The Red Cloud chief., 1881-12-08
AZ. r.,,;.reb of Al, our uob,. seauoss

the patriarch Of al our uobls sequoas
The ladies insisted upon returning TO
camp. and said some unkind things
about the woodmen. and we're sasageiy
severe upon the unreasonable railroad
contractor who had deprecated th.r
suggestion % run he tnsck sroun1 the
TREE instead Of over its roots How
ever. g the tire Was doomed whether
they pouted 10 their tents or not their
Rrief subsidd sufficiently IN m hdnr to
allow them Z be taken To pom, where
the overthrow Of the monarch could be
safely witnessed We climbed up .
trail To q hill on one size o! the tree.
bat found the intervening branches too
closely woven TO allow Of more than .
doubtful view. Ignoring the trail. We
descended and in view of tho
handicap o! skirts and ladies'. your
correspondent did make a-most
mastery Descent. How . lady, who
10 tbe city requires 70, be helped
in and out OF n csrriage. can in the
country scramble through matted
underbrush. swing dewn By the hahg-
ing bouyhs. roll over fallen trees. slide
gracefully down o bark chute, tumble.
Jump. fail, and finally land az the bot
tom of \ hill, cool and collected. though
flushed. is a problem she will probably
never explain. IL she can. When we
took our station. only Abt1o way from
the woodmen. we found that they had
finished the WORK. theft axes had to do
by cutting nearly half way through the
tree on the side toward which it was 10
fall. and yer then driving n long
double handled saw into the tree on
the opposite side. Although the lower
portion Of the tree still stood firm and
motionless. the graceful. lofty top Was
already sway ing. as though conscious
Of. and silently protesting against. its
fast approaching prostratlon. II was q
beautiful picture before US. stretched in
a frame OF circling forest The fern
brakes fiourishing in almost tropical
luxuriance; trees fallen - ago. some
blackened by fire. the decay of others
hidden; the vivid green Of the baby
sequoias.
A half score Of u party scattered
about in their picturesque camp cos
TUNES. and all were llecked with the light
qnivcring down through the interstices
OF the leafy dome far above Us, the
light which '.stole its colors from the
glow OF Mars, the sky's deep azure. and
the oceans emerald" But suddenly
all eyes were directed toward the
doomed tree. Its protest was no long
err silent. A rafting report. as If a rifle
vOlley had been fired. gave warning
that the woOdman's work was nearly
done. 1t sounded Ike a desperate an
guish cry. which changed: again TO a
helpless groan. We he'd DUR breaths.
.Yhe towering head no longer swaje
in slow. solemn protest, but moved
cOnvulsivelv. Then another cry. The
woodman jumped from the scafold.
Thin steel had entered the giants heart.
for q stream Of its life blood spurted
out through the cruel cut. The tree
Tor q moMent stood motionless to its
,lightests furthest branch, then slowly
bowed its head. tho whole trunk shud-
dering; then with an awful branching,
crushing noise that tpled the wood with
dismal echoes-wails of the dying mon
arch's mourning comrades 1t plunged
forward. The very echoes were
drowned then. There was q terrific
crash of wrested limbs as a ragged rent
was torn through the woven branches
of the trees. a whirling. shrieking rush
of air. a laundering, deafening boom
and shock that shook the ground like
an earthquake, and l~ifeless, bleeding.
and SCARED the giant lay low. 1t wal
some time before any Of Us moved. or
scarcely breathed, and when we did
n might have thought us Pagan o
shippers drawing nigh the ~smoldering
ruins of n devastated temple. We
found the end of the trunk thirty feet
from the stump. This was explained
by the woodman, who pointed out that
the bark underneath the tree had i'm
bedded its rough surface in the ground
and broken oil for some distance.
The inside of the bark. when freshly
cut, is as slippery rs a school boys IA
vorite ice-slide. and the tree, with its
terrific forward motion, had slid along
on its own bark. As we stood by the
stump, showers of light green branches
continued to fall from the trees on either
side of the fallen trunk until its naked
ness was covered with the soft green
shroud, tenderIy laid on by plying
hands. We climed up on the back OF
the PROSTATE ~sequoia and slowly paced
its entire length. Our progress was moi
impeded by limbs, of which this mighty
redwood was free three-fourths of its
length. and those that had grown near
its top had been whipped off and splint-
cred into fragments by its terrific meet
ing with the earth. When We reached
the end of its unbroken and symmetri-
cal length We turned and looked back.
rejecting that on the morrow the wood
man would cut the trunk into fourteen
foot sections; on the next day OK teams.
with their shouting drivers, would drive
these sections, stripped of their bark, to
the nearest saw-mill; or the morrow
after that grimy men would lay iron
tracks where the giant. had fallen, and
then. greasy, smoking, and shrieking.
the locomotive would come. Decorating
the spot.-Cor. San francisco Chronicle.