Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1871-04-21

from the trunk. To throw it over, re-
quired three days labor, by inserting
wedges driven in with the butts of or
dinary trees, when the proud thing
trembled for moment, and then fell.
In the center Of the grove is the 'Fal-
len Monarch seventy-fiYe feet in cir
cumference, and must have been three
hundred feet high. We mounted it by
means of ladder, and along its mas
sive side we could have driven a coach
and two. Its name, it's proud proper
tions, its lowly position, filled the mind
with sadness, as it seemed the symbol of
fallen greatness. Not far from it is the
Father of the Forest, the largest tree
of all the grove, which lies half buried
in the soil. 1t measures at its roots 10
feet in circumference. 1t is two hun
.dred feet to the first branch, and when
standing must have been $50 feet high.
The trunk is now hollow, Fand we rode
through it on horseback a distance of
two hundred feet. Around it now stands
its noble sons in their prime and glory.
There are two trees in the grove which
never fail to attract the attention OF GER
tain interested parties. Fancy has given
them the honorable designations OF Old
Maid and Old Bachelor She is 26l
feet tall, and SO feet about the waiSt.
Her comeliness is gone, her beauty is
not, and she is the veriest-looking old
spinster of the Big Tree family. Nor is
the Old Bachelor a whit better. He
is the roughest, driest, bark-rent speci-
men Of the Calaveras grove. But he is
more fortunate than his venerable fe-
male friend. He still stands his ground.
In 1865 she fell toward him, and now
lies at his feet, while he looks more
lonesome than ever.
But there is one tree which, for
stateliness of form, majesty OF appear
ance, and prime Of years, cannot be ex-
celled. Three hundred feet high, eigh-
teen feet in diameter, it is called the
Pride of the Forest There is tree
| now standing which contains five hun
dred and forty thousand feet of sound
inch lumber. Near it another, which
will make one thousand cords of four
| feet wood, and one hundred cords OF
| bark. Eight miles to the south of this
grove is a tree so large that you can
drive stage-coach, filled with passen-
gers within and without, through its
| trunk a distance of two hundred feet.
And these trees would grow to an un-
known height, had not nature set
bounds to their altitude. Their tops are
exceedingly tender, and the snow falling
upon those tender branches causes them
to break off, and the sap returns down
ward, causing the greater expansion OF
the main trunk and the lower branches.
y "The age Of the Soquoios
is one of their most marvellous charac-
teristics The rings are indices by which
the age of each can be determined, and
those who have watched their growth
conclude that some Of them are not
less than three thousand years old. Take,
for instance, the Mother of the Forest,
now denuded of its bark. That tree
sprouted when Solomon was in his
glory 1t was in its youth when Rome
was mistress of the world 1t stood in
it's majesty when Christ was born IN
Bethlehem. Thirty centuries looked
down upon me as I gazed upon its Yener-
able form And there are young trees
growing that will furish when all the
inhabitants now upon the earth shall
have passed away. Those who are not
will gaze upon them with admiration as
among the most wonderful works of
God"