As a result of the petition by citizens of Arizona Territory, and in response to requests by other groups in the Southwest that steps be taken to protect great cliff dwellings and other prehistoric Indian remains which were being systematically pothunted and looted, Congress passed the Antiquities Act. This authority enabled President Theodore Roosevelt on December 8, 1906, to issue a proclamation establishing Petrified Forest National Monument for the protection and preservation of one of the world’s most colorful and extensive concentrations of petrified wood “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”
Northeastern Arizona is not the only area known to contain petrified wood, for it has been found in nearly every State and in foreign countries as well. Visitors from distant States are frequently surprised to discover, from a map in the monument’s museum, that petrified wood is to be found near their own homes. It is, however, the large amount of the wood in such beautiful and varied colors that makes _this_ Petrified Forest outstanding and worthy of being protected as an area of national significance.
We do not know for certain which of the early travelers was the first to see the great display of petrified wood of northern Arizona. Spanish explorers may have seen it during the 1500’s, since they viewed and named the Painted Desert (Desierto Pintado), but no written account has been located that gives any indication that they noticed the wood. In fact, the earliest written report on record was not made until 1851. In that year, Lieutenant Sitgreaves, an Army officer, explored parts of northern Arizona and mentioned the petrified wood in his reports. In 1853, an Army expedition led by Lieutenant Whipple visited the present monument area, camping near the Black Forest.
It was not until the 1880’s that settlement of this part of the Arizona territory really got under way with completion of the Santa Fe Railroad across it in 1883. Word about the petrified wood spread, and it was not long until the destructive activities were started.
The six separate “forests” within the monument are areas of the greatest concentration of petrified logs and have been named the First, Second, Third, Black, Rainbow, and Blue Forests. The latter was given its name because of the bluish color of much of the badlands formation in which the wood is found. There is not a great deal of difference in the wood found in the other locations, so they were apparently named by early residents in order to distinguish one location from the other.