the passerby but stop to observe al­ to the United States and over half of that number occur along a heavy flower stalk which is generally ere_ct, with most anywhere and he will find some naturally in the Southwest. They vary greatly in form, the individual blossoms .pendulous. However, 111 some aspect of the !ntricate processes by which life in those size and appearance. In the high deserts are the grotesque varieties, just the opposite occurs for both stem and areas can survive. figures of the Joshua Trees, with their "gaunt, stiff arms blossoms. The flowers open at night, like white chalices, Conspicuous in the panoramic scenes of the South­ propping the star-sagged sky." In the low, dry deserts but do not close during the day as do so many of the west are the y uccas, always arresting in form, especially are less conspicuous species which are little more th:111 nocturnal blooms. They have a sweet and penetrating beautiful during their blooming season which extends rosettes of harsh needle-like leaves ,vith short-stemmed fragrance which is sometimes too strong for human pleas- PACE T\VO • ARI ZO NA H J(;JJ WAYS • DRAWINGS OF PRONUBA Y UCCASELLA ARE COPIES FROM PLATES IN THE MISSOU RI BOTAN ICAL GARDEN'S 3nD AN N UAL REPORT, P UBLISHED IN 1892. ORIGIN AL DRA,VINGS MADE BY C. V. RILEY, PH.D. Arriving on the scene with this unfailing timeliness, One cannot find a mature pod of yucca without ure but which seems to be attractive to certain kinds the mother moth goes busily from flower to flow er.
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