Petrified Tree

This tree was found March 14, 1914 at a depth of 40 feet while sinking Shaft No. 9 of Rock Island Coal Mining Company at Alderson, Oklahoma.

Mr. C. W. Shannon, Director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, states: “It is impossible to tell the age of the tree, and the 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 the geological period, known as the Carboniferous, and it 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.  Since the close of the Carboniferous age, time has been divided into about ten geologic ages each representing long periods of from 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 and not a few thousand as is often given for the age of the world. T. H. Beacom, General Manager

Petrified Tree moved