Petrified Ginkgo log, Vantage, Washington
[photo: D. L. Dilley]
This is an unused Smith-Western Co. postcard featuring a photograph by D.L. Dilley of a large chunk of a petrified ginkgo log. The identifying code: S-74237 is found at the bottom of the center line on the back of the card. Credit to Dilley is found at the left corner on the back. At the upper left on the back of the card is the blurb: “The first Ginkgo log found in the Vantage Washington Area of the Columbia River. This log is located in the Ginko Petrified Forest Museum Building.
Also sometimes called the maidenhair tree, ginkgo trees are known to have existed since the time of the dinosaurs or earlier in East Asia. The tree was cultivated in early human history and commonly grown as a landscape plant today. It is regarded as a living fossil. It is a tall, long-lived tree with fan shaped leaves.
Just looking at this picture of a piece of petrified wood on the card, it is hard to imagine what the actual tree looked like when it was living. There is a ginkgo tree Bob and I often pass when taking walks. I took some pictures of the tree and its distinctive leaves. Young ginkgo trees are slender and sparsely branched. As the tree ages it fills out and broadens. The tree is insect and disease resistant. Some living ginkgo trees are estimated to be more than 3,500 years old. Based on the age of many of the houses in the area where this tree is growing, it is probably close to 70 to 80 years old, hence very young for a ginkgo.
Tall young ginkgo tree
Part of the trunk and a thick cluster of leaves
Ginkgo Leaf
The Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park found at Vantage, Washington is a geologic preserve and recreation area on the western shoreline of the Columbia River’s Wanapum Reservoir. This area was home to the Wanapum tribe of Native Americans. Fishing and agriculture were what sustained their living. They carved petroglyphs in the basalt cliffs and may have used some of the petrified material for tools or arrowheads. The Wanapum people welcomed white strangers during Lewis and Clark’s expeditions during the early 1800s. Unfortunately, since they did not sign any treaties with the new settlers who arrived later, they retained no federally recognized right to the land. In 1963 when the Wanapum Dam was completed the water level of the Columbia River rose. A new Interpretive Center was built and about 60 of the approximately 300 petroglyphs were salvaged from the rising water. Many of them are now on display at the Interpretive Center.
The geologist and teacher at what became Central Washington University, George F. Beck, was asked to organize excavations after highway workers noticed petrified wood in this area in 1927. In addition to ginkgo several other petrified specimens were found, such as, Douglas fir, walnut, cottonwood, magnolia, madrone, sassafras, yew, redwood, sweetgum, and witch hazel. A small museum was built by The Civilian Conservation Corps at Vantage and opened to the public in 1938. Known as a “desert rat,” Frank Walter Bobo who had been digging petrified logs in Yakima and Kittitas Counties, was then commissioned to collect, saw, and polish specimens for the museum. He was allowed to keep half of the specimens he prepared as partial compensation. After he passed away his son, Don J. Bobo, inherited his father’s collection of about a ton of petrified wood. The park has been a U.S. National Natural Landmark since 1965. Petrified wood was named as the Washington state gem in 1975.
Dennis Lee Dilley (1932-2019) was a color photographer and artist whose work can be found on chrome-era postcards across the Pacific Northwest. His photographs include locations like of the Grand Coulee Dam, the Whitman Mission, and this one from the Ginkgo Petrified Forest. His works were distributed by the Smith-Western Co., of Tacoma, Washington.
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_Petrified_Forest_State_Park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba
https://www.lindquistmortuary.com/obituaries/dennis-dilley
AI Overview: D.L. Dilley
