Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-01-06

From Cy-resp ondence sf journal Of Commerce.
Ii is one thing to hear of these trees,
but quite another 10 see them, and when,
in company with eight other persons,
rode on horseback through the hollow
trunk of one that lay PROSTATE, the feel
ing of incrcdulity with which | had lis
tened to the descriptions of other Mari
posa travellers IN former days, disap-
peared. and seeing became believing. 1t
is estimated that in both upper and lower
groves there are some two hundred Of
these trees.
The impression first produced on the
mind of the visitor is one of wonder. He
can hardly realize that such an immense
growth has really been attained by tree.
But here an illustration is afforded of the
facility with which the mind becomes aC-
CustOmed to new or strange things. y
few minutes examination of these big
trees serves to fix their immense size as
the standard by which all others are at
once measured, and thencefOrth the feel
ing of amazement IS gone. l was not
prepared for so speedy a familiarity with
such a new experience, and found myself
becoming quite dissatisfied with the owner
of my eyes that he did not feel a new
shock as those eyes rested upon each
new specimen. | rode around them on
my horse; | alightcd and walked around
them. measured them foot by foot
with my eye, but failed after the first
sight to get that profound, overwhelming
impression which | expected. l said to
myself, Il am not approaching these
trees, and felt disappointed. But this
did not alter the fact There they were
in all their grandeur and immensely.
l measured three or four of them by
winding string around their trunk, and
upon applying 4 rule tOthe strings counted
eighty, eighty-fiye, and one nincty-three
feet. This last was the circumstance of
the Grizzly Giant, the largest of the stand
ing ones. Ninety feet from the ground
the branches of this tree are six feet in
diameter. Names have been given to
many of these trees. The GemInl are
two, near together, very similar in ap-
pearanCe, size, and height. The Faithful
is q name given to another which divides
a few feet from the ground, and then
rises in two distinct trunks, straight, par
| allel, of equal size and formation, sus-
| tanned by Jne same IOOJs, FltdllLCu ny thC
same sap, sharing together the winds anG
| storms which at times sweep over the noun
tain. The Queen Of the Forest is deemed
themost comely, symmetrical andleastdam-
aged tree in the grove. The Fallen Mon
arch lies prone, grand and imposing still,
though no longer piercing the clouds with
its tOpmost boughs. l paced this tree,
and found it nearly or quite three hun
drcd and fifty feet in length. l better
realized the height which it had risen
when reflected that it had stretched more
than d hundred feet higher than Trinity
Church steeple toward heaven. Many OF
| these trees are much burned at the base,
and in some, deep recesses are followed
out into which several men and horses
can easily be sheltered. TIE bark varies
| in thickness from ten TO fourteen inches,
is exceedingly light and porous, and upon
| close examination, shows the yearly &C
| cretions by the cOncentic lines throughout
| its entire thickness. The wood, known
by The common name of Red wood,
though differently named by scientific
botanists, much resembles our red
cedar, though its grain is coarser.