Petrified Forest

The George M. Lund Memorial Petrified Forest is located near Leadville.

See Also

• U.S. Forest Service, "The impact of the Neogene (late Tertiary) on biogeography and evolution of conifers in western North America," "The site was fenced in 1965 by the BLM to protect it from livestock, and a small monument erected near the road."
• Nevada's buried treasure: The Lund Petrified Forest. Botany 2005 Poster.
• University of California Museum of Palentology, "2002 UCMP’s summer adventures," Information about mapping,
• Nell Murbarger, "Our Largest Petrified Tree," Natural History, v. 62, no 10, p466-471, 1953.
• Chester A. Arnold, "An introduction to paleobotany," 1947. p 39 has a photo of the same petrified tree stump as Murbarger discussed and photographed. Arnold states that the tree stump is 47 feet in diameter and from the Middle Tertiary. Murbarger says there is also a photo on page 6.
• E. D. Knight, "Letters from Lander's Expedition #1," Alta California, September 1, 1860. Col Lander's Wagon Road Expedition, In Camp, Rabbit Hole Springs, July 21, 1860. Includes description of a 666 foot long petrified tree. See also "Petrified Trees," The Sonoma County Journal (Petaluma, California), September 21. 1860, page 2.

Images

• Image of Petrified stump "UNRS-P1988-55-0740, 6 1/2 miles north of Leadville, Washoe County. 56 inches diameter, 84 inches high. These sections made by Ogle Swingle in 1939 in preparation for shipment to San Francisco Fair. 18 May 1946." However, there is no record of the sections appearing a the fair.
  • However, an image from 1910 shows the stump being in sections. The image at the top of p. 59 of Christopher Brooks', "Black Rock Desert" is wa-6252 from the Nevada Historical Society. The photocopy of the image in the index binder says "Jim Raser - At Petrified Forest". The rest of the text is difficult to read, but the authors copy says "c. 1910". So, the cuts were probably made before 1910.
  • In 2013, Donald Jeakins wrote that Ogle Swingle had nothing to do with cutting the stump, but that a company did try to take sections of the tree. (Email to Christopher Brooks).
• " Petrified tree trunk," ca. 1930, UNRS-P1988-55-1096, Jay A. Carpenter Collection, Special Collections Department, University of Nevada, Reno Libraries. The image shows three sections in ca. 1930?
• Image of "Petrified Wood North of Leadville," WA-4869, Nevada Historical Society. Modern picture, possibly after work with a backhoe?
• Image of the "George W. Lund Memorial Petrified Forest" plaque, WA-6258, Nevada Historical Society. Text from the plaque.
• Gus Bundy, "Numbers 32582 through 32593. Twelve negatives: Petrified forest; North of Gerlach; July 1951 (neg. 2x2)," UNRS-P1985-08-32582, Special Collections Department, University of Nevada, Reno Libraries. No images on the web, only a description.