The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-08-03
Cur 0ho.
From The NeO Fork Observer.
A Visit to Yo Semitic
AxD
TIE BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA.
Hr rHrLn' scHArF, D. D., L. D.

= - 1AaAAAAA ALLIE July - 1910
A journey from New York to California
takes as much time and costs more money
than visit to the Paris Exposition or to
Switzerland. But / do not regret to have
made il once in my life. It gives one a
better idea Of the inexhaustible resources
and the incalculable future Of our country
than any book or any other journey on this
continent
To visit California without an excursion
to Yo Semitic would be like visiting Rome
without seeing the Pope. But it is not so
accessible as Pope Pins TX was. Start
ing from San Francisco, at 4P. NJ, on the
Central Pacific Railroad, we proceed as
far as Lathrop, and then turn east to
Merced, where we arrive after 10 o'clock
and spend the night, but are sadly disturb
ed in sleep by mosquitoes, with which
Beelzebub torments the patience Of men.
On the next morning, at 6, We take the
stage for the Big Tree Station or Clark's
Hotel, distance of 20 miles. 1t is the
dustiest, hottest and dullest ride l can re-
member. The company was unanimous
in this judgment. In few years more it
is hoped the railroad win be extended and
abridge the stage ride.
On the third day we made an excursion
on horseback through magnificent pine
forest to see the famous big trees of the
Mariposa grove, about seven or eight miles
distant from Clark's Hotel They are the
Methuselahs among trees and remind one
Of the antediluvian age of the world.
Their age, however, is often exaggerated.
Hutching's Guide Book assigns them 81
600 years; the local guide, even 5000
years; but, according to Prof. Whitney's
Guide-BoOk qsT4,) } they do not exceed
the age Of 300 years, which would bring
them up to the times of st. Jerome and
St. Augustine. One tree of the Calaveras
grove, which was cut down or rather bored
through BY pump augers and then brought
to the ground by the labor of FIVE men in
% days, measured "a feet 10 diameter
without the bark, and numbered 1856
rings Of annual growth, exclusive of a
small cavity in the centre, which prevent
ed an accurate fixing of the age. But al
lowing even l 300 years, this would still
be much less than the age which is assign
ed to some English yews. Nor are the
California trees equal in height to the
Australian Eucalyptus, some of which
measure over 400 feet, one even 480 feet;
thus overlapping the tallest Sequoia by
1876 feet. But for grandeur, height and
age combined, the Sequoias are probably
the most remarkable trees in the world
One can get the best idea of their gigantic
size by the fact that ten or twelve riders
on horseback can find room in the hollow
of one Of the Mariposa trees, which has
been created by the ravages of fire with
out destroying the vitality. Through
another tree stage road has been con-
structed recently.
The California Big Trees were discov-
cred in 1852. They were first called
IVeliagtOaia .gigaatea, by Dr. Lindley of
London, in 1853; then Sequoia giyantea,
BY DR.. TOrrey, of New York, in 1854, in
honor of the Indian chief Sequoia, who
invented an alphabet for the Cherokees
and died in New Mexico (1S43.) They
are the twin brothers of the redwood; they
are Of reddish color, as straight as a col
umn, and have branches on the top which
resemble the branches of the arbor vitae.
Some have been sadly injured by fire and
used for shelter by the Indians. They
exist in groves, among other trees, espec-
tally pines, which are much larger than
the pines in the East There are eight
distinct patches or groves of Sequoias.
The largest are the Calaveras grove and
the Mariposa grove. The former is 4,759
feet above the sea, and numbers about 100
big Sequoias, with number of smaller
Onesi the largest of them, called the "Key
stone State, is 45 feet in circumference
and 325 feet high. The MaripOsa grove
lies 6 miles south of Yo Semitic Valley,
$500 feet above the sea level, and con-