Litchfield enquirer., 1854-01-19
The Biz Trees of California. !.

The Big Trees of California;
 Levi Hitchcock of Springfield. Mass, has jus. received letter from lis broth. CT, Walter Hitchcock, who is in Califor- mia. giving an interesting description of a visit torthe big trees. He also receiv. ed from him piece of wood from the big tree which has been cut dosn. We make the following cxtlact from the let- ter, in which our readers will not fail to be interested: MAI
 | "You have doubtless heard ofthe 'big trees of California. but I have seen them and must give you brief description of them. Wehad been calculating fos some time to go and see them so, last We'd nesday morning, we took our seats in our saddles, just as the sun peeped over the hills. and away we bounded on a jour ney of twenty five miles over the hills and valleys. You have no idea of the awful grandeur ol the towering hills ol barren rocks, which form the banks oi the little Stan,slaus. which we were obi. ged to cross. We had to dismount, and proceed very cautiously in Indian file, down more than mile, in a path abou, two feet wide, winding round the side Of the mountain, and woe betide the man or beast that stepped below the path they sure would meet the river too soon. We crossed it in a ferry boat and had to pay four bits each. and as there were five of us. the ferryman took two and halt dollars for about five minutes work. The river over, our next business was to climb the mate of the hill we had just descend ed. We got to Murphy's diggings about eleven o'clock. distance of about eight miles. From Murphy's there is good road, anl we arrived at the Mammoth Tree Hotel little before sunset.
 "The big trees (ior there are l3l of them over ten feet in diameter, standing on the limits of few acres,) stand in Mammoth Tree Valley, about 30 miles north of Sonora, in Calaveras county. The mammoth tree which has been felled was bored down with long augers, and took four men 22 days to get it down. The stump stands about six fee. above the level of the ground, and it's top has DcCu lIduS lctCI duu oiuOOLus WulCu I0~ quired l6 days work. I measured it from the inside of the bark across to the inside of the bark, aud it measured 25 feet. and it is perfectly sound, clear to the heart. Tho bark to the height of 52 feet, has been taken from the trunk in sections. and sent to the fair at New York. If the top half of the tree was taken off, so as to ms ko level surface, stage coach with four horses might be driven on it, from the butt towards tbe tip, distance l66 feet, it being at this length ten feet in diameter. At the length of 2sO feet it is four feet in di, ameter. Al this point it was broken of in falling, and the tip was broken into fragments so fine I could not measure them; but it's height had been taken be. fore it was felled, and set down al 300 feet: It is called arbor vite, but 1t is not fully decided to what variety it be- longs. It is little curious that no oth- CT trees of the same kind can be found less than seven feet in diameter, ard this tree is estimated by a scientific gentle man from San Francisco to be 3,lOO years old.
 "There are many others still standing of the same kind, which are monsters some even larger than this. but not sound. One, called Uncle Toms Cabin. has a more commodious room in it than many miner's cabins. Tbeie arc some large one's blown down, and one l must not fail to describe. IL was evidently decay. ed before it fell. and in it's fall broke of sixty feet from it's roots. This part is hollow. and I cannot give you better idea of it's size than by telling you that rode my horse through it fom end to end. At tEe end whete it was broken off the shell is very thin. and as l sat on the horse could not reach my hand to the inner surface. over my. head; but half way through. the shell was as much as three feet thick over my head. and more than that under the horses feet. and here it was necessary 10 lean for- ward. But this is not the largest. There is another one blown down which mea- sures 10 feet in circumference and 40 feet in length. This too, + hollow. and if the hollow were enlarged q little |, would make a very good rope walk.
 YoUTm is the season of activity and joy. Our being no sooner begins 10 un. n