The Petrified Forest Near Calistoga: Redwoods Turned to Stone by an Eruption 3.4 Million Years Ago
It was discovered in 1870, written about by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1883, and bought around 1912 for $14,000. The family that owns it still offers daily self-guided tours.
By the Bay Area Brief staff · Edited by Seamus McKenna · · 3 min read
Sandstone arcades of Stanford University's Main Quad in afternoon sun. Photo: King of Hearts / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped, resized and color-graded). Archive photo of the area; not a photo of the events in this story.
In the hills between Calistoga and Santa Rosa, giant redwood logs lie in the ground, turned to stone.
How it formed
About 3.4 million years ago, in the Pliocene, an eruption from the Mount St. Helena area buried a redwood forest in volcanic ash, according to Wikipedia. The site, in Sonoma County just west of Calistoga, covers about 845 acres. Wikipedia says it holds some of the largest petrified trees in the world.
History
Wikipedia says paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh discovered the forest in 1870 and identified the trees as an extinct sequoia, Sequoia langsdorfii. Robert Louis Stevenson described a visit in The Silverado Squatters (1883). Ollie Bockee bought the property around 1912 for $14,000.
Visiting
The Petrified Forest's official site says it has been family-owned and operated since 1914 and offers self-guided tours daily.
Sources
This article is an original summary based on the following reporting. We encourage readers to visit the original sources for full coverage.
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