The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-07-04
Big Trees for the Worlds Fair.

A dispatch from San Francisco says
that preparations are being made t.
take out section of one of the large
redwood trees of California for exhib-
ton at the Worlds Fair at Chicago in
1892. The section of a tree which
will be sent will be the largest ever Ia
ken from the State, and will be nine
feet in height, and sixty i'll circum-
ference. The tree itself, which is one
of the mammoth forest in Tulare
county, measures ninety-nine feet In
circumference. The work of telling
the tree and preparing the section has
already begun and will employ ten
men at least two months. Three flat
cars will be required for transporta-
ton of the exhibit, which is expected
to weigh about $4,000 pounds. Sew
eral suggestions have been made to
the State Board of Trade for setting
up the entire tree at the Worlds Fair,
but no plan to that end has been ma
tured.
The big mills of Puget Sound pro-
pose to do something in the above line
themselves The Tacoma mill pro-
poses to cut and load on the cars at
the mill gratis, the prize stick of the
world. They have turned out stick
$50 feet long, squaring 80 80 inches,
and claim that they can do much bet
Ter than that. The three big mills of
Kitsap county-Blakely, Madison and
Gamble-are getting up Il bit of rival
ny among themselves, although they
are Il unit in the matter of "doing up"
the Tacoma mills on the prize stick.
AS most of the big mills-Tacoma,
Pacific, Blakely, Discovery, Gig
Harbor, St. Paul, etc.-draw largely or
wholly upon Shelton for their log sup
ply, especially for the "speciap' sticks,
it is quite likely that the Satsop rail-
road will haul the prize stick to the
water, wherever t may be sawed.
Captain E. Farnham, pioneer
lumberman, gave the Seattle Press the
following facts:
81 think the biggest stick of timber
ever cut on Puget Sound was gotten
ont at the Port Gamble mill ten years
ago. 1t was 140 feet in length, and
3Ox36 inches square. 1t was shipped
to China, where it was cut up into
spans for bridges. | WIS on board the
vessel on which it was shipped. The
timber protruded over both the bow
and the stern, and was the largest stick
ever got out on Puget Sound. At the
Worlds fair in London l had dinner
in house made from the bark of IL
redwood tree, which was cut in Cali
fornia. The house was two stories in
height, and was eighteen feet in cir
cumference i'll the upper story. l
think that it might be possible to get
out one perhaps $50 feet long and
3Ox30 inches square at the small end
Such stick could not be found near
the coast, however. One would have
to go into the interior for it. A great
deal OF care would have to be exer-
cised in cutting it, to prevent its break
ing when it fell. II such stick were
cut have no doubt it would be the
largest piece of timber ever cut in the
world"
Mr.. Farnham is an old lumberman,
and knows whereof he speaks. He
first landed in Seattle 81 years ago,
direct from China. From Victoria he
made the trip to Seattle on the Eliza
Anderson. At that time The fare be-
tween Seattle and Tacoma Was $12.
The largest tree in the world is in
Mariposa, Cal. 1t is called the Father
of the Forest, and is $50 feet in height.
1t is fallen monarch, however, and it
would be impossible to cut stick of
timber $50 feet in length from it, as it
is partially decayed.