A WONDERFUL BRIDGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 14, 10 February 1909, Page 4

A WONDERFUL BRIDGE.

What i-i probably the largest example if petrification has recently come to atcntion in Arizona. It consists of the crunk of a tree, with branch stubs still : ntacl, which has fallen across the head ,if a. considerable canyon and there 'turned to stone.'' The huge roots of the fallen monarch rise to a height of «t or 10ft at one end, while the upp.ir ixtremity of the trunk is buried in the soft formation of the land in which it grew. The trunk is more than flOi't ,ong, and spans a canyon at least 411 ft aide. It forms a perfectly solid bridge if a diameter of from sft lo 2ft at the •smaller end. Trees of considerable size lave grown up around it from the lied >f the canyon, some of them eonsidciibly higher now than the fallen tree is long. Over the trunk of the. pelrilied •nonster they throw ;i welcome shade •.o the birds, which gather for miles irounil to sit on the stony trunk during he heat of the day. This tree is a considerable distance from the Arizona petrified forest, and is one of the wonlers of the great desert state. It is •onsidered quite probable by miners who have seen the tree that its interior portions are practically solid agate, as are those of other petrified trees of Arizona; but no one has been venturesome ■Trough to cut into the great natural mUicontological bridge to find out.