VOLCANIC WONDERLAND

From the busy city of Flagstaff, Arizona, situated in a forest of yellow pine, and nestled at the southern base of the mighty San Francisco Peaks, the roads lead to lands of fantastic design and color, to lands that are as old as the world itself. The great plateau area of northern Arizona reveals exposures of the earliest rock formations known. It is upon the old rock crust of the earth that deposits of seas, lakes, rivers, and deserts have accumulated to form this high plateau region. Each deposit carries its own identity as to shade of color and to texture of mass. Nearly seven thousand feet of vari-colored strata formed above the deep-seated granite. This great basin that was filling with brightly colored layers of muds and sands was raised and lowered at least six times in the effort of the earth crust to reach its earthly balance. At last the huge sedimentary block raised itself to form the present Colorado Plateau. In rough estimation the area contains 38,000 square miles.In the gigantic movements to attain earth balance and while the land was still near sea level, great fissures appeared that flowed molten rock or lava from the earth's interior. Many square miles were buried under the black covering before the flow subsided. This is known as the first period of volcanic activity in northern Arizona. The flows in the Flagstaff district apparently were of a very fluid nature and did not build up cone or mountain structures. But in the vicinity of Holbrook, Arizona, can be seen the Hopi Buttes, which are the remnants of some of the old first period volcanos. The entire cones have been eroded

“A Volcanic Wonderland”

Away leaving grotesque cores protruding above the brightly colored land of the Painted Desert. And then much further to the north up near the Utah border another group of these cores thrust their blackness through the red of the earth about them into the blue of these Arizona skies. Probably the most noted of these cores is "A-Ga-Thla", called by the Spaniards "El Capitán".At a much later date, many millions of years after the first eruptions, another group of fissures were formed. From these new vents the lava did not flow out to cover a great area. The material that came forth was acid in composition and more viscous than the early basalt flows, hence it built up mountains. The largest crater is estimated to have been 9,000 feet above its base. From its mighty height this magnificent cone dominated all that was about it. Several hundred cinder cones formed around the base of this most majestic of volcanos, but all were dim in its shadow. Then the earth was at rest again. From the sea-basin the vast land had raised itself, then the molten core of the earth forced through to form a splendid group of lofty mountains. While the San Francisco Peaks were and have remained the most beautiful and outstanding, other peaks were also formed. Mt. Sitgraves, Kendrick's Peak, and Bill Williams Mt. are a few that still add their beauty to the lure of the country. During the time when the earth was resting from its volcanic action, the rain, the wind, the frost, and the thaw all combined forces and by their multiple actions lessened the imposing height of the San Francisco Peaks by Three thousand feet. Thousands of years after the great heat had cooled, the slopes of the mountains and cinder cones became fertile and great forests grew up. To these forests the animals came, they ate of the grass that grew in the pine meadows, they drank from the springs that ran from the mountains. Then man came into this land. He probably lived here a long time before he devised a shelter. But later he built pit-houses near the mighty San Francisco Peaks. After many centuries of living on the peaceful slopes these people were alarmed to hear rumblings beneath them and to feel the earth quake. They sought shelter from these strange happenings at some distance. They left their homes with the sunken floors to find a land that was less disturbingSoon after the people had gone away, again the earth broke open and again from the fis sures poured molten lava, and the gases carried the ejected material high into the air and formed cones of cinders. All around for a thousand square miles there poured from one crater a fine ash that covered the land to a depth of many inches. This cinder crater built itself a cone of the same ash that it blasted forth to cover the land. A thousand feet it rose and as the vulcanism died away, hot springs, that must have been just inside, colored the edge of the cone with the minerals they contained, forming a red and yellow blush on the crest that resembles the sunsets of this land. And today long after this last violent action we call this cone Sunset Crater. It has been created a National Monument.The black ash that covered the land in ev ery direction seemingly would have caused the entire area to become a barren waste, but this was not so. After the earth became fairly quiet and the ash settled from the great cloud that must have hung over the land, the people came back. It was probably while digging plant roots for food or medicine that they discovered the ground to be moist and soft beneath this black covering. They must have experimented and found that crops planted in the soil beneath this mulch produced a remarkable yield. They built their villages at the edge of the small fissures, and out in the open on any prominent point. Then the area again became inhospitable. The winds shifted the loose sand ash and cinders, exposing the ground to the drying sun. The land became less productive as time passed. Finally after many years of drought the people drifted away.

This is a brief history of the San Francisco Volcanic Area. The Peaks still tower above all. They can be seen from two hundred miles away. They provide life for all who live within sight of them. The pure water of the city of Flagstaff comes from the inner basin in this once most violent of volcanos of the distriot.

Three peaks form the rim of a U-shaped valley that opens to the east. This valley is the inner basin or the interior valley. Along the ridge above the interior valley string the three principal peaks, Humphreys Peak (12,894 ft.) named by the geologist G. K. Gilbert for his superior, Brig. Gen. A. A. Humphreys of the Corps of the Engineers of the U. S. Army; Agassiz Peak (12,340 ft.) named by Gen. W. J.Palmer for Professor Louis Agassiz, the famed Swiss-Harvard Zoologist; Fremont Peak (12,000 ft.) named after John C. Fremont, the idol of the West. The great San Francisco Mountain Volcanic area, which covers some 3,000 square miles, forms one of the great volcanic regions in this country.

For many miles about the base of the Peaks is to be found a wonderland of oddities. To the west is Government Cave. This is a tunnel from which molten lava poured during the first period of eruption. The cave or tunnel can be entered and followed for a distance of three-quarters of a mile to where the opening becomes very small. At one place the passage forks and a little further on the branches join again. This cave, in cross section, is nearly a perfect circle some thirty to fifty feet in diameter. Great rocks floating on the surface of the stream have scored grooves in the sides and roof. In several places one can see that blocks have fallen from the roof and splashed in the stream of melted stone.

In reconstructing the formation of the tunnel it is thought that perhaps a great heavy mass of molten lava ran out forming a layer a hundred or more feet deep. Finally, the mass became sluggish, cooled and a crust formed, slowly solidifying to the base. Yet, in places, the liquid lava underneath continued to flow, similar to a stream beneath a stream, probably bursting out at the frozen end of the lava flow as a river of fluid rock. Then the lava forming the sides and floor of the tunnel solidified leaving a half filled tube. Today one can go into this tube or cave and see the lava rocks just as they were left these many, many, thousands of years ago.

One of the most prominent lava structures is Elden Mountain which lies about six miles east of Flagstaff. The transcontinental highway "66" passes at its southern base. This rugged mass of lava came up during the second period of volcanic activity, probably after the formation of the San Francisco Peaks. At this time the molten rock found its way under the layers of sediments and pushed them up, finally to break through. On the slopes of Elden can be traced the upturned portions of these old formations. By the time the lava reached its peak of protrusion and had burst open the upper crust of sediments, it had lost its pressure and did not flow out over the land but remained as a mass piled 2,000 feet above the country. Thus, today after thousands of years of erosion the old lava instrusion is nearly the same as it first appeared. The craggy character of the entire mountain surface attracts the eye of even the uninterested traveler. Wherever there has accumulated a bit of soil giant pines grow but the whole mountain is so very rough that the trees do not begin to mask its surface.

To the east of the Peaks and about eighteen miles from Flagstaff is the most visited portion of the volcanic field. Not so high as some of the cones but far the most noticeable with its crest of fiery tints is Sunset Crater. This is the most recent of volcanos. It can very safely be said that the eruption took place sometime about the year 885 A. D. This figure is ascertained by comparing the tree rings of some of the wood found in the pit-houses that were covered with the same ash and cinders that came from this crater. (Dr. A. E. Douglass of the University of Arizona, in his effort to produce a record of the weather conditions of the past, gave to the science of archaeology a method of dating the ruins of the pre-historics. Through dendrochronology we are able to date a piece of wood by its tree rings. Thus, we can safely estimate the age of a ruin by the remnants of wood, charred or otherwise, that may be found at the site.) From Sunset Crater two separate streams of lava flowed. On the southern side of the Kana-a flow ran down a valley toward the east from a distance of seven miles. From the northeast side, the Bonita flow filled an intercone basin. Because the lava was ejected into an intercone basin, an area enclosed by cinder cones, the lava could not flow far, so was piled up to a probable depth of three hundred feet. Even after many hundreds of years the lava looks as if it had just cooled. It gives one a strange sensation as if suddenly dropped into another world. Even the stately yellow pine is affected by this weird black mass. Instead of the usual straight trees, we find here that the pines are gnarled and have many low and spreading branches. However, as if to defy a huge monster, tiny red star-like flowers dot the massive slopes of deep cinders.

There are several other interesting features in this strange land. At the west base of the disrupted crater, across the Bonita flow in a general north and south direction, and at a time when the surface of the flow had become hard, a fissure tore that surface. Up through this crack semi-plastic lava was squeezed. This phenomenon is known as a "squeeze-up" or "Anosma." Squeeze-ups are unusual volcanic phenomena and may have relation to the fact that the lava was damned. On the sides of theportions that have come up through the hard surface can be traced the grooves and scratches caused from the rough side edges. Some of these blades of lava have bent under their own weight. The squeeze-ups range from a few feet in height to fifteen or twenty feet.

At the western base of Sunset Crater is a group of four spatter cones which were once fumaroles. The brilliant colors are due to the gases that poured from these tiny craters. It is as if the Creator in making the great cones and flows had a little material left over and to use it up He made these toy-like structures. The little craters stand about fifteen feet high. One of the cones has been excavated and clearly shows the construction of the inside of the crater. It is amusing that the excavation was not done for the advancement of science but instead the crater was cleaned out by an old prospector by the name of Ben Doney, who thought this might be a lost gold mine for which he was searching. A number of points have been given the name of Doney. Two craters bear the names of Big and Little Doney, and there is a little valley called Doney Park.

Just a short distance from the spatter cones is one of the most striking features of the area. This is an ice cave. In the summer months with the black surface of the lava flow absorbing the heat rays from the sun, it is a paradox to enter a cave and find it filled with ice. At the mouth of the cave one can feel the icy draft that rushes from the black mass's interior. In this day of commercializing every natural resource, it is small wonder that someone hasn't utilized this natural cold storage plant.

In this strange land of violent action, fragmentary materials such as ash, cinders, and bombs ejected from the various vents, are nowhere more accessible. In places fragments of the sedimentary rocks, sandstone and limestone, through which the vents have torn, are imbedded in the hard, black basalt, or lie scattered among the bombs and cinders.

To the Hopi Indians, Sunset Crater is "Kana-as Katchinki." This name means "the house of the Kana-as Kachinas," a group of friendly spirits who are supposed to dwell here in the crater.

A few miles to the north of Sunset Crater and out beyond the lava flows are a number of small fissure-like openings commonly termed "limestone solution cracks." They are really joints related to the regional uplift. The action of the water, from the rains, on the limestone has tended to enlarge the original openings. Some of these cracks have been explored to a depth of several hundred feet by letting a man down with a cable. The finds were of little scientific value although some pre-historic animal bones were recovered. It is not advisable to go into these openings without proper equipment. Some are dangerously deep.

In the same region where the "limestone solution cracks" are found and about thirteen miles to the northeast of Sunset Crater is Wupatki, one of the most colorful ruins left by the people who came here after the eruption of Sunset Crater. The people settled in this district but a few years after the ash and cinders covered the land. So productive did the ash mulch make the earth that there was at once a land rush into this area. Today there are but a few Navajo families in the same territory that for some three hundred years supported a population of several thousand. The people of Wupatki, and of all the many ruins in this vicinity, were of the Pueblo type of American Indian. They were agriculturalists and raised corn, beans, squash, and cotton which they spun and made into excellent textiles. The women made fine pottery and decorated it with intricate designs. They made baskets for the home and for the ceremonials. These people built masonry communal dwellings and Wupatki is a striking example of this work. Today after 700 years of exposure to the weather a number of walls still stand several stories high. It is estimated that Wupatki once contained seventy-five to one hundred rooms. Only a small number of these are now visible on the surface. The fallen walls of red sandstone and other debris form a mound of considerable depth, hiding the room outlines. Hidden under the fallen walls is some of the history of Northern Arizona awaiting the trowel and whisk of the trained archaeologist. From this beautiful site over-looking the Painted Desert the people drifted to other locaThe San Francisco Volcanic Area is one of the most fascinating places in the entire southwestern United States. For the scientist all the effects of volcanic action can be viewed in a very small area. Here one can study and learn at first hand the mysteries related to the inner earth activities. For the layman it is thrilling to see and become a part of this land so recently made. To climb to the top of Sunset Crater in the early morning and to view the Painted Desert away to the north, is indeed a rare pleasure. The color that is in every view the eye can see is astounding. Then if one likes, it is interesting to try to reconstruct the life of the people who more than seven hundred years ago lived in this land of fan-tastic design.

The San Francisco Peaks have given life to many peoples. In the Peaks are the homes of the Hopi Gods, the Kachinas. Here dwell these ethereal people in the land of abundant moisture. It is to the Kachinas that the Hopis pray that they may have crops on which to live. The primitive peoples bowed down to the Peaks and we of the present day are dominated by them. Wherever we go in Northern Arizona we turn to face the Peaks. On one side of Yuma is a rich farming garden, on the other, across the river, are sand dunes, sculptured by the wind and bright in the hot sun. These sand dunes whisper of an ancient world when the ocean overflowed the land and only the peaks of mountains showed.