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66 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, July 7, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend June 3, 2004 Eagle Point High School science teacher Mike Miller poses with a 30 million-year-old petrified tree stump found in a pond on campus. A Southern Oregon University geologist believes the tree may have been a redwood covered by ash after a volcanic eruption Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Pond yields big hunk of petrified wood Workers cleaning out a pond behind Eagle Point High School dredged up a car-sized rock that might once have been a redwood By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune EAGLE POINT — Maintenance workers cleaning out a pond behind Eagle Point High School athletic fields last week found a lot more than muck and misplaced gym shoes — they stumbled upon a 30 million-year-old petrified tree stump. School officials announced the finding on Tuesday after seeking the advice of local geology experts and rock hounds. Maintenance supervisor Ken Gruenwald said workers from Toprock Trucking Co. of White City were removing silt and sediment from the pond last Thursday when their equipment hooked onto something "really, really big." The petrified wood, which broke into two pieces during its excavation, measures more than six feet in diameter. Workers had difficulty removing it from the pond even using equipment with a maximum load limit of 22,000 pounds. "It looks like a giant tree stump. It’s got the grain and everything else but it’s as hard as a rock," said Gruenwald. Advertisement "It’s something, really, you don’t run into every day. Most of the time you see petrified stuff it’s in those souvenir shops and it’s something you can hold in your hand. This thing is the size of a Volkswagen Bug. It was amazing. Everybody had to take a look at it." Southern Oregon University geologist Bill Elliott examined the specimen on Friday. He said that judging by maps of the area, the rock likely was formed about 30 million years ago from a type of conifer, possibly a redwood, after a volcanic eruption covered the area with volcanic ash. The area was once known as the Western Cascades, a precursor to today’s Cascades, said Elliott. "The silica in the volcanic ash replaced the woody tissue and petrified the wood," he explained, a process that occurs over millions and millions of years. "Although you have features of wood preserved, it has basically turned to rock," he added. "The mineral name for silica is quartz. You can even see little veins of quartz in the stump." Elliott said the specimen was the largest he had ever seen and definitely a unique find for Southern Oregon. "I think it’s unique because you don’t usually find petrified wood samples that large, and it’s a well-preserved specimen, too," he said. "You can see the tree rings and even some of the roots on the base. The tree, at least the way it was described to me, was in the growth position when it was found." School officials were still deciding whether to put the rock on display and whether something needed to be done to preserve it. They worried about possible pranks from graduating seniors in their final days of school. "We’re keeping it covered because we don’t want it to be damaged while we’re trying to decide what to do with it," said administrative secretary Mary Frantz. "And we’re worried the kids might think it’s their senior rock and that they can tag it, and we don’t want that." Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times