Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1893-01-13
A Fallen Monarch.


Museum Of Natural History, for
which institution he was killed. In
addition to being over 2,5O0 years old,
MARK Twain" was trifle over 800
feet high, thirty feet in diameter aud
some ninety feet in circumference.
The MARK Twain in question was
one OF the biggest OF the stupendous
and famous trees Of California,
known under the scientific name OF
"sequoia gigantea,n and which stood,
in life, in the Kings River grove OF
''seauoia," ESQ miles south OF San
Francisco.
MARK Twain's" nearest neighbors,
in life, were the GRIZZLY Giant" and
ben Franklin Thousands OF
travellers each year have stood, silent
and awe-struck, at the base OF those
great, still living relics of the past
age, and gazed upward at the mon
archs OF the centuries.
Now ben Franklin" and the
Grizzly Giant stand alone, for their
comrade for thousands of years has
fallen, and measured his might y
length upon the mountain side, with
a crash and a roar that shook the
earth about him.
Science did what the earthquakes,
the avalanches, the hurricanes, and
the lightning had not accomplished.
For the sake OF science was the
monster dismembered, part OF him
brought across the continent into n
city built by a race which did not
exist when first he began to stretch
upward.
The wonderful and famous tree
but recently destroyed while still in
full vigor, and section OF which will
soon be on exhibition at the Ameri-
can Museum OF Natural History, was
a little over 800 feet in height, and
its roots extended for 200 feet each
way from it's trunk The trunk,
which was 80 feet in diameter at the
ground, and over 90 feet in circum-
ference at the same point, tapered to
81 feet in diameter at height OF ~
feet from the ground, where II began
to taper by very slow degrees toward
the top. The trunk was not marred
by any injury or malformation, and,
being a pine tree, the monarch grew
straight towards the clouds. Not
branch marred its symmetry for more
than 200 feet, and in the upper third
OF its height 1t branched into lin bs
and foliage.
The section now being placed on
exhibition at the Museum OF Natural
History was cut from the trunk at 10
feet from the ground, is twenty-one
feet in diameter and sixty-three feet
in circumference. The section is
about six feet thick and weighs
thirty-two tons, or $4,000 pounds.
The bark is from three inches to one
foot thick.
Beginning at the core OF the trunk,
the radius, or one-half the diameter
OF the section, is 10i feet, or 1876
inches. This radius contains an av-
srage OF twenty rings" or annual
growths, to the inch, or 2,5a0 rings al
together, which indicates pretty
closely the age OF the tree. as the
statement OF the botanist shows.
Assuming that the tree was $500
years old when cut down, ii was
more than 250 years old when Alex
ander the Great was born. 1t was
strong and sturdy when the ancient
Phenicians ruled the commerce OF
the known world from their cities OF
Tyre and Sidon. 1t was perhaps 100
feet high when Babylon was in her
glory. 1t kept on growing until
julius Caesar was born aud died, and
still kept on. Ii was over 700 years
old when Pompeii was buried In the
ashes OF vesuvius. 1t was nearly
2.100 years old, over seventeen feet 10
diameter, and probably, $50 feet high,
when Columbus landed on San Saliva
dor.
The mighty tree has lived while ma
tions were born, waxed great and
perished. 1t has lived while great
cities crumbled into dust and became
lost and forgotten In the ages OF an
tiauity, only to be finally cut down
by two men and saw twenty-three
feet long, which went back and forth
through its fibre for three weeks be-
fore it trembled, wavered. toppled
and fell, to join the things OF the past
itself.
The Museum OF Natural History Sc
cured the MARK Twain" from which
TO obtain it's thirty-two-ton specimen,
through the help OF Coils p. Hunt
ington. the railway president. who
paid all the expenses OF cutting down
the tree and OF transporting the sec
tion 70 New York.
The tree was, while standing, the
property Of Moore & Smith, OF the
Kings River Lumber Company, who
owned the grove in which the tree
was located, in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains OF California, 1000 feet
above the sea level
The tree was selected for the
museum by 8. d. Dill, the botanist Of
the Natural History Museum, who
made trip to the grove OF great
trees for the purpose OF making the
selection. Botanist Dill also selected
another great tree, $50 feet high and
fifteen In diameter, which was cut
down, from which another section
was cut, and which is also being
mounted on edge In the museum. az
a.. IL, 4. ,annar ~ th Il In r~ar n suacfrnon