Do you find petrified wood?

[jinman]

I'm always finding chunks of petrified wood on my property. The largest I've found is about 1/2 the size of a loaf of bread. I've found many pieces between 4" to 6" long and up to 2" in diameter. I could pick up several pieces each time I take a walk or do any tractor work.

Yesterday, my neighbor stopped by to pick up some diesel cans and buy me some tractor fuel. I do things for him all the time and maintain his ATV trails by grading and donating gravel where needed. A couple of times a year, he will buy me 20 gallons of diesel. Anyhow, he told me that his son and a friend had found a huge chunk of petrified wood on their deer lease and loaded it into their truck. They had to use their deer lift to get the chunk into the truck after digging it up out of the ground. He wanted me to use my tractor to lift the fossil and put it on display in front of his guest cabin. He estimated that the piece weighed 500 lb, but I'd say more like 300. It was about 2-1/2' long and 18" diameter at the widest point. If I did not know it was petrified, I would have thought it was an old rotting log instead of petrified wood. One touch dispels all doubt. It is rock!

Now, the dummy part. I moved the rock with my tractor and sat there talking about it without ever thinking to take a picture of it. Sheesh! I had my cell phone in my pocket the whole time. I will try to remember to get a photo today and post it. I know it didn't happen until I post a photo.

I am curious as to how many TBNers find petrified wood on their property? It's quite common here, and an old antique gasoline station in Decatur, TX used chunks of petrified wood on the outside instead of brick as a veneer.

 

[forgeblast]

I took a local geology class, and we went to a place near scranton, pa on private property that had stumps sticking out of the ground. It was really cool seeing them.
It was in a shale quarry that never developed.

 

[brin]

Here in Georgia, 45 miles east of Atlanta I have never found any petrified wood on our farm but I have found pieces of real old handmade pottery and one person that looked at some of what I had found thought it was from the Cherokee Indians...wish I could find out for sure..I always have this daydream I will be out bush hogging and hear a clunk and find an old buried chest of gold...LOL....not so far...Looking forward to the pics.

 

[Dan Hunter]

No petrified wood but the PO found dinosaur bones. I found a piece of petrified dino poop.

 

[Western]

Jim, I have only found a few small pieces here, but found quite a bit on our farm outside Hico Tx. Is what you're finding the normal White or light Brown??
Would like to see the photo you get.

For years I have told my daughter and wife about the "Petrified Forrest" in AZ. and was finally able to take them out, If I can recover the photos from a dead hard drive I'll post a few. One of the most amazing places to visit.

 

[Western]

Hope the photos work, the trees where huge.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Jim, we actually have a lot of it here. This area was the ancient coastline. A nearby creek cuts through a soapstone formation. There, you can find fossilized fish, coral, seashells, etc. The most desirable, and most beautiful, of the local petrified wood is the palm wood. Some of it is really colorful and it has the "straws" (veins) that give it contrast.

 

[Taylortractornut]

We find alot at the landfill. Its i na really sandy area. We have to save clay and topsoild for the final cover of the landfill in the future. We hit clayey silt and use tha t for cover. I hit soem really coarse sand on a cut on the scraper and saw some white and orange flakes on the ground on my next pass on the scraper. I got off and dug around. I stopped the scraper and got the D5 and dug a round it then got my old 3550 Ford backhoe I leave out there. I dug down the sides and found about a 10 inch diameter 6 foot section of log.

I had folks tell me this was just a sand rock but its white. That it was just a freaky bleaced log. then I show them that it was taken 20 down from the natural top of the hill and 40 fro mthe face of the slope. Not thinking any more about it I was o nthe scraper in the same area and hit something that gave me a little jar. I turned around and saw a large chunk of white. I dug it up and it was a large stump. Almost too big to tote with my loader forks. Its in my dad and step moms yard with a will drawn up that when they kick It will come back to my yard.

 

[jinman]

Well, here are some photos. The first and second picture show the relative size to a big sandstone rock that was all my tractor could move when I previously moved it. You can also judge the size from the size of the oak leaves. The final picture shows the grain of the wood and how it looks just like an old log. When you touch it, it is cold and hard. My neighbor's son went back to the deer lease today to look for more.

 

[jinman]

Hope the photos work, the trees where huge.

Dennis, those are very impressive photos.:thumbsup: We were driving through AZ a couple of years ago and saw several big petrified logs laying in the field beside the Interstate. They looked to be 3'+ in diameter and 25' to 30' long. They weren't in any park, but just outside the ROW fence. I've never been to the Petrified Forest, but would love to go.