Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-09-02
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THE BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA.

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THE BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA.
The Mariposa grove comprises tract two
miles square, and is the property OF the State
of California 1t is situated six miles dis
taut from the Big Tree station on the Mari.
posa trail to the Yosemite, and about l6
miles due south of the hotels in the valley.
The average size of the trees is greater than
that of any other grove in the State, but the
average height is inferior to the trees of CAL
averas. Here are in reality two distinct
groves-the upper one containing over 365
trees over a foot in diameter, and the lower
about one.half as many. In the upper grove
are at least ten trees over 80 feet in circum'
ference and one hundred and twenty-five
over 40 in circumference. Several trees here,
badly burned, were originally over 100 feet
in circumference, while others, yet in the full
vigor of their growth, show proportions but
little Inferior Most of the trees have been
numbered instead of named, like those OF
Calveras and complete description would
show wonders the half of which has not yet
been told. The principal tree in either grove
is the one known as the "Grizzly Giant" and
the eye and sense of the spectator are at once
bewildered at the size of its mighty proper
tions. At the base of this tree the carriage
stops, and the trail for horses begins. "Golly,
that's a whopperT p said one Of our party as
we approached and soon we all named this
mighty wonder the grandest of the Mariposa
grove Carefully measuring the circumfer-
ence with line carried for that purpose, we
found it to be over SO feet at the base, and
this not counting the burnt away portions,
which would have made the total still greater.
We measured 81 feet as the diameter At
the base were FIVE openings, any one Of which
seemed large enoug '0r the accommodation
ofa camping party; and Immediately around
these the bark was gone. From the ground
to height Of about eleven feet the tree
contracted perceptibly then, perfectly round,
it shot up with scarcely change to the low
est limbs, which were fully 100 feet from the
ground. On one side were about ten limbs,
varying from two to six feet in diameter, and
on the other about twelve almost as large.
The largest limb was probably $50 feet from
the ground, and this was fully 20 feet in cir
cumterence where it left the trunk. Shoot.
ing out in straight line for distance of 30
feet or more, it curved then suddenly upward
in perpendicular direction, and, at dis
lance of rs feet more, was lost in the upper
foliage. Secondary branches, as large as
full grown Eastern oak, shot out from this
primary branch as trunk, and these again
produced other branches, to the third and
fourth generation. Some Of these branches
yUprn
in full vigor of their extraordinary growth.
The top of the trees seemed to have been
broken off, perhaps by lightning; and the
appearance of the whole was that of the war
worn veteran of the Sierra. 1t was near dusk
when we had finished our inspection of this
mighty tree. We we're over mile above
the level of the sea, and six miles from our
stopping place for the night. Still we lin
gered. Although it was then June, yet the
eternal SHOWS of the mountains were every
where around US, and as the huge banks and
drifts stretched away off in the distance, the
melting power of the heat and elements were
on every side de6ed. Not weed or blade of
grass relieved the monotony of the view; not
the chirping of an insect or the twittering of
a bird was heard. The solemn stiffness Of
the night added weird grandeur to the scene.
Now and then breath of wind stirred the
topmost branches of the pines and cedars, and
as they swayed to and fro in the air. the music
was like that of Ossian, pheasant but mourn
full to the SOUL" There were sequoias on every
side almost twice as high as the Falls OF
Niagara there were pines rivaling the dome
of the Capitol at Washington in grandeur; ;
there were cedars to whose tops the monu.
ment of Bunker Hill would not have reached.
There we're trees which were in the full
vigor of manhood before America itself was
discovered there were others which were yet
old before Charlemagne was Lorn there were
others still growing when the Saviour himself
was on earth. There we're trees which had
witnessed the wind and storms of twenty CEN
turies there were others which would endure
long after countless generations of the future
would be numbered with the past. There
were trees crooked and short and massive
there were others straight and tall and slender.
There were pines whose limbs were as evenly
proportioned as those of the Appolo Belvid-
ere there were cedars whose beauty was not
surpassed in their counterparts Of Lebanon
there were frs whose graceful foliage was
like the tabled locks of the gods of ancient
story. 1t was a picture in nature which
captivated the sense at once by its gran
deur and extent and as we drove back to
Clarks through the miles of this luxuriance,
with the darkness falling about US like a
black curtain from the beavens and the
mighty calons of the Sierra sinking away
from our pathway like the opening of another
world, then it was not power, but majesty !;
not beauty, but sublimity not the natural,
but the supernatural, which seemed above US
and before us.
UNDER THE OcEAN.-The average depth
of the ocean is, according to the latest cal
culatons, about 1877 fathoms, or over two
miles. The greatest depth known to exist
is near the Kurle Island, in the northwest
Pacific, about five miles and a quarter. The
highest mountain existing is Of about the
same height as the deepest sea is deep.
The sides of the ocean basins are not all
steep. They are mostly so little inclined that
an ordinary locomotive engine could run up
them in straight line with ease. The steep
est slope known is at Bermuda, where there
is an inclination of nearly twenty degrees
fron, +lo odro of tho roof m 000 fathoms