Nature Notes From Crater Lake
Volume 7, No. 3, September 1934
A Buried Log in Rogue River Tuffs
and Agglomerates
By Warren D. Smith, Ranger-Naturalist
On July 27, 1934, Nelson Reed and the
writer went down the Rogue River about one mile below where the Diamond
Lake Road crosses Rogue River to investigate a newly discovered buried
log site. At the place indicated, Mr. Reed had discovered a buried log
in the tuff and agglomerate on the west bank of the Rogue River. The log
is of cedar, nearly three feet in diameter, with some six to eight feet
exposed, standing nearly vertical, and embedded with some sixty to
seventy feet of fragmental material above it. The upper part of this log
is charred, while the lower one to two feet is apparently little
changed; it appears that the tree was quickly entombed and hermetically
sealed by hot material. This tree was evidently standing and probably
alive and flourishing when the explosive material was thrown out, and
the blast seems to have pushed the tree down the slope at an angle of
74° away from the center of disturbance. This find ties up very well
with the discovery made by Mr. D. S. Libbey farther east on the Diamond
Lake Road, but in this find we have a standing, instead of prone log.
Furthermore, this tree bole is only partly carbonized.
Specimens of the unaltered wood from
this tree were submitted to Doctor E. I. Applegate, Ranger-Naturalist,
and Mr. Shirley Allen of the United States Forest Service and both
pronounced it as "most likely" cedar. It is quite probable that much the
same type of forest as is now growing there was growing in this region
prior to the time of entombment of this specimen. This locality is now
covered with a magnificent Douglas Fir forest in which many cedars are
found.
Below is a sketch of the deposit and
the long as partly exposed by the river under-cutting the bank.
