The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1889-08-15
UP Above THH CLOUDS.
The Third One Of Hu, MaSweII''
Series Of Letters from
THE SUMMIT OF THE SlERRAs,
The Largest Trees in the World Meas
ured-ReIIcs of the Giant Age,
aud an Age of WondrOus Nat
ural acknowledgements,
III.

ural acknowledgements
III.
sptcial Correspondence Of ne IRtelltqtao9.
Toll HOUSE,, CAL, August 7,-Late II
the afternoon We came 10 the grove o
sequoias, The grove Is about quRrtel
Of q mile long and a few hundred fee
wide, and Is one Of three that are known
In the world, The two others are II
California also, one north and the othel
south OF this one. These are the famous
"big trees" OF California, The grove
north OF this Is the one most frequently
visited by travellers, being on the road "a
70 Semitic Valley. This grove is not
often seen,
Ibelieve that person who visits these
trees will be disappointed In their APP
pearanCe. He naturally pictures to him'
self how the trees viii look, and when
he stands beside them they fall short Of
his expectation, They do not seem to
be- very large, at first, but when one has
stood beside them awhile, and walked
round them, they appear TO grow In
size, and at length he realizes that he Is
in the presence OF one Of the giants Of
the forest.
Large as these trees are, the size Is
often greatly overestimated. ] saw and
measured what Is said to be the largest
tree In the world, had been told that
1t was between forty and fifty feet in
diameter; but such Is not the case, That
size Is due to false measurement, such as
no lumberman would allow, II he were
buying the trees for what they contain.
Those who try to make them as large as
possible-wlthout downright lying
measure them at the ground, where the
roots spread ont far from the trunk-like
cypress. Measured In this manner some
of them may be over forty feet through,
but to measure them above the roots,
where the trunk has assumed It's proper
shape, they are not so large as forty feet,
or thirty feet either. | measured the
treO which they suid was the largest In
the world, and l found ittwenty.eight
feet In diameter, and no more. II ] lad
measured the roots and all, like some
people insist on doing, 1t might have
been forty feet. II was four hundred
feet tall. There, were twenty or thirty
trees in the grove nearl y as large. There
are no small trees OF this kind. The
smallest saw was twelve feet in diane.
ter They grow in basin OF the noun
tain, enclosed by arim Of hills, ind Gre
about seven thousand feet above the sea.
RELICS or A PAST ACE.
They belong to a former geological age.
All their kindred Of the vegetable king.
dom have passed away from earth, OK.
cept a few specimens In Australia and
the South Sea Islands. They are the
only living forms that have come down
to us from M age that isgonefrom earth.
Biologists tell US that the best period
ofthe worlds history Is past, and that lis
vegetation, its climate and it's animals
are on the decline-going down TO a
slow but sure death, like that which has
seized upon our moon. Worlds, like
people, and trees aud all things earthly,
have their periods Of youth, maturity
and decay. Our world has passed its
youth, has lived through lis maturity
and is now upon It's decline, Old aye
has come upon 1t, md II will as surely
become old, llieless and sterile, as the
moon has become go.
There was a time when our world had
vegetation more wonderful and beau
tiful than anything we dream Of now.
Deep beneath the earth, buried thout
sands Of feet from the light and sun.
shine, we fluid remnants ot what once
grew upon our hillsides, and clothed.
our mountains, and decked our valleys
from ocean TO ocean and from pole 10
pole. When was at the Ignite fields
on Vancouver's Island few years ago,
l saw in the min!s far beneath the
ground, ferns fifty feet long embedded
In the rock-petrilied, turned into stone.
| saw the trunks Of the most wonderful
ptrees, also chaugedto stone. And there
was bark with texture fine as lace, and
leaves Of tho rarest form and design,
and vines like nothing on earth now.
All these were buried In the rock, and
there they had lain, undisturbed and
unchanged for thousands Of years.
They represented q former epoch OF
this Garth's history. They had come
down TO US from a time when through
all the area OF our globe there was no
winter, and when d tropical Vegetation
bloOmed on the mountains OF Greenland
as well as along the rivers Of Brazil.