Agate Bridge

A single petrified log spans a wash here, a hundred and ten feet of stone that outlasted the ground beneath it. Floodwaters scoured out the gully while the fossil log, harder than the surrounding sandstone, bridged the gap. Early admirers helped win the area's protection as a monument in 1906, then could not leave the bridge alone: masonry pillars propped it in 1911, a concrete beam in 1917. The Park Service now lets erosion have the last word, since the span will fall eventually, supports or none. Preservation sometimes means stepping back.

What the plaque says

Centuries of scouring floodwaters washed out the arroyo, or gully, beneath this 110-foot (34 meter) petrified log to form Agate Bridge. The stone log, harder than the sandstone around it, resisted erosion and remained suspended as the softer rock beneath it washed away., Enthusiastic visitors fascinated by Agate Bridge worked to preserve it through the establishment of Petrified Forest National Monument in 1906. Conservationists felt this ages old natural bridge needed architectural support and in 1911 erected masonry pillars beneath the log. In 1917 the present concrete span replaced the masonry work.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Petrified Forest National Park — 7.5 mi
  Two hundred million years turned to stone — and a Route 66 ghost
• Holbrook — 21 mi
  A Santa Fe railroad town once too tough for women and churches, now the seat of Navajo County, gateway to the Petrified Forest, and home to the concrete teepees of the Wigwam Motel.

More markers nearby

• Pioneers of Paleontology — 3.7 mi
• Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs — 4.8 mi
• Summer Solstice Marker — 5.7 mi
• Agate House — 7.2 mi