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Glimpses of our National Monuments

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  • OUR NATIONAL MONUMENTS 47 and sandstone which have now crumbled away with the exception of some knolls and spurs. Enough of the sandstone capping remains to indicate the continuity of the original mesa in which the logs were entombed. In this cap rock can be seen many remnants of logs still firmly held in place, awaiting the erosion of coming milleniums, while their ends, divided in many sections, adorn the gullied slopes below. The fantastically carved escarpments, with banded colors, form a picturesque setting for this deposit. The Natural Bridge is found about one-half mile to the east. This bridge is a petrified log about 100 feet long, originally incased entirely in sandstone. The crumbling of this stone has exposed the largest part of the trunk and, beginning with a small channel under the central portion, erosion has carved an arroyo under the log, so that it now forms a bridge of about 50-foot span. The length of the span and the immense weight of the trunk made it necessary several years ago to reinforce it with a concrete beam. It should not be supposed that this tree grew on the rocky ledge, fell across the arroyo, and petrified. Instead, picture this region as the center of a vast basin overflowed by running water and gathering silt and gravel from surrounding higher elevations. Then imagine this tree, water-logged and no longer able to float, settling to its resting place on a sand bar, next being covered with more sand and pebbles that formed sandstone and covered by thousands of feet of clay and sand, then subjected to the ages upon ages of chemical action called petrifaction, which changed it from a wooden trunk to a mass of agate and carnelian (silica) without affecting its shape. Then picture the slow upheaval that drained the water from this basin; the gnawing of erosion through many thousands of years to remove the layers above this trunk; and the final crumbling of the immediately surrounding sandstone to expose the log and form the gulley. Such in short is the story of this natural bridge. The Second Forest lies about 2 miles south and a little to the east of the First Forest. It contains, in addition to the chips and scattered sections that are so abundant in the region, some rather well- preserved logs, a few of which are not entirely uncovered. The striking feature here is a number of logs of yellowish gray color and dull texture, quite a contrast to the more flinty and brightly colored specimens that prevail in the First Forest. This gray petrifaction shows under the microscope the minutest details of the original wood. The Third or Rainbow Forest lies about 6 miles south and west. of the first one. It surpasses the first two deposits both in size, number of logs, and brilliancy of coloring. Mere are found hundreds of logs in a good state of preservation. Stripped of branches,
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