Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-12-02

| ~s tAS oPAabBCAo AOiuCu tuC ldIptt
family connections in that wealthy an
populous county. It was from this branc
that Uriah Springer descended SO favorabl
KNOWN to the early settlers of the West a
brave and meritorious military officer
VINO served as Captain under Wayne, in hi
victory over the Indians, and as Colonel il
the war of 1912.
learned in the fall of 1880, from Josep]
springer, near Wilmington, above referre,
to, that Charles and John Springer, son
OF christopher, and grand-sons Of Charlie
emigrated to Virginia about so years before
From these two Virginia emigrants hav
no doubt the Fayette county family de
scended, as they settled there from Va.
in an early day.
q. SPRINGER.
Meadow Farm, Muskingum Co., o.
The Big Trees OF California.
"Dixon, writing to the Boston Adver
tsser OF the big trees of California, says:
"1t was clear and delicious Monda,
morning when our party started out to SCI
the Mariposa trees. We had come 1O2 miel
by stage and wagon, and twelve more b,
saddle to Clark's; we had rested for the
greater part of the Sabbath, and were pre-.
pared to enjoy the ride to the grove. We
mad rlilc OF good road, then hard clint
OF two and half miles with an ascent ol
1850 feet, then mile and more over the
rolling SUBMITS 1t was nearly three hours
OF delight-winding about picturesquely on
the mountain side, riding among frs and
pines and spruces and eedars ranging up to
diameters OF ten and twelve feet, consing
every moment into sight Of new beauty OF
wildness and wild verdure, the blood in our
veins qulckened with long expectation, life
Jooyously intensified with the sweet and in
vigorating air one gets all along this coast,
| 'The trees were at first disappointment,
Il believe we all said that. They did not
seem so large as our imaginations had fash
ioned. When we clambered upon the Fallen
Monarch and found that fourteen of us men
and women could stand side by side across
his old body twenty feet from the roots, then
we began to say to each other that it was a
good deal of a tree after all. Fifty-four
PAGES from the root that trunk is burned off.
and there it is seven feet in diameter, -l62
feet from the ground as the tree stood. Then
we put cord about one of the smaller trees
| and measured the cord finding circum-
ference OF 66 feet breast high from the
ground. We got over our disappointment
| soon enough, and owned that we saw with
| dull eyes at the beginning.
| This grove, like the other, lies along the
slopes on either side of little stream. 1t
contains 567 trees, great and small, and IS
at an elevation of $500 feet above the sea.
The highest tree is 272 feet-50 below the
tallest OF the Calaveras grove. Fire has
made sad ravage here-many of the trees
are much charred near the ground, and some
OF them are almost half burned away. The
largest measurement one can now make is
92A feet, but there are several that were over
loo feet in circumference before the flames
got at them. The guides point out seven
teen that you must have more than eighty
feet cord to encircle, and there are said to
be about one hundred more not less than so
feet in girth The ssGrizzly Giant" has a.
limb l25 feet from 9he ground, that is six
feet in diameter. Through the hollow of
one PROSTATE trunk three of our party rode
abreast for nearly fifty feet, and within the
burned-out base OF one standing giant six
teen horsemen found place without touch
Ing a cord drawn abont its body at four feet
from the ground. Statements like these
show what the Big Trees are-they are facts
stubborn enough for any judgment. At first,
as I've already said, the grove was disap-
pointment-I supposeit was because we had
been riding all the morning Though acres
and acres of such enormous pines and ce-
dars. One cannot help regretting that fire
has worked such irreparable injury to so
->~~.-J - WIZ bhSeo ~ Wuo hfC VI y6uIS hHO,
probably set in the woods by the Indians.
We are told that the Calaveras grove has
never been spoiled In this manner, and the
Mariposa grove is not likely to be further
damaged by taan agency.
This grove, two miles square, belongs to
the State-having been donated by the gen.
eral government in June, 1864. The grant
was accepted by the Legislature in 1865,
and eight commissioners were appointed to
look after the trees and the Yosemite val
ley. They designated Mr., Galen Clark, of
the hotel where all travellers stop, as
Guardian of the Grove. These gentlemen
haven't yet been able to do much with their
trust, for the Legislature is too niggardy
to make an appropriations for their use.
Just now everything in the grove is in its
wild state-some day we shall probably
have great improvements. Pray you, gen
tlemen, don't overdo your work-keep out
the devouring fire, give us good saddle
trails, aud grub out a little Of the tangle of
underbrush, but don't cut down the trees
of other varieties, don't try to make a gar
den of your virgin wilderness, don't let any
man build hotel in the grove. We, the
people, want nature, not art, there doubt
less railroad will find its way to the edge
of the Yosemite in few years-the fewer
improvements" you make at the grove the
AAOtS W. ohhli Cdli JOH WtSC anu DltbS6Q.
The regular trail takes the rider to nearly
all the larger trees, but our guide didn't
know much about it and so, to certain
extent, we had the experiences and got the
sensations of discoveries-prov;ng anew that
there is no loss without some gain. Welec-
tured him for stupid, but the day was per-
haps more enjoyable because of his stupidity.
The opinion somewhat prevails, l have
learned. that there are no little Big Trees
that they belong to past age, and are
likely to soon die from the face Of the earth.
This is great mistake we saw many
not more than two or three feet in diameter,
and at Clark's they told me that numbers
exist less than twenty feet in height. The
cones have been sent and carried to various
parts of the world-tiny bushes two or three
years old can be seen at several places in
our own State. The seed germinates readily
and the tree seems to grow we'll in our
northern lattudes.
The small and medium sized trees lose but
trifie of their circumference in the first
twenty feet the older ones are considerably
larger at the ground than at ten feet above.
Some of us showed slight disposition at
first to scold at the old fellows on this ac-
count-the trees are of such height and SYM
metry that our eyes refused to admit their
great size till the measuring-liHe gave its
PAooA. W. oPShe Aoht5 huy tucm j
each hour grew upon our conceptions in
the evening our appreciation of their grand
royalty was ten-fold greater than in the
morning.
Walk around one of the monarchs-it is
twenty-five or thirty steps; examine its
ridged bark-it is ten to sixteen inches thick;
look up at its limbs-they are 100 to l5O feet
above your head measure their size-each
is as large as the great trees of our Massa-
chusetts forests so far up in the deep blue
that your eyes experience is no longer of
avail-there is the rich green foliage MUIR
muriag in the afternoon breeze One needs
to lie on ones elbow to see into the tops of
these strong creations;-for found it easier
to regard them as separate tokens of creative
power, than TO think of them as having
grown by the slow process of years to their
vastness.
In his address upon Intemperance, at Bal
timore, Tuesday evening, Mr.. Colfax said
" l tell you, my friends, there is only one
"way in which you can resist the tempta-
" tion. There is only one talsman, and
:" that is Touch not, taste not, handle not
" the unclean thing i'n