New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1878-08-28

hesitate to express ourselves thus. We
could not deny. that they were large
trees, twenty seven feet in diameter
and three hundred feet high, but
they were not what we expected.
The sugar pines, when we first saw
them, had been nearer our idea. We
were yexed to think Of the expense
and sufferings we had undergone to
see such trees. Even the poetical
gentleman who had been rehearsing
Bryant's Forest Hymn for two
days in order that he Nigh say with
effect
The groves were Gods first temples
joined us In our snllenness. Once out
Of the stage, we went into the spa
cious apartments of the hotel, and
threw ourselves upon the sofas and
were all quietly sleeping at mid
day, resting our weary bodies and
disappointed magma tions. At
ter dinner we went out in the grove
and looked at the trees. tits strange
how much good dinner will cultii-
vate a mans taste for the grand and
beautiful f! We had been disguised
with the trees when tired and hung
ry, but with rested body and graft
fled stomach we were amazed at their
grandeur, and the more we studied
them the greater became our aston
ishment. Think Of standing beside
a tree thirty -five feet in diameter |!
Bunker Hill Monument, which is
thirtyon feet square, would stand
secure it built upon the stump Of one
Of those trees. IF one Of them was
square, with a side equal to the d.
ameter, you could hew off two feet
on a side, and cut off hundred feet
from the top, and then have shaft
as large as Bunker Hill Monument
left. Any one Of those trees is ten
feet broader than any ordinary two.
story house. It is as far to walk a.
round such . tree as to cross large
parlor fifteen feet square seven times.
We were awed by the presence Of
such trees. The ''Father Of the Fo-
rest'' is the greatest wonder Of the
woods, and we can appreciate his
size all the better because he is lying
down. He has doubtless lain there
since before Columbus discovered
America. He was about four humid
dred and fifty feet high when in his
glory, Or twice as high as Bunker
Hill Monument, or six times as high
as our tall New England trees. A.
bout one hundred and fifty feet broke
off in falling, but the base, which
is three. hundred feet long, is we'll
preserved, and at that distance from
the roots, is sixteen feet in diameter.
This tree is lying upon its side, and
ladders are placed SO that you can go
up and stand upon the side Of this
fallen monarch. AS we stood upon
the side of that fallen tree we were
forty feet from the ground, or ten
feet higher than the riage-pole Of a
two story pitch-roof house. This
fallen tree has hollow running
lengthwise of the tree, which the In
dams burned out in years gone by;
through this hollow we walked,
standing erect, trying in vain to
touch the roof Of this tube.
[ will speak Of but one other tree,
and that shall be one Of the small
trees of the species, being only thir-
ty feet in diameter. This tree was
cut down in 1858. How would you
cut down tree thirty feet in dame
ter? Think of taking an axe to
such tree! They cut it off with au.
gers made for the purpose, boring
through from side to side, and to do
this required five men Is days.
Il one man could have worked to as
good advantage, it would have given
him five month 5 work to fell single
tree. The stump Of this tree, six
feet srom the ground, is the floor Of
a house which has been built above
it Of the size and shape Of the stump.
This tree, bark and all, would saw
a million feet of timber, enough to
build sixty tNo-story houses, furnish
ing lathes, shingles, and all. It
would build all the churches, school
houses, and stores for an ordinary
country village, and have material
enough left to start a respectable
undergrad. 1t would make as
much lumber as one thousand of the