The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-11-03
GIANTS OF THE r E
Something About the Califor-
MIA Redwood Tree.
twenty-five Thousand Feet of Lumber
from a Single Specimen.

n OF California Is the
second largest and the third Hottest
tree of the known world. 1t reaches
It's greatest perfection upon the sea-
ward slopes and along the transverse
ravines of the Coast Mountains of the
northern and central parts of the
State. 1t is occasionally found scat
tered or dumped among other growths,
but is generally massed in dense for
ests. 1t grows SO high, branches so
thickly and stands so close as to dark
en- ave MONDAY brightness into shad-
owy evening twilights among the huge,
monumental trunks below.
Fog seems its favorite food. The
lofty, thick and spreading tops form
vast and swift condensers of the heavy
fogs which descend in local daily rains,
forming pools which often remain till
high noon even in. hottest days of the
dryest season. Where the trees have
been cut away, with no provision for
regrowth, springs have dried up and
! streams nave tailed.
The name is one Of those simple,
obvious, Saxon christenings which
every spectator understands the mo-
ment he sees the color Of the wood.
Its hues show all varieties of red,
from the most delicate pink of the
finest cedar to the deepest and dark
est shades Of the richest mahogany.
In ONE cases its reddish-browns rival
those of black walnut, while under
long exposure to the weather it takes
on a blackness equal to that of ebony.
In texture and appearance the wood
is occasionally waved, curled. hecked,
veined, notified, twisted and inter
woven in the most varied, intricate
and beautiful manner. Indeed, some
specimens show all these varieties of
formation combined. Its knots, roots
and burls furnish veneers as exquisite
ly beautiful lis those Of the most
costly imported woods If they came
from some distant foreign land, fairly
staggering under some polysyllabic,
unpronounceable name, our cabinet
makers, artists in carving. and their
wealthy patrons would esteem them
almost priceless. Its grain and densi-
ty vary from those of the softest pine
| to those of the densest beech. When
wet or unseasoned the wood is often
enormously heavy. Specimens have
been known to sink instantly. The
thickness of the bark varies from four
to twelve inches. Its texture resem-
bles that OF the famous Sequoias, or
big trees, which are but a gigantic
species Of the Redwood.
In height the California Redwood
allows but two other vegetable
growths to look down upon it. Those
are its lofty relative above alluded to
and the Australian Eucalyptus. 1t
has been known to reach 800 feet;
quite often $50; very commonly 200 to
225. In diameter specimens reaching
twenty feet have been automatically
measured, Thousands of trees now
standing in the newly opened Iona
Prieta and others districts grit from
thirty to forty feet. The logs from these
trees are often 80 large that they have to
be blasted into halves and even quarters
before the wood-teams and sawmills
can handle them. One tree yielded
seventeen logs each twelve feet long,
and the upper one six feet through at
the smaller end. 1t is true that these
stories may seem incredibly ''big" to
the Eastern reader, but the trees them
selves are very much bigger, as the in
credulous may easily satisfy them
selves by visiting the localities already
named.
Twenty-Five thousand feet Of lum-
Der from a single tree is very common.
In the foggier and moister northern
counties the average from each tree is
fully one half greater.
For posts, sills, ties, fumes. aque-
ducts and sewers the wood is the best
known. 1t is also admirably adapted
to the inside finish of halls, dining
rooms, billiard rooms; mushrooms,
libraries, churches, cars and steam
ships, as well as for many forms of
cabinet-making.
When exposed to the weather with
out paint or oil, it turns nearly black.