Back before Colorado was even a state, the United States government was encouraging the settlement of the west. The Homestead Act of 1862 was passed stating that:

"...any citizen, or person with intention of becoming a citizen, who was the head of a family and over twenty-one years of age, could become possessed of 160 acres of the surveyed public domain after five years of continuous residence on his tract and the payment of a small registration fee..."

Many settlers headed west to claim their land and face whatever dangers lie ahead for them. It was this very Act that brought civilization to the Petrified Forest near Florissant. This land is known today as the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Judge James Castello was one of the first settlers to lay claim near the Petrified Forest. He built his home, a general store, and a hotel on his property in 1870. Then in 1872 he built a post office and gave the newly established town the name of Florissant. Naming it after his hometown of Florissant, MO which means “flowering” in French. Now having a store and a local mail service, more and more settlers came to stake their claims for free land. The first of these settlers to actually build their home in the Petrified Forest was the Reverend David P. Long. His collections and discoveries on his land brought several professors from Colorado College to see the Petrified Forest and allowed them to take wagon loads of specimens they had found. With the fascination of a new world ready to be discovered, scientists would travel from all over the world to eventually find their way to the Petrified Forest in Florissant Valley.

In 1874, Dr. A.C. Peale – a geologist for Hayden’s survey – wrote the first document to the government stating the scientific importance of the Petrified Forest and estimated the fossils to be approximately 34 or 35 million years old. Shortly to follow Dr. Peale was the paleontologist Samuel Hubbard Scudder who was also impressed by the scientific importance of the forest and fossil beds. He made this valley his home for several years as he dug fossils and made many discoveries.

Although the news of a Petrified Forest in Florissant Valley was spreading quickly, only the most earnest travelers would come to see it, as the forest was difficult to get to. Until, that is, the Colorado Midland Railway built tracks to take passengers to the valley in 1887. As there were no rules or guidelines set for tourists, people would usually take whatever they wanted from the valley. Just destroying the land and the stumps for generations to come. From the late 1860’s to only the mid 1870’s the rumors of how different the valley looked was significant. Stories of petrified stumps as high as 8 meters now only 1 meter from the ground. Huge trees lying on the ground with limbs still attached, all gone. In less than a decade the vastness of the forest was no longer there and in threat of complete destruction as it was not controlled by any force until almost a century later. Commercial companies, including Walt Disney, wanted the stumps for tourist attractions all over the country. These companies would use saws and other similar means to cut the huge petrified stumps into smaller more manageable pieces to be shipped wherever they wanted. Even commercialized quarries where built to bring in tourists, where for fifty cents you could fill your pockets with fossils. Unfortunately, the government slowly noticed these damaging exploits of the Petrified Forest.

It was first suggested by the Denver Times in 1915 that the Petrified Forest be made a National Monument. Then in 1920, Director Stephen Mather, stated in a report to the National Park Service that he felt the Petrified Forest was worthy of National Monument status, but that an evaluation needed to be made. It was twelve years later before an evaluation was ever made. As the review was quite negative, nothing further was considered for the fossil beds for several years later. The next evaluation performed by Yellowstone Superintendent, Edmund B. Rogers, in 1952 also finished with the suggestion against National Monument status. Stating that there was “No clear and present danger...” to the fossils or petrified trees. Finally, the voice was heard, and in 1962 a report by Alberts and Knowles stated that the fossil beds needed to be protected by the government from vandalism and souvenir hunters. Their suggestion to the National Park Service was to preserve the fossil beds to National Monument status as soon as possible.

Shortly thereafter, a bill was written and introduced to congress in 1963, it was never to be voted on. A second bill was written in 1965, where it too was never voted on. A third attempt was made, this time suggesting that the acreage be lessened from the original 6,000 acres to only 1,000 acres. The House of Representatives voted on this proposal and passed it. However, it was not voted on in the Senate and another bill died in Congress. It wasn’t until the threat of a commercial construction company wanting to buy the land and make a subdivision for A-frame homes that the government decided to step in. Finally, a bill was passed and the land was protected by law. President Richard Nixon signed the bill on August 20, 1969 creating what is now known as the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Four years later the park incorporated the land of Adeline Hornbek into the park boundary. The Hornbek Homestead is a must see rare home built in 1878. It is 1-½ stories with 4 bedrooms and 11 windows.