WHEREAS, it is provided by section two of the Act of Congress,
approved June 8, 1906, entitled, “AN ACT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES”, “THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS
HEREBY AUTHORIZED, IN HIS DISCRETION, TO DECLARE BY PUBLIC
PROCLAMATION HISTORIC LANDMARKS, HISTORIC AND PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES,
AND OTHER OBJECTS OF HISTORIC OR SCIENTIFIC INTEREST TO BE NATIONAL
MONUMENTS * * *
And, whereas the mineralized remains of Mesozoic forests, commonly
known as the “Petrified Forest”, in the Territory of Arizona, situated
upon the public lands owned and controlled by the United States, are
of the greatest scientific interest and value, and it appears that the
public good would be promoted by reserving these deposits of
fossilized wood as a national monument with as much land as may seem
necessary for the proper protection thereof;
Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States
of America, by virtue of the power in me vested by section two of the
aforesaid Act of Congress, do hereby set aside as the Petrified Forest
National Monument * * *
Warning is hereby expressly given to all unauthorized persons not to
appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any of the mineralized
forest remains hereby declared to be a National Monument or to locate
or settle upon any of the lands reserved and made a part of said
Monument by this proclamation.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of
the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 8th day of December, in the year
of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and six and the Independence of
the United States the one hundred and thirty-first.