The Arizona sentinel., 1878-10-12
ARIZONA SENTINEL.
SATURDAY. OCTOBER u, 1875
A Mammoth Tree.

| a MammOtn Tree.
The section of the largest tree ever dis
covered in California, which was brought
here for exhibition last week, is most
remarkable curiosity, and one which no
one should miss the opportunity of See
ing. The tree was discovered by Prof.
Knowles, geologist, four years ago, on
the head-waters of the Tule river, Fresno
County, seventy five miles east of Tulare,
and within twenty miles of Mount Whit
ney, the apex of the Sierra Nevada. It
was growing in grove of Sequoia Gigan-
tea, in the heart of the rugged and almost
inaccessible mountains. At that time
parties looked at 1t with view to cutting
out q section of it to take to the Centen-
NAL exhibition of 1879, but the difficulties
of the task discouraged them. On the Sd
Of August, 1877, over year ago, three Ell
terprising Californians, Messrs. Hubbs,
McKearnan and Manley, undertook the
job of cutting out the section and pre-
pairing it for exhibition with the view of
taking 1t to the Paris Exposition. They
worked at 1t ever since with the exception
of few days interruption from snow
storms, with constant force of four, and
part of the time, ten men. The tree was
$40 feet high, but must have once been
much higher, as in some storm, hundreds
of years ago, the top was broken of at
the height Of 24o feet, where the body was
twelve feet in diameter. 1t measured Ill
feet in circumference at the base, which Is
four feet greater than the largest tree of
the Mariposa grove. Twelve feet from
the ground the circumference was 70 feet
8 inches. The plan of getting out the
section was to erect staging and chop
OF the tree at height of twenty-six feet
from the ground. With axes they then
gougsd out the stump to depth of four
tesn feet, leaving only about six inches of
wood next the bark. The shell was then
sawed vertically into sections of about
three or four feet in width, cut loose from
the stu mp and lowered to the ground
with block and tackle. The next diff
Guilty was to transport it to the railroad,
and for this purpose road was built some
Eve miles, at cost of 1000. It required
eight four horse teams to haul it, one
piece being good load. The entire cost
of getting it out was about 5000. II
was packed in hay and arrived in good
order. 1t has never been exhibited before
1t was brought to this city, and on account
of the exorbitant license they are obliged
to pay here ISL dayD 1t will probably
not be exhibited much longer. The IL
csnse is excessive, and should 1t be pro-
portionately high In San Francisco, the
proprietors intend to ship 1t direct to New
York without visiting San Francisco. 1t
10 too near home to be appreciated. The
owners will doubtless do we'll with 1t
when they take it 20 Europe, but 1t ia a
pity that they coulu not have got it out in
time for the Paris Exposition The tree
Is called " Old Moses" from high noun
tain of that name at the foot of which il
grew. In the centre OF the tree, and ex-
tending through its whole length, vas
ICIbcu CcTo aUouG TWO Icct III oidtnceci'
partly filed with the soggy, decayed vege-
tation that had fallen into it from the top.
In the center of this cavity war found the
trunk of little tree of the same species,
having perfect bark on ii and showing
regular growth 1t was of uniform d.
ameter, an inch and half all the way, and
when the tree fell and split open this
curious stem was traced for nearly 100
feet, usually straight, but occasionally
gnarled and twisted as though it had met
impediments in its growth. 1t is believed
to have sprung from a seed in the bottom,
growing the whole length of the trunk
and supported green, living top at the
summit--Btockton Independent.