Lava Rock

A long time ago, local native americans told stories and these stories were past down to the next generation and retold to the next; this was repeated over and over again. The stories told were stories of their ancestors, within those stories was one story that was told and retold as to how there was a great lake where none is to be found today. And that this great body of water had many islands where the old ones, these were the ones who have past on (or died) so long ago, would travel to and from. It was said that it would take many days to get across this body of water by going from one island to another. These story tellers also say that the great lake disappeared within a season, never to return. A season is really a short amount of time for a great lake such as Lake Bountiful to empty but it did, leaving behind a number of smaller lakes that can be found today.

The day that the lake started to disappeared, started at the far northern end of this great lake (in northern Utah). There was a great ice dam, which was part of a glacier, that pinched off the only escape route to the sea, but the glacier started to melt. In time this ice dam melted enough that small streams of water grew into bigger streams this was enough to start a process that couldn't be slowed down. Soon the water burst forth allowing the vast amount of water behind it to escape down to the Columbia river and out to the sea. This water was swift and cold ripping out deep canyons along its path and carving new paths in the riverbed. Causing much destruction in its rush to the sea. Hugh boulders still can be seen in areas where similar composite material is found a hundred plus miles away. Canyons were cut though solid rock, where the force of the flood waters and the rocks and debris that was carried with it by the water, curved though solid rock. Which is truly amazing.

As the water in the lake was quickly disappearing, the earth beneath the lake was now no longer being weighted down by the heavy weight, that was water; the compressed land now released of its load expanded and rose skyward, thus opening up hidden seams and deep fractures underground and spit out fire in the form of melted rock (magma) from the bellows of the earth. Once this molten rock reached the surface it was mixing with the water thus cooling quickly fracturing into smaller pieces and layering itself in veins of two different colors, red and black.

The process was piling up upon itself, making new hills and mountains of this light weight fractured volcanic lava rock. This newly formed volcanic lava Rock was filled with countless number of air bubbles and holes trapping gases of that time period holding it hostage from that day of its creation, to the present day.

Imagine if you will, all of this was done under great clouds of stream and smelly smoke. These clouds quickly grew and appeared to have a life of its own, like a faceless monster roaring and reaching upward and outward covering the land with a fine layer of dust that was making it hard to breath and was hurting the eyes and the grit of it getting into your mouth and crushing itself between your teeth. Much like what happened to those around Mount St Helen's and the surrounding areas in the late 1970's.

Some of the gas clouds that formed may have been poisonous and some people and many animals may have died because of this low laying rolling poison gas cloud. These great clouds were cause when the magma violently reacted with the water. This could be seen for many many miles around about, the noise from this interaction must have been deafening. The ground under the nearby villagers feet rumbled and moved causing many to fall to the ground and maybe they stayed there on the ground trembling in fear. It would be easy to think that all the villagers feared that this was to be the end of them. But we know it wasn't the end for all of them for some must of survived to be able to tell the story.

In time life went back to its daily routines for all the men and women and children of the villages; but these routines no longer included the lake, and the lifestyle that a body of water this size afforded. This extinct lake is what we now call Lake Bountiful. In its place is now a vast highland desert.

Though it wasn't a desert at first. First it was a grassland, sporting many different types of animals. Trees and gasses of many different types, these are no longer seen in this area, but were abundant here for a time. Life was good, hunting was good, the average temperatures warmed up though the years, so slowly that no one living at the time really noticed, no one that is except the plant life and those animals that fed upon that plant. When the conditions were such that certain plant-live died off, the animals that lived off them either moved to better feeding grounds where that plant still existed or adapted to other plants as food or those animals died off. These included Mammoths and yes Camels, buffalo, etc.

The winters soften and snowfalls lessened, there were more warmer days between the seasons of deep snow. Later as the rains and snows lessened and the land started to look more as it does today. Many of the types of animals that had once been seen upon the land no longer existed. Adapt and survive or die. Man survived because he was able to adapt, as did the mule deer, elk, coyote, rattlesnake, etc.

We now know that there is wobble to the earth as it rotates around the sun moved just a few degrees further to the north this a common natural occurrence that happens every 29,000 years. At this same time where ice and glaciers covered north America and created Lake Bountiful; there were great grass lands and vast lakes of water with all different types of fish and life was abundant everywhere on the Africa continent. This was in an area that we now know as the Sahara Desert, hard to believe but it's true.

Back to what once was Lake Bountiful.

Life carried on the mountains and valleys around the mountain of volcanic lava rocks, that is until the advent of the white man coming into the area. With the entry of the white man also came many different forms of illnesses in which the local native people had never been exposed to before, because their bodies had no anti-bodies to fight these illnesses, many died. This happened so fast whole villages were wiped out almost over night. The old and mature adults who were the leadership and founders and more importantly the base of the culture of these tribes, with them dyeing off so fast also died quickly a rich culture; a way of life that can only be guessed at, exactly how it was lived then compared to how it was lived after that first meeting of the two races. There is many that say that within the two ways of life there was no difference, I and others say their was a great difference. And I also say that what was lost those many years ago was so much more than that what we can see today in the tribal traditions that we are told about today.

Today whole canyons have been recently found, where habitational structures look as if they are waiting for the long deceased owners to come back home. Daily used artifacts laying were the habitants had left them. These priceless history achieves are protected from time and the elements by the creative methods of those who built such structures. These abandoned homes and food and equipment storage areas within these special utah canyons are now being explored and protected by agencies within our federal government. (BLM, USFS, State Colleges among others, you need to have a few letters after your name and a special reason to get a special permit to even get to step foot in the gate. without it you will be met at the gate with drawn guns, and told to leave,... no kidding. ) The canyons are as I am told releasing their secrets and stories as they are being gathered together by these so called experts. Hopefully I will someday learn these stories that where of a interesting group of people hidden away in a east central Utah canyon.

There are areas in our Utah deserts where few go and even fewer know about that have rocks that have stories written upon them, either by pecking into the rock itself with antler used as a chisel and a handheld rock used as a hammer and / or painted upon the rock, in figures that only the stories creators could explain the meaning of. But with an active imagination, one could create another story and meaning for each of the characters that were used in each of these works of ancient art. It would be nice to know the real and true story behind the rock art, but sadly that story is lost for all time with the individual that took the time to express him or herself though this medium. The verbal story behind these "rock art" at a point of time stopped being told and handed down from on generation to the next. Their locations are now beginning to be lost to all but a few cowboys and sheep herders that live and work in those areas.

The mountains that at one time stood as islands in the great lake, are still standing and can be seen from interstate 15 near Fillmore Utah in Millard county. If one looks real close you can even see the gradual slopes of shore lines around these mountains. There are even some great satellite images that can be seen on Google Earth. This volcano is six miles due west of Fillmore following 200 south westward. Three miles as the raven flies south of the volcano is a hot springs that many enjoy, take some time and relax in its warm waters. These hot springs are owned by a local family, the Gale George family, but they allow for the public to enjoy the hot springs, all they ask is that everyone clean up after themselves and no nude bathing. These hot springs are a favorite place for local families to play in, bring your family on by and get wet. The local sheriffs department makes the hot springs part of their daily route of places to check up on, so behave yourself while there.

The lava rock that was formed from that volcano under the great lake Bountiful, as it was emptying is very unique. Not only is it light in weight, like popcorn, but it is structurally strong. Because it is from deep within the earth it has soil remineralization properties, sixteen different elements make up this material, each and everyone of them is needed for healthy plant growth. As the plants root system breaks down the rock, these elements are freed for the plants use. That is why Bonsai growers and other nursery operations buy our 3/8 minus by the truck load to mix in their soil formulas. Get yours here http://www.lava-rock-for-bonsai.com

The volcanic lava rocks that we sell is PH neutral making it perfect for use in fish aquariums; both in salt water and fresh water tanks. Petco and Petmart buy tons of our volcanic lava rocks. Cut out the middle man and buy the same exact rock from us and save a ton of money for your aquarium design projects.

The volcanic lava rock that is commonly used in gas fire pits comes from this volcano, and can be bought from us here at http://www.lava-rock-for-fire-pits.com The main reason our volcanic lava rocks are so desired is because the light weight material is not dense nor prone to harsh or violent popping or explosions when it is heated up quickly, such as you would find in heavier denser lava rock. Yes there is a little popping when the lava rock gets wet and then is heated up quickly but this is mild.

If you are one of the lucky people that go to the Sundance film festival and stay in Park City Utah at one of the newest hotels in town and seen the gas fireplaces that use volcanic lava rocks. That lava rock came from our volcano, contact http://www.lava-rock-for-fireplaces.com

In fact if you bought volcanic lava Rock for your SunBeam Gas BBQ Grill a few years back or bought BBQ lava rock in the seven pound bags at your local wal-mart store, that too came from us. http://www.lava-rock-for-gas-grills.com

Landscaping with volcanic lava rock is still attractive and water wise method of landscaping in desert landscapes. The colors of red and black and in the different screened sizes add an interest and style to your special Lava Rock Landscaping projects.

Volcanic lava rocks formed first in the deep earth and then brought to the surface has many other uses such as these following examples:

Bog and wetland filtrations projects.

Sea World tank filtration systems

Soil remineralization projects

Light weight cider blocks

Light weight concrete construction projects

Fish Aquarium Rock and gravel

Bonsai soil

Lava Rock gas grills

Lava Rock gas fireplaces

Lava Rock gas fire pits

Volcanic lava rock has been used and is being used today in the creating of floating road base though swampy or heavy clay road projects.

Volcanic lava Rock has been used and is being used today in the creating of floating road base though swampy or heavy clay railroad projects.

Our volcanic lava rock has been used and is currently being used in restaurants across the United States and Canada. the list goes on and with future postings I will list more of its uses, and where you can see these projects in operation today.

DMSE Inc ~ Kanosh, UT, USA