Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-07-30
THE MARIPOSA GROVE.
Something Moro About tho Big Trees of
California,

Something Moro About tho Big Trees of
California.
They call it the Mariposa grove, but
there's no grove about it, the big trees,
being part OF a dense forest, with no
clear space in sight and the giants not
standing together and separated from
the other trees, but scattered among
them indiscriminately over several
hundred acres of ground, there being
perhaps two or three hundred ordin-
AIRY trees for every giant. The ordin-
AIRY trees would be called giants in
Missouri, many of them measuring
ten and twelve feet in diameter and
towering up from $50 to 200 feet, but
in the Mariposa grove" they look
small and attract no attention. Our
first stop was made at the "Griz-
Fly GIANT" which the guidebook says
is thirty-one feet in diameter
three feet above the ground. Mrs.
Udell had brought a ball of Irvine
along, and everybody was given an
opportunity to measure the circum-
ference ofthe "Grizzly Giant" and take
the measure home with him. The tree
is g. little larger two or three feet
above the ground than it is at the
base. We all wound up our lines with
out stopping to measure them, and
will wait till we get home before verl-
tying the figures of the guidebook.
There are many taller trees in the
'grove' than the Grizzly, but none so
big round, and this tree was even larg-
er-more than a hundred feet in cir
cumference-before it suffered the raw
ages of fire. Nearly all the tres in the
Mariposa grove are more or less burn
away at the base. The Grizzly meas
ures sixty-four feet three inches in cir
cumference eleven feet from
the base, and one of it's
branches more than 100 feet
above the ground is six feet in diane.
ter and would make quite g. tree by
itself in Missouri. Many of the taller
trees in the grove measure some 800
feet. The Grizzly is but got feet,
about three times as high as the South
ern hotel or Lindell. The Calavera,
grove, in Calaveras county, has still
taller trees, one towering up 1875 feet,
but none is rs large in circumference
as the Grizzly Giant, the Wawona and
two or three other of the largest trees
in the Mariposa grove. The Wawona
Is twenty-eight feet in diameter, and
265 feet high. The heart OF the trunk
has been burned out, leaving g. hole
big enough for our stage to drive
through the tree, and every stays
stops inside for a few minutes, long
enough to i've the passengers all
opportunity to write their names on
the 'walls," which seem to have been
planed down to smooth surface fol
that purpose. Twenty feet above the
ground the tree looks as green and
fresh as any in the forest. The only
house in the ';grove" is a little shanty
occupied by the overseer OF the bis
trees. A brief halt was made here
and some of the members ofour party
utilized the time in climbing to th+
top OF one OF the big trees. It is hard
~ necessary to state the tree was ly-
ing down, and that the climbing was
done with a ladder some twenty-five
feet long. All these big trees, and the
little ones, too, were given by congress
along with the Yosemite grant to the
state of California, to be held in trust
for the benefit OF the public. The big
tree giant is two miles square and
some fifteen miles from the Yosemite.
Beth the grove" and the valley are
In charge Of a board of commissioners,
consisting of the governor of the state,
an ex-oficio member, and eight OF his
Apprenticeship. Louis Republican.