The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-08-09


the Protection of Several Other
Groves-"Oh, If Those Immense
Trees Were Only I'm My state" Says
the Michigan LumIerman.
An eastern tourist, c.wner of a shingle
mill in Michigan, visi ted the Mariposa
grove of big trees Last summer, and
when the Grizzly Giar was pointed out
to him he took string from his pocket.
measured the circul inference of the
mighty trunk, inquire the height, and
fell to work with pap sr and pencil. He
figured out, much to his own edificatiOn,
that some vast number. of shingles could
be made from that tree; but his salts
faction and admiration were tempered
by regret that the gro re was not located
on land contiguous to his Michigan shin
gle mill. The big trees would have been
destroyed by such men long ago had
the groves been ac ;essible; but for
tunately, they are high up the western
slope of the Sierra Nevada, and until
recently most of the groves have been
TO inaccessible TO be tempting TO lum-
bermen.
The sequoia giganitea is the largest
tree on earth, probs bly, the lone sur
vivor of some long-p;lSt period, and has
been found only in widely separated
groups on the slope of the Sierras in
California. 1t is a valuable tree, re-
garded from the timber merchants
point Of view, but IL has another value
in the estimation of persons not wholly
dominated by the commercial spirit. 1t
is unique in species. magnificent in size,
and one of the hanGlsOmest trees in the
forest. The ACCESSIBILITY Of preserving
the sequoias and stopping the destruc-
tive work of the ~ mbermen who have
secured possession Of some of the groves
probably will not be questioned by any
but the owner of a convenient saw
mill
The Mariposa grove belongs TO the
state of California and is carefully pro-
tected from and fire, and the U. 5.
government has provided for the pre-
servation of two OF the groves further
south; but other groups or sequoia are
still in danger. The United States in
terfered just in time to save one Of
finest groves. known as the Giant For
est, which was being totally destroyed
by some persons calling themselves the
Kaweah cOlonists, who had filed claims
under the timber land act and We're try
ing some queer scJcialistic experiment up
in the mountains. The cOlOnists were
persistent in their enterprise of con-
verting the seqU Oias into merChantable
lumber. and it required a troop of cav
airy 10 convince them tina the Giant
Forest did not belong to them.
Near Maripossa grove was another
group of sequoias called the Fresno
grove, containing several hundred very
large trees, the second or possibly the
third grove discovered in the state.
Many years ago a man named Elder
took UP as a homestead the land upon
which the grove stood. and so long
as he lived protected the trees.
Elder was an intelligent man who ap-
preciated the big trees, and he tried TO
induce the county and then the state
TO buy his homestead at a reasonable
price and preserve his grove as a public
park. but he tailed to arouse any public
interest in the matter, and at last he
was obliged 10 sell a part Of his land
being old ana poor. and when he died
the whole tract fell into the hands of
mill men. Ths Fresno grove is now a
wreck. Most of the available trees have
been cut down and worked UP into COM
mercial redwood" and many that re-
main standing, have been ruined by fire
The usual w4steful California methods
of numbering have been employed, and
whenever a tree fell in a place from
which it woUld be difficult to remove
the logs, it was left there to rot or be
burned.
A similar fate has overtaken another
large grove in Fresno county on Kings
river One of the largest numbering
plants on the coast is located there and
the sequoiss are felled, sawed into lum-
Der and ffrewOod. and 1oated down TO
the valley IL a fiume sixty miles long.
This vandal work has been going on
III some fq'm ever since the big trees
hrst white men who saw the trees did
not discover them. They were pioneer
miners, and they passed through the
CalaVeras grove on prospecting trip.
one Of the party told me that they
noticed some very large trees bur did
not pay any particular attention to
them. They were like one of the men
or Capt. SaVage'S company, who fol-
lowed the Indians into the mountains
and found Yosemite valley. When 1
lG1r a6 i'm. hot
and emotions upon first seeing Yosemite
he replied. well, l didn't notice il
much. If ] had known it was going TO
be so famous. I'd have looked at ii.
When the Calaveras grove was really
discovered, the first thing that sug-
gested itself TO the discoveries was a
scheme 10 make money. So they select
ed the biggest tree. the mother of the
Forest, and laboriously stripped all the
Dark Of The bark was exhibited all
over the country. and the mother of the
forest died Then they rugged up DumD
Rugers and bored another tree down To
make a dancing floor upon the stump.
Whenever there is a worlds fair or
big show Of any sort where money is to
De made by exhibiting something
strange. somebody gets into a seouoia
grove and cuts down a big tree. a
thirty-foot length Of trunk has been sent
from the Tulare grove TO Chicago. and
spectators are figuring on making a
train or cars out Of another tree
The Calaveras grove and Mammoth
grove, the latter containing over 900
trees over IS feet in diameter have been
held as private property and preserved
by the owner for nearly forty wears
These groves are in the heaviest timber
belt in the state, and the eye of specu-
IatiOn Is turned toward them. svn-
dictate has secured thousands Of acres
of sugar-pine and fir timber land in the
vicinity. and a line for railway has
been surveyed through the belt When
that timber shall be made accessible the
big trees will be very valuable. and the
owner can hardly be expected to fOrego
Indefinitely the possibilities Of profit
In fact, he has held the property ont
OF the market about long as ne can
and unless the state or federal govern
ment shall take some steps to secure
the groves the ak and saw will soon he
gin their destructive work Some
groves have been saved by reservation
but the Calaveras and Mammoth groves
cannot be saved in that way. 1t is a
question 10 be determined by the Cali
fOrnia legislature or by congress
whether the preservation of these grand
trees is Of sufficient public Importance
70 justify the use Of a considerable sum
of public money in securing possession
of the groves.-Leslie's Weekly.
Moon Blindness.