Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-10-13
California Trees.

Mr.. Greeley in his California letters de-
scribes one of the Big Trees of Mariposa
as measuring twenty feet in diameter, one
hundred feet from the ground. and at thai
hight. a linb puts out that is six feet in eli
( ameter. Several of these trees are oDs
( hundred feet in circumference at the
base, while one of the big trees of Gala.
veras county, California, is a fourth larger
of his visit to. the Mariposa Trees Mr.. G
says:
\ We went up to the Mariposas Trees
early next morning. The trail crosses q
meadow of most luxuriant wild grass, then
strikes eartward up the hills, and rises al.
most steadily, but in the main not steeply
FOR five miles, when it enters and ends in q
slight depression or valley, nearly on the
top of this particular mountain, where the
Big Trees have been quietly nestled for
dare not say how many thousand years
That they were of very substantial sizs
] ahasA Durfd danced before the Ark, when
Solomon laid the foundations of the Tenn.
pie, when Theseus ruled in Athens, when
Eneos fled from the burning wreck of van
| quished Troy when Sesos,ris led his victo-
rious Egyptians into the heart of Asia !.
have no manner of doubt.
The Big Trees, Of course, do not stand
alone. l apprehend that they could not SO
stand at present, in view Of the very mode
rate depth at hich they are anchored to
the earth. Had they stood on an unshelter-
ed mountain-top, or even an exposed hill
side, they would doubtless have been pros
tlated-as presume thousands like them
were Frustrated, by the hurricanes of GEN.
turies before Christ's Advent. But the
Locality of these, though probably $500 feet
above the South MerceG, and some $500
above the sea, is sheltered and tranquil,
though several of these trees have manifest
ly fallen within the present century. Un-
questionsbly, they are past their prime,
though to none more to them is applicable
the omplimentary Characterization of "a
green old age."
Mr.. G thinks these forest mastodons are
doomed to speedy extinction from winds,
fire and drouth. He says:
The earth, to depth of several feet, even,
is cry as an ash-heap, from July to October,
and the hills are go steep that fire ascends
them with wonderful facility. And thus
the Big Trees are SCARED, and gouged, and
followed out at the root and upward, as the
| of of Sroc nf ,uhirh
originating far southwark, ran through this
locality so late as last Autumn, burning one
of the Srest kings so that it has since fallen,
half destroying another already PROSTATE,
through the hollog of which two horsemen
| kkset- et-G-R-R Iamess. 1 trust. were accus-
toned to ride abreas, for distance Of fully
one hundred feet, and doing serious damage
to very MANY others
The Big Trees are usually accounted
Redwood, but have strong resemblance to
the Cedar family. SO that my intelligent
guide pisusibly insisted that they are iden-
ticaI in species with their probable cotem-
poraries the famous Cedars of Lebanon
The larger Ce5ars in their vicinity bear a
decided resemblance to the smallest OF them;
and yet there are quite obvious differences
between them. The Cedar's limbs sre oy
far the more numerous. and come far down
the trunk; they are also relatively sr,aller.
The Cedar's bark is more deeply creased UP
and down the trunk, while the foliage of the
Big Trees is nearer allied TO that of certain
! Pines than to Cedsr's. The bark of the
Big Trees is very thick-in some instances,
over twn feet-and is of dry. light quality,
resembling cork; hence the fatal fecilitv OF
damage by running fires. The wood of the
Big Tree is of light red coljr, seeming
devoid alike of say and resin, and to sura
about as freely while The tree lives as a
wear or more after its death. Uness in the
Cedars of Lebanon, | suspect these man.
moths of the vegetable world have nt
counterparts out of California.
They are of course not all Of extraordi
nary size, yet cannot remember one thai
would girth so little as twenty feet at q
hight of two yards from the earth's surface
which is the proper point for horizonta
meesurment. believe these trees now
bear no seed-code or nut, whatever they
!, , may have done in Scipio's or in Alexander,
time. and that there is no known means o
propagating their kind; and deeply regre
that there is not, though Starting tree tia
would come to its maturity in not less thai
= four Thousand years would seem rather low
business to the fast age in which it is ou
fortune TO live. Possibly, the Big Tree
are relic of some bygone world-sone pa
geologic period-colemporaii of the gi
gantic, luxuriant ferns whereof our Mnera
. Coal is the residium. | am sure they wiI
be more priced and treasured a thousan
: years herce than now, should they, by ex
= treme care and caution, be preserved s.
long, and that thousands will then visi
!. them, over smooth snd spacious roads, 70
= every one now tolls over the rugged briddl
: path by which reached them. Meantime
= it is comfort to know that the Yan5al
= who bored down with pump-augers tn
y largest of the Calsveras trees. in order {
make their fortunes by exhibiting q secto
Of its bark at the East. have been heav
loosers by their vllainous> s2eculations
10 --9-S-9---
e FAn Illinois editor says his party Oh
l. Democratic) is or the verge OF preeipice
t but calls upon it to march "sTEApY AHEAD
h Goodi we second the motion. .-Prsntice.
A NuT FOR OLD LINE WIGS. Til
Charleston Mercury denounces Henry CIa