The Rainbow Forest lies eighteen miles east of Holbrook on U. S. Highway
70, the Holbrook-Springerville Road, open and in splendid condition the
year around. This Rainbow Forest area contains a greater amount of
highly colored petrified wood, than any of the other “forests” included
in the Reservation.
The varied and decided coloring of the logs, many of which are broken
into minute chips, is so gorgeous that it has been given this name. The
outstanding features of the Rainbow Forest are the logs themselves,
which may be seen in all stages of preservation, some not entirely
uncovered, some lying on the sides of the marl hills waiting their time
to be let down by erosion, to the levels below, some almost at the top
of the sandstone cap, and others in fragments at the bottoms of ravines;
the Government Museum, which is free to the public, located half a mile
from the highway. In this building the Government has collected
outstanding specimens of wood from all sections of the Reservation.
These representative specimens, both polished and unpolished form an
interesting exhibit. Here too, are Indian relics found in the
prehistoric ruins scattered throughout the area. Many of the sections of
wood here surpass the very finest Italian marble both in coloring and
composition. One huge section of a log, weighing a ton, holds all the
colors of the rainbow and the intermediate tints. One may trace woodland
scenes, Japanese landscapes, city skylines, outlines of animals and
trees in the polished surface of this tree. This specimen was shipped to
Denver and polished there, and required many days of grinding with
carborundum and diamond dust. No visitor fails to admire it. Another
exhibit which evokes admiration is a globe about eight inches in
diameter, which was turned and polished in Germany. It was originally a
big knot or burl and shows swirls of color like a child’s agate marble.
[Illustration: Courtesy National Park Service
Showing work of erosion. This log is becoming slowly undermined by the
action of the small stream.]
In this Museum are fragments of wood bearing at their clusters of topaz
crystals, black crystals and beautiful purple amethysts. Various
explanations have been advanced as to why these gemlike formations are
found in the wood. One authority says cavities in the logs caused by
decay, are filled by mineral crystals, there being no wood fiber to
absorb. Other geologists offer the theory that the resin and sap forced
to the center formed into tangible shape by being crystalized. Be that
as it may, the semi-precious stones were very much sought after, and a
great jewelry concern in the East had a crew of men working in these
“forests” blasting the precious work of nature to pieces in search of
the jewels.
Of course this vandalism ceased abruptly when in 1906 President
Roosevelt issued the proclamation which made this Reservation a National
Monument.
In the Museum is a register, in which all visitors are expected to sign
their names. In this book are found names from practically every
civilized nation in the world.
In this Rainbow Forest is found one of the best preserved trees with the
stump, that has been discovered. It is to the Petrified Forest what the
Old Faithful Geyser is to Yellowstone Park. It is the tourists’ friend.
This log is the favorite picture place in the entire Reservation. Here
parties stop their car and visit the fallen monarch. Almost any hour of
the day in pleasant weather, one can see little children playing on this
big log. Here they lunch and rest, and here they pose for their
photographs. The old fellow must have many happy memories collected
through the ages. It lies in the sunlight at the brow of the hill, as
one drops down to the Museum. Most probably before this log was broken
into sections, it measured well over two hundred feet. It is now about
fifty feet long, and at its thickest portion, measures six feet through.
The great stump still remains as it was when some terrific storm,
millions of years ago, uprooted it in its native forest. We call it “Old
Faithful.”
A mile or two east of the Museum is the Third Forest. Here is a tangible
sign that our far-removed forefathers admired the utility of the
petrified wood, if they did not appreciate its beauty.
The ruins of quite a castle stand on the crest of a hill overlooking the
plains, and one can almost visualize the first dwellers in this mystic
land. See them laboriously carrying the heavy blocks of petrified wood
to the top of the hill where they are laid out in orderly rows to form
rooms. In the meantime, a close watch is kept that neither animal nor
human enemy may creep up unheeded. The walls have fallen during the
passage of time, but each foundation can be traced. Shards of broken
pottery in great amounts lie at the base of the hill. We wonder if some
angry housewife fired it out at her better half as he stumbled home from
a prehistoric lodge room too late to please her?
Here, too, are found the workshops of arrowmakers. Chips, flaked thin as
wafers, lie like bits of rainbows about the place, and show that they
were broken from larger pieces by human agencies. This, we think, was
done by heating the rock wood to a high temperature and then touching,
lightly, the spot to be chipped with a feather dipped in water.