Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-03-02
and fifty feet above the Yosemite and is fine

c winch is Federal Judge, ROBUST, Well-fe
T specimen of humanity and looking as thong
d he might hold down well cushioned iudic
y ial chair with ability and preside in cour
1 with dignity und expound the laws of tn
United States with equal justice to all.
r In the words of another, Let me hay
a men about me who are fat"
From Clouds Rest we rctrace our steps L
Shows and after doing justice to one of Mrs
| Shows substantial dinners we wend our wa,
G down into the Valley aud reach Cooks at
I p. m.
Supper over and we are in the saddle will
our guide and a genial young Scotchman CT
route for Glacier Point, at which place w
/ expect to gather in live sunrise the mex
morning in the lofty peaks of the Yosemite
, Valley.
, According to orders we are up at th,
! next morning and after watching rosy fin
gered Eos, daughter OF the morn" guide tht
J tower and spires of stone aud leap from
dome TO dome, and cliff to cliff, we take oul
way TO the Eleven Mile Station, where We
meet the stage and bid adeu to our faithful
, guide, Archie Leonard, and our sure footed
horses, and mount the stage for Clalk's
where we arrive for dinner.
The work OF the afternoon is to ride by
stake to the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees
eight miles, and it is a delightful after.
hoou uilNc oVer as splenuiu Hiounlul
road.
No plant has ever gained so much reputa-
ton, in so short time, as the seQuoid 81.
gdntea.
The Big Trees are limited in their range to
the Sierras as their twin brothers, the Red
woods are to the Coast Range or Sea-boaid,
and booth are strictly speaking, California
vegetable.
The iSeQuoias occur in groves among
other trees and never form groups by them
selves.
| an ages gone. those olden trees,
| Perchance DER looked great inland seas,
| Whose ripping waves
| Bore on their flood some unknown race
| Who had their reason, time and place,
| Now In their graves;
| Yet still they cast their shadows down,
| Ike ancient warriors, grim and brown"
| The sugar pine (pinus lambertinus) is very
abundant in this section and is from one
hundred TO one hundred and fifty feet in
height, aud the yellow pine (pinus pcnder-
csaj is found in great numbers.
The cones of the sugar pine grow the
largest of any we ever saw and are from one
| to three feetln length and from three to six
inches in diameter. The cones of the Big
Trees are about two and half inches in
lcngth and one and half inches in dame
ter and are quite solid and heavy for their
| size.
The Mariposa Grove lies at an altitude
OF SIX thousand five hundred feet above sea
level.
The average height of the trees here is
| less than at the Calaverras Grove, but there
| are many in the Mariposa Grove larger than
any in the Calavrrras Grove.
The largest tree is known as the Grizzly
Giant and is over Iiinety feet in circumier-
ence aud two hundred and sixty feet in
height.
In its prime the first branch was two hun
| dred feet from the ground and had dlam-
cter of six feet, while another monarch now
| nearly consumed indicates an altitude of
four hundred feet and diameter of forty
| feet.
Here as we cast our eyes heavenward to
| take in the whole tree, from root to tip, we
sail with the cloud and wave with The
dreaming pine"
The Caaverras Grove contains four trees
which are over three hundred feet in height
and the highest one measured in the Mari
posa Grove is ere feet.
There is tree, the eucalyptus, of Austria
liza, which has reached the great height Of
4S0 feet.
The time will come when the seguoio gi.
gantea will be tree Of the past, for there
|
and fill the places of their fathers
| The principal trees of the forests in which
the Big Trees arc located are the pitch and
sugar pines, the Douglass spruce, the white
fir (picea grdndis), and the bastard cedar
(libocedrus decurreus).
The two parts of the Mariposa Grove, for
they are divided by about half mile, con-
tain five or SIX hundred trees.
The seQu0ias are much scattered among
other trcess, which vary from one to two
hundred feet in height and therefore we
were not struck at first sight with the true
greatness of the wonderful trees as we ex-
pected we might be.
| We found a genuine wonder in the vicin-
ity of the Big Trees which we were not cx-
pecling, in the snow plant (sarcodes sangui.
nea) of the Sierras.
| There is only one known species of this
plant and no known varieties.
1t loves the mountains and is never found
| lower than four thousand feet above the sea
and is parasite which grows on the roots
of trees, usually pine, and extends from three
to five inches ino the ground.
The plant is succulent. aud leaf, stem and
| Hover are of q bright crimson and blood
| red color.
The portion below the surface is light pink
and Its usual height is from ten to fifteen
| inches.
| Evening finds us seated on the cool YER
anda at the the hotel, with congenial gentle
men and ladies taking over the sights of the
day and comparing notes about the Big
Trees.
The next day is Sunday and beautiful
day it is
'To sun one and do nothing"
We spend the greater part of the day wan.
derng beside the trout stream near by and
sin our mind hooking trout by the hun
dred.
In our iourncying we came across 'bot-
tie cemetery"-a ravne filed with empty
and broken bottles and empty champagne
baskets-tokens of 'higher civilization"
and of attitudes not reckoned by geomelrical
or mathematical rules with sea level as
base line.
This day served for reflection on the Sc
quotas and the iosemte-tit monuments of
the handiwork of the Almighty-and worthy
OF more than passing thought
The Great Trees, from one to four thous-
and years OF age were saplings when Nebu-
chadnezzar was Eorn, and the glacial beds
transport the enthusiastic geologist back
through hundred thousand years or more
Not content with this, however, we go
still further back to the Tertiary strata of
California and in which has been found the
earliest human remains yet discovered.
All this happened when California was
chiefly covered by the Pacific ocean and ex-
tended back to the foothills of the Serras.
An infinity of time must be entombed IN
| the rocky ramparts of the Yosemite.
Would that we had the power to frame
the scene with gided rhetoric equal to the
subject. for it is remark proof" or ra,h
er painting from the Almighty's easel
shaded and tinted from heaven.
The next morning at A we might have
been seen hunting for worms for bait, and
with light heart and swift feet following IN
L it,a Al l....I