Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park History

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park preserves a swath of semi-arid shrub-steppe in central Washington that hides a secret. Buried within the gravelly and sandy soils of the park’s landscape are remnants of an ancient forest, turned to stone by a fortunate convergence of geologic events.

Flood Basalts and Lahars

Ginkgo Petrified Forest lies near the western margin of the Columbia River Basalt Group, a geologic formation made up of hundreds of distinct lava flows that flooded over 80,000 square miles of Washington and Oregon.

Between 15 and 16 million years ago, the site of today’s park featured a warm, swampy forest of elm, sycamore, walnut, and many other species, many of which currently grow naturally only in the southeastern United States. Within the forest were ginkgo trees, a species no longer native to North America. The swamps and forests had developed on a previously erupted lava surface.

During the formation of the Cascade Mountain Range, streams, rivers and massive mudflows called lahars, caused by volcanic eruptions, flowed down the eastern flanks of the mountains. The slurry carried logs of evergreen trees such as spruce, redwood and Douglas fir from higher elevations into the marshy lowlands. The collection of petrified trees at Ginkgo Petrified Forest has been called a “rafted forest” because the assemblage includes logs of trees that probably did not grow together but accumulated in one place due to water transport.

About 15.4 million years ago, volcanic vents in southeast Washington produced additional massive basalt lava flows that covered the area of today’s park. One of these, the Ginkgo Flow, encountered the water of the swampland, causing the lava to quickly harden into bulbous masses geologists call pillow lava. The lava sealed the swamps from the atmosphere, stopping the natural decay of logs. Slowly, dissolved silica from the cooling basalt began to replace the plant cells of the logs with silicate minerals, taking their exact form, preserving their most delicate shapes and textures.

The tectonic forces that cause the uplift of the Cascade Mountains have also more gently warped the basalt lava flows of eastern Washington, creating a series of hills and valleys-- called coulees in the area of today’s park. The Columbia River, its course pushed to the margin of the lava plateau, continued to cut down through the layers of basalt, revealing their stories.

Ice Age Floods

In 1923, geologist J Harlen Bretz documented and described evidence for “huge, violent rivers of glacial meltwater” flooding across the Columbia Plateau in the waning days of the last ice age. In the area of today’s Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, high-energy floodwaters rushing out of Frenchman Coulee excavated the basalt cliffs up to 600 feet above the river. Pooling floodwaters reached over 1,200 feet in elevation, where they deposited large floating icebergs, some carrying clusters of erratic rocks from far away.

Indigenous Lands

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park lies within the traditional territories of Sahaptian and Inland Salish Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. For thousands of years this area has provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures. Archaeologists have documented stone tools and points crafted from pieces of petrified wood in the park area, and numerous ancient petroglyph and pictograph rock image panels were created, especially by the banks of the Columbia River.

Some tribes ceded ownership of the area to the US federal government under duress in the Yakima Treaty of Camp Stevens in 1855, keeping rights to harvest natural resources in their usual and accustomed places, including the Columbia River. Other tribes and bands such as the Columbia-Moses (Sinkayuse) were subjected to a series of executive orders by US Presidents that established and dissolved reservation areas and ultimately relinquished ownership of their homelands to the US federal government.

Land Distribution

Government surveys were completed by 1884 and over 3,500 acres of today’s Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park were conveyed into private ownership in 1895 as a part of the Northern Pacific (NP) Railroad Land Grant. The US Congress had approved the grant in 1864, which eventually conveyed nearly 40 million acres of public domain lands to subsidize the construction of railroad lines into the western states.

640 acres of today’s park land were granted to the State of Washington at statehood in 1889, part of a trust for the support of schools and other public institutions. Nearly 1,300 additional acres became state trust lands in 1920 and 1921 as “lieu lands,” to fulfill the promised land grant to the state.

Smithson Company Sheep Ranch

John H. Smithson arrived in Ellensburg in 1879 with 50 cents in his pocket. Ten years later, he established the Smithson Sheep Company and began acquiring grazing lands for the flocks, including most of the NP grant lands within today’s park. In spite of harsh winters in 1889-1891, the company persisted. The company was helped by expanding US demand for mutton due to immigration from countries that preferred lamb as a dietary choice. Transportation to wider markets had become possible with completion of the NP Railway through Ellensburg in 1887.

Professor George Beck

In 1925, George Beck was hired by the Washington State Normal School at Ellensburg (now Central Washington University) to teach music and introductory science. He began a systematic study of the petrified wood of the area of today’s park in 1931.

On the afternoon of November 29, 1932, Professor Beck and four students were surveying a dry watercourse located south of today’s Interstate 90 in Ryegrass Coulee. An outcrop of pillow lava sharpened their search for preserved petrified wood logs. At the base of a small landslide, they found a piece of petrified wood projecting from the slope.

Quickly excavating the site, they uncovered a “beautiful, soft, opaline” log two feet in diameter. Taking a sample for microscopic examination, they determined that it was the first complete log specimen of ginkgo recorded. The discovery was a rare find, and spurred Beck and others to advocate for protection and public interpretation of the site, with the petrified logs left in place as they had found them.

Creating a State Park

Professor Beck contacted the State Parks Committee to urge protection in late 1933. The Committee initiated a process for a land exchange with the Smithson Company that was completed in September 1935, trading the company’s lands in today’s park for state trust land west of Ellensburg. Secretary of State Ernest N. Hutchinson, a member of the State Parks Committee, sought emergency relief funding from the Depression-era Civil Works Administration. The funding allowed five men to work from January to April 1934 clearing trails, uncovering petrified logs and posting signs. T. H. Frichette, a colleague of Professor Beck, was hired as the park caretaker.

Lacking the resources to adequately protect and develop the park, the State Parks Committee endorsed a plan to transfer the area to the National Park Service (NPS) as a national monument. On December 31, 1935, Dr. Fritiof M. Fryxell, a geology professor and seasonal NPS naturalist, submitted a report to the NPS outlining the reasons that the area was an attractive candidate for national monument status. He noted the exposed layers of Columbia River basalt lava flows, Indigenous rock images, and the great diversity of petrified tree species found in the area. The area was also readily accessible from the primary cross-state highway.

The report also highlighted the importance of providing interpretation of the geologic story of the site to enhance the experience of park visitors. The report recommended the construction of two museums—one at a location in the midst of exposed petrified logs and the other on the bluffs of basalt flows overlooking the Columbia River near the rock image sites.

Despite the appeal for federal protection, the land remained under the administration of the State Parks Committee.

Civilian Conservation Corps

The recommendations of the NPS report were ultimately carried out as a result of the selection of Ginkgo Petrified Forest as a location for a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp. The CCC was one of the earliest hallmark relief programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Intended to provide useful employment and training for single men aged 18 to 25, the CCC ultimately provided jobs for more than 2 million enrollees who performed work in national and state parks and forests at more than 500 camps.

The camp at Ginkgo Petrified Forest was staffed by CCC Company 935, previously based at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, in October 1935. Park Caretaker Frichette transferred to the role of foreman of the CCC crew to supervise the construction projects. In April 1936, Company 3224 replaced Company 935, staying until September 1937.

CCC members constructed the Trailside Museum and attached caretaker residence first. The museum featured approximately 100 square feet of exhibit space featuring a relief map of the site, an artist’s rendition of the ancient landscape, and interpretive panels detailing the process that led to the formation of petrified wood of such a wide variety of species at the location, highlighting the rare ginkgo tree logs. Beginning at the museum, the Trees of Stone Interpretive Trail completed by the crew provided access to nearly two dozen specimens of petrified wood uncovered by Professor Beck’ surveys,  protected by stone and iron cages.

The CCC crews also built a trail to access Indigenous rock image sites near the Columbia River, engineered to provide access through precipitous terrain and incorporate features to protect the art from vandalism.

Work on today’s Ginkgo Petrified Forest Interpretive Center and caretaker residence began in May 1937, but had not been completed when the CCC crew left the park. Funding and labor was obtained through the Works Progress Administration to complete the buildings in 1938.

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park is the only location in Washington’s state park system where the creation of interpretive facilities was the primary purpose of the CCC’s work.

Wanapum Dam and Recreation Area

Construction of the 185-foot-high Wanapum Dam on the Columbia River began in 1959 about five miles downstream from the museum on the bluffs above the Columbia River. The reservoir pool behind the dam would inundate the rock image site made accessible by the CCC-constructed trail. A local women’s group suggested moving the rocks to the Ginkgo Museum (now called the Ginkgo Interpretive Center) to keep them accessible for viewing.

Bob Atwell, a retired mason and stone cutter, volunteered to do the job, which was approved by the State Parks Commission. With help from a nearby resident, Clarence Scammon, Atwell started the removal in October 1958. The two men cut or blasted the pieces out of the basalt columns they had adorned, lowered them to a raft on the river, then floated them across the river. Some pieces were lost overboard in the process. From the landing they were hoisted into a truck and hauled back over the highway bridge and placed in a site by the museum. Rocks with nearly 100 images were relocated by September 1959.

After Wanapum Dam was completed in 1963, camping and boat launching facilities were added at the Wanapum Recreation Area in the southern part of Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park.

Protecting and Interpreting the Heritage of the Petrified Forest

Building on the work of the CCC to provide interpretation at the park, the museum overlooking the Columbia River was doubled in size and the improved facility was dedicated by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (WSPRC) as the Ginkgo Petrified Forest Interpretive Center on May 16, 1953. Professional curators were hired by the WSPRC to oversee interpretation at the site, including Roald Fryxell, the son of Fritiof Fryxell who had authored the NPS report outlining the importance of interpreting the Ginkgo Petrified Forest.

The lease of state trust lands to the WSPRC was formalized on April 10, 1962. Four parcels of public domain land that had never been patented under the federal land disposal laws were acquired by the WSPRC between 1959 and 1964, adding nearly 1,300 acres to the park.

In 1971, the Washington Legislature decided that continued lease of trust lands for park purposes was not in the best interest of the state and directed the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and WSPRC to negotiate a sale of the leased lands.  The two agencies entered into a contract for the purchase of 15,083 acres in 24 parks, including 6,014 acres in Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, at a total purchase price of $11.4 million. The contract for the purchase was fulfilled on October 7, 1992, ensuring the permanent protection of the park.