Petrified Tree at Canadian County History Museum - El Reno, OK
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Max and 99
N 35° 31.855 W 097° 57.519
14S E 594408 N 3932421
Petrified Tree displayed on the grounds of the Canadian County History Museum
Waymark Code: WMFK5T
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 10/28/2012
Views: 9
This geological display is on the grounds of the Canadian County History Museum, but outside the main building. It is in an area that has several interesting displays (one room schoolhouse, windmill, dedicated tree, historical marker, and the first Red Cross Hut in the U.S.A.).
Text on display:
This tree was found March 14, 1914, at a depth of forty feet while sinking shaft Number 9, OK Rock Island Mining Company at Alderson, Oklahoma.
Mr. C. W. Shannon, then Director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, under date of July 28, 1914, commented as follows regarding the age of this tree:
"It is impossible to tell the age of the tree and time which has elapsed since it grew can only be given in millions of years. The stump and part of the roots of this large tree are from geological periods known as the Carboniferous, and grew in a swamp millions of years ago. It often happens that plants were replaced by sandstone instead of passing through a process of carbonization and forming coal.
"Judging from the thickness and number of coal bed which are in the rocks ( ) carboniferous age, and basing calculations upon the time which it seems would be necessary for the accumulation of coal, and allowing an equal length of time for the formation of the associated rocks, we would have figures something like two million to five million years as a conservative estimate of the carboniferous period, which means, at best, the coal period was very long.
"Since the close of the carboniferous age, time has been divided into about ten geologic ages, each representing long periods of several thousand years to millions of years, all estimates of years representing the great length of time are only roughly calculated. The time from the beginning of the carboniferous to the present can only be said to be millions of years, not a few thousand as is often given for the age of the world."
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company.
This Petrified Tree was presented as a gift (see permanent metal plaque) to the El Reno Chamber of Commerce by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company, receipt of which is gratefully acknowledged. It was moved from a location near the Rock Island depot to present site in June, 1959, where it will be maintained in well kept surroundings for generations to come.
El Reno Chamber of Commerce (two lines for signatures, which are not readable)
Type of Display: Geological
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