Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-01-18
The Big Trees Of California.

Lew hitchcock, OF Springfield, Mass, has
received letter from his brother, Walter
Hitchcock, who is in California, giving an in
teresting description Of visit to the big trees.
He also received from him piece of wood
from the big tree which has been cut down.
We make the following extract from the letter:
You have doubtless heard of the big trees
Of California, but have seen them, and must
give you a brief description OF them. We had
been calculating, for some time, to 20 and see
them SO, last Wednesday morning we took
our seats in our saddles, just as the sun peeped
over the hills, and away we bounded on q
Journey of twenty-five miles over the hills and
valleys. You have no idea of the awful gran
deur of the towering hills of barren rocks which
form the banks Of the little mad Stanislaus
which we were obliged to cross We had to
dismount and proceed very cautiously, in In
dian file, down more than mile, in path
about two feet wide, winding round the side Of
n 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
ferryboat, and had to pay four bits each, and
as there were five of as, the feTyman took two
and a half dollars for about five minutes work.
The river over, our next business was to climb
the mate of the hill we had Just descended. We
got to Murphy's diggings about eleven o'clock,
distance of about eight miles, From Muir
phys there is good road, and we arrived at
the Mammoth Tree Hotel little before sunset
"The big trees for there are l3l of them
over ten feet in diameter, standing on the limits
of few acres,) stand in Mammoth Tree Val
ley, about 80 miles north of Sonora in Gala
veras county The mammoth tree which has
been felled, was bored down with long augers,
and took four men twenty-five days to get it
down. The stump stands about six feet above
the level of the ground, and its top has been
made level and smooth, which required sixteen
days work. | measured it from the inside of
the bark across, and it measured 25 feet, and it
is perfectly sound clear to the heart The bark,
to the height Of 50 feet, has been taken from
the trunk in sections, and sent to the fair at
New York. If the top half of the tree were
taken OIL, so as to make level surface, a stage
coach with four horses might be driven on It,
from the butt towards the tip, distance of l66
feet it being at this length ten feet in diameter.
At the length of 2S0 feet it is four feet in diam
eter AT this point, it was broken off in fall.
ing, and the tip was broken into fragments 50
fine could not measure them; but its height
had been taken before it was felled, and set
down ut 800 feet 1t is called arbor pitg, but
it is not fully decided to what variety it belongs
1t is a little curious that no other trees of the
same kind can be found less than seven feet in
diameter, and this tree is estimated by a scien-
tiic gentleman 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 more commodious
room in it than many miners cabins. There
are some large ones blown down, and one l
must moi fail to describe. It was evidently de.
cayed before it fell and in its fall broke off
sixty feet from the roots. This part is hollow,
and cannot give you better idea Of its size
than by telling you that rode my horse
through it from end to end AT the end where
it is broken off the shell is very thin, and as /
sat on the horse, could not reach my hand to
the inner surface, over my head but halfway
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 to
lean forward. But this is not the largest.
There is another one blown down, which mea-
surcs one hundred and ten feet in circumfer-
ence, and four hundred and ten feet in length.
This, too, is hollow, and if the hollow were en-
larged a little, it would mako very good rope.
walk "