In the mid 1800s U.S. Army mappers and surveyors exploring this eras carried stories back East of the remarkable painted desert and the trees that had turned into stone. In 1906 selected forests were set aside as Petrified Forest National Monument. In 1932 some2500more acres of the Painted Desert were purchased and added to the Monument. There is                       evidence of early human occupation is visible on the landscape, sites tell of human history in the area for more than 2,00 years.

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