The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-03-06

fifteen feet through, instead of twenty
seven! During the day l had seen a
dozen sugar pines which appeared to
be far more lofty. The next one we
measured was eighty-ninc feet and two
inches in girth; the third was ninety
| feet
There were nearly three times as
many of the giant species in the grove
as in the Calaveras cluster. Divided
into two groups, there are six hundred
and fifty of them, within the space of
mile and three-quarters A gentle
man of noted scientific attainments
measured the principal trees of one
group of this ridge, some three years
ago, and found one of one hundred and
two feet, one of ninety-seven, one OF
ninety-two, one Of eighty-two, one OF
eighty, two of seventy-seven, three Of
seventy-six, and thus gradually dimin-
ishing, till more than one hundred trees
were on his list that measured fifty feet
and upward in circumference. This
crowd Of majestic forms explains the
disappointment in first entering the
grove The general scale is too i'm
mense Half dozen of the largest
trees spaced half mile apart, and
properly set off by trees ofsix and eight
feet in girth, would shake the most
volatile mind with awe
We ought to see the Fountain
Tree of the Mariposa grove! hun
dred and two feet in circuit-the lar
gest tree on the Wester Continent
rising near the height of Bunker Hill
monument, and bearing up a crown
eight feet above it, with gracefully
tapering column Of forty feet, rising
still above that, to feel the marvel OF
its bulk and vitality Think of that
monument with its splendid marble
shaft two hundred and twenty feet
high, as living structure Conceive it
as having grown from a granite seed,
whose outpourng life absorbed from
the earth, and attracted from the winds
fine granite dust, to be slowly COM
pacted, by internal and unerring ma
sonry, into solid squares of its strength
and tapering symmetry. A work far
more marvellous than this has been
wrought by each fragment of cone
that took root away up, five thousand
feet, on a ridge of the Sierras, centuries
ago, and now is represented by an or
ganism thirty feet in diameter Indeed
it is quite probable that there have
been few trees, both in Mariposa and
Calaveras groves, which have built
their sublime columns out Of the air,
through the energy of a single seed,
and whose trunk, Bunker Hill monu-
ment-thc largest marble shaft in
America-coufd have been inserted and
hidden, while the stem would still
spring more than two hundred feet
above the apex of stone; for the ruins
of one, alluded to above, now lie in the
Mariposa grove, which was forty feet
in diameter, and must have lowered
more than four hundred feet high.
Such is T. Starr Kings splendid des-
cription of the Washington Pines of
California The subjoined is a sketch
of the cutting down and transportation
of one of these immense trees from
another of the celebrated groves in that
remote region. The destruction of
these trees, an inexcusable vandalism,
has now been prohibited by Legislative
enactment, except when below a certain
measurement, which is clearly specified.
:" By an act of the national Congress,
the Yo Semitic Valley and Mariposa
Grove of /" Big Trees, "'were granted to
the State of California as a perpetual
park. BY law no one was allowed to
settle in the Valley or defacc in any
way, and the trees were similarly pro-
tected. So generous a gift to the peo-
pie has never been made by any gov
eminent. 1t was free grant to the
whole people; not especially to Cali
fornia, although under the immediate
control of that State. This wise lcgis-
alton secure to their proper national
uses incomparably the largest and
grandest park and the sublimest scenery
in the whole world
The grand and peculiarly beautiful
features of this valley, render it unique.
Even now many visitors flock to it each
summer, not only from all parts of our
own country, but from Europe. Travel
lers affirm that no scenery abroad can
equal it. 1t was natural to suppose,
that under these circumstances, the
State would have been proud of this
grand natural park thus made free to
its citizens. In fact, a competent com
mission was appointed to oversee and
protect, of which Prof j. D. Whitney
of the State Geological Survey was an
influential member. To the surprise
and Indignation of all interested in the
far-famed valley, and of all lovers of
nature, the present Legislature of Cali
fornia passed IA law allowing certain
men to settle in the valley and use or
misuse it at their pleasure.
This bill was promptly vetoed by the
Governor, but was passed over his
veto. 1t is understood that in conse-
quence of such action being taken, Con-
grcss will again resume direct control
over these grounds, in order that their
grand natural features may remain in
tact, for the admiration of coming gen.
erations; and the sooner this is done
the better
A writer for Ballou's Pictorial, who
visited California soon after the dis
coverv of the California grove, gives
the following account of the destruction
of monster tree found at censidera-
BILE distance from the grove:
"This immense cedar tree, the lar
gest then discovered in California, was
situated on the southwesterly slope of
hill, in soil of fifteen feet. Its roots
extended in all directions for more than
fifty rods upon the hillside, and down
ward to the depth of the soil. At the
ground it's circumference was ninety
two feet, four feet above that it was
lightweight feet, and ten feet above,
sixty-six feet; the tapering ofthe shaft
was very gradual and symmetrical for
1926 feet to its very top. From actual
es innate of its diurnal layers, it is more