Morning journal and courier., 1893-01-11
The Weeping Spruce OF the Pacific

Siope.
From the Garden and Forest
1t had been my desire for the last three
yesrs to visit the group If weeping spruce
tPicea Brewesiausl growing on the sum
NIT of the Siskiyou mountains, in Slski-
you county, California, and having learned
this yesr that the other oon.feTs in the
northern part of tins state We're seeding, i
determined 20 Welt the grove and obtain
seed IL possible. We vent to GrAnrs
Pass, Oregon, the nearest railroad station
to the grove, where We prucured horses
and drove The first day to Anderson's,
sbou. twenty miles from Granrs Pass.
Owing to heavy rains We did not reach
Waldo until sbou. four o'clock next day,
where we engsged a guide, saddle horses
and pack animals, aud left for the trees
esrly the mGrniDg sfer, reaching the
big Meadows" on the summit Of tie
Siskiyous, about four O'Clock, having
| travelled sbout tEenty-ons miles in a z
horizontal direction aud more than one
mile in altitude Waldo is about fifteen
hundred feet above sea level, and our
csmPing-plses was about seven;y Eve
hundred feet TIE trail over which ve
came was made by a Spanish packer for
the transportation Of provisions from
Waldo, Oregon, to Happy Camp q min
ing town in California. Ii Is a fair trail
for such rough country, but Il 10 not
a mscsdsmizs ID read. We slept that night
with some evergreen bonghs under us
and the blue sky over US part Of the
night, and the dense-t fog ! have ever
seen for the remainder Of the night
The next morning We walked up the
Ira h4tr1 FrnFn. k.Ns a.. r
scattered weeping sprlees, about sixty In
| number. which had attained a height cf
twenty fve feet. at which s'zs they be-
gin to bear ssed; bat we found that ucost
of the trees under fifty feet bad v,ry
imperfect seeds The cones are from
two and half TO three and q half inch
es in length and three quarters nf an inch
in diameter, of q foe prrpii-h color
They mostly grow on the extreme top
and ends of upper branches The beau
| ~ of the trees far surpassed my expec.
| tations. They have the true spruce form.
tall and symmetrical. with horizontal
| branches and beautiful gr, en- color. In
| their general features they resemble a
we'll grown Norway sprace, but their dis
| tinauishing beauty Is in their long, PHI
/ ant, pendulous brsnchleis, which hang
straight down from the branches to a
length of six or eight feet on the older
| trees, while they are 10 larger ruund
than lead pencil They have a stately
grace in calm weather. but their charac-
teristic impressivencss Is only teen when
the long flexible branches are uudulaiing
in light breezs or streaming before q
gale.
Later 10 the season made another trip
to these groves to get as many seedlings as
l could, and hunt up more trees if posi-
Bile. Hunters and prospectors reported
that they grew in various parts of the
mountains. but when these men saw the
branches / brought down they admitted
their mistake. Mr.. OrrIn Russell, who
has lived in this part of the country for
more than twenty years, and who is ex-
ceptionslly well informed, reported that
few weeping spruees grew on the Coast
Range in Oregon. 1 visited him at his
mines after 1 had collected and shipped
the few seedlings 1 could find on the Siski
you mountains, and in company with his
brother, Mr.. John Russell, found ths trees
at the place indicstec-on the summit of
the Coast Range, on the divide bsiEeen
Canon Creek and Fidler's Gulch. This 10
the first time, SO FAR as know. that any
record has been made of these trees In Or
1 egOn.