The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-12-30
SOME FAMOUS elo TREES.
Australian Giants That Overtop Those of
Observation-Disclosures Colossal.

Australian Giants That Overtop Those Of
Observation-Disclosures Colossal.
New York SUM-.
ssHere are the extremes Of plant life,"
said a botanist, holding q microscopic
slide IN one hand and . picture of a
great tree in the other. This is a
diatom, one of the smallest vegetable
organisms, invisible to the naked eye,
while this tlourishing the picture, lis
the largest tree as to height in the
world"
zone Of the seauoias2"
"No," was the reply. "Uncle Sam
has done pretty well with trees, but
when it comes to height the British
Lion takes the belt, as the Hottest trees
are found in the Australian dominion.
This picture is q photograph of one
found by a traveller in the Black range
of erwick, and it is estimated at 500
feet from the ground to the topmost
branch. Think of it q moment" con
tinued the speaker. "tive hundred
feet means a good deal. 1t would dwarf
the Bartholdi statue; Trinity would
look like a telegraph pole compared to
it; the Brooklyn bridge would be no.
where; Strasburg cathedral, the high
est building on the globe, would
be fifty-four feet below the birds
nests on the top branches, and, if the
giant was placed by the side Of the pyr-
amid of Cheops, the leaves of the euca-
lyptus would still be twe-ty feet above
it. That S the kind of trees they have
in Australia, and they are undoubtedly
the largest on the globe, though it is
claimed that the California specimens
are more impressive from their greater
bulk.
The gum trees, as the Australian
giants are called, are a comparatively
modern discovery, and for a long time
it was impossible'to approach them, but
now roads are broken, and travellers
can ride directly to the foot of several.
One of the first known, a kanni euca-
lyptus Eucals plus colossea) of totan
lists, was discovered in a glen of the
Warren river, western Australia. When
found by a party OF riders, it was pros
trate upon the ground, and four riders
abreast entered the trunk, that was es-
timated at 400 feet IN length. Another
species, Z. Amzgdalina, measured by
Boyle in the gloomy forest of Dauden-
ong, was found to be 40 feet long,
while another, now growing On the
Black Spur, ten miles from Healesville,
is $50 feet high. These measurements,
you see, are far ahead of the alitornia
trees, n Of the largest, that l think is
known as The Father of the Forest
only measuring 43j feet, and being 10
feet in circumference at the base. The
one called The Mother of the Forest
measures $50 feet in height, with a cir
conference at the base of 20 feet. When
they felled the famous Traveller in
1875, and, by the way, every mar that
had a hand in it ought to have been
sent to Dry Tortugas, it took five or six |
men nearly a month to bring it to the
ground, and they had all kinds of too,s
to work with, pump augurs, wedges, and
everything you could think of.
For a good many years the trees
were subjected to all kinds Of indigni-
and I have a list of over thirty
names of so-called civilized human be- |
that l copied from the bark where
had been carved. Near y every
body feels called upon to do this; but
The rest, who have no knife or are too
v, have contented themselves with
building fires around the roots. Why
the excited botanist, upon
word / would as soon think of cary.
ing my name on my great-grandfather's
back, or OF burning my grandmother at
.ha ctaEo az harminr thoSo traaS -