The record-union., 1891-03-31
THE BIG TREE PARKS.

THE BIG TREE PARKS.
A troop of United States cavalry from
the Presidio, San Francisco, is to take up
its position in the National Sequoia Park.
in the upper Sierra Mountains. Thep pur-
pose is to secure adequate protection for
the California big trees. The Act of Con-
gress providing for the preservation of the
trees, recites that the rapid destruction Of
timber threatens the destruction of some
of the great wonders of the world, giant
in trees, and that it is necessary to reserve
the big tree groves and provide for their
protection. That the sequoia groves long
have been in danger from fire and the ak
of the woodman, as well as from the curl
osity-seeker, has been known in this
State for years. The Tuolumne, Tulare.
Mariposa, Fresno and Merced groups of
big trees really constitute all the great
trees of the family referred to that the
Federal Government can now secure, and
only a portion of these could it get except
by purchase.
The new park is, in the main, south of
Kings River, and all, we believe, within
Tulare County. 1t is to the preservation
= of these groves of wonders that the Fed
eral Government has now turned its at
tention. The entire belt of great tree
occupation is some sixty miles long, but
the giants are in small groves con-
siderably separated. The best of these
are, more than any other of the Sc
quota groups, in danger from the reck-
lessness and carelessness of the frontier
settlers, the stock men, hunters and tour
lists, none of whom seem to care whether
the trees are destroyed or not. There are
some thousands of the trees, all at great
attitudes and in small groups. Some of
the giants of these groves rival the largest
yet discovered, and there are none less
than ten feet in diameter, and are from
200 to 300 feet in hight. In these groves
trees of thirty feet diameter have been
felled without any purpose except to
prove that man can lay low the monster
sentinels of the nights. Some of them
have been overthrown simply to enable
great fires to be built by hunters and
strolling bands of summer tourists.
The park that Congress has set aside.
and which for the present the military
company will guard, is thus described in
one Act: Township Is south, range 30
east; township is south, range 81 east,
and four sections of township II south,
range 80 east. Also, by another Act, all
the remainder of township IL, and also
townships Is, 16 south, ranges 20, 80 east.
This covers large part of the sequoia
growth, and the best, indeed, of the rem
nants of once vast forest of these trees.
The regret is, that the park was not set
up long ago. Had it been done ten years
earlier, or even six, the Mineral King
Forest might have been saved. 1t was
reserved at one time by Act of Congress,
but interested parties had the lands with
drawn from reservation, and inside of
six weeks they were located, and soon
thereafter the tract was cleared up and
some of the noblest trees of the earth
speedily leveled with the ground and lost
forever to the nation. The wood seek
ers then turned their attention to other
tracts, but through the public spirit OF
some watchful citizens, Congress was in
duced to interpose, and as result we
have what is known as the Sequoia Ma
tional Park, and it is the largest of the
three parks in this State that the Govern
ment has reserved. The other two are
the Yosemite Park recently declared and
adjacent to Yosemite grant, and the reser-
vations which include the Fresno Big
Trees, to be known as Grant Park, tax
ing its name from the largest of the trees,
named some years ago after General
Grant, and which measures at the base
forty feet in diameter.