The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-26
MARK TwAIN's BIG nAMEsAkE,
How Piece of IL was Secured for the
American MaSem Of Natural History.

American NGsem OF Natural History.
In the fall of 1891, the American
Museum of Natural History of New
York city sent one Of its staff, Mr.. S
D. Dill to the P aoific coast in order t,
obtain three specimens Of certain trees
which were needed to complete tht
'Jessup Collection Of North American
Forestry" Among the trees desiret
was the big-tree, and 1 am asked /,
tell you about the one he procured.
After reaching San Francisco, Mr.
Dill was fortunate enough to meet /;
gentleman who owned a grove of big
trees at Sequoia n ills in Tullare coun
t.. This gentleman generously offered
to give the museum any tree in his grove
which Mr.. Dill might select
There are two sawmills in Sequoia
Mills which each day during the sum
mer season cut one hundred and thirty
thousand feet of big-tree wood into
boards, fence posts, railway ties. etc.
These are sent to the nearest railway
station, distant sixty miles, by means
OF a ''fume." The fiume, or trough. is
wedge-shaped, with sides about eight
cen inches wide, and is supplied with
water by reservoirs After being cut
into the proper lengths the lumber is
stored until it is partly dried, and then
1t IS placed in the fume and started on
its sixty-mile float down the mountains,
making the entire journey in about
twelve hours
In some of the big-tree groves the
larger trees have received names; and
often a small board Gearing the name
IS fastened to the trunk of the forest
giant.
The tree selected for the museum. of
which ar least a portion of the trunk
was to be saved from the all-devouring
mill, was known as the MARK Twain"
The Mark Twain was not the largest
tree remaining in the grove, but it was
one of the most perfect At the base it
was thirty feet in diameter. while for
one hundred and fifty feet its columnar
trunk was unmarked by limb, and its
topmost branches were three hundred
feet above the ground. 1t was esti-
mated to contain four hundred thou
sand feet of marketable lumber.
The ground where the tree was in
tended to lie was cleared Of all oppos-
ing obstacles in order that IL might not
be injured in its fall. Then a staging
was erected on its trunk about twelve
feet from the ground, and, mounting
this, two axmen commenced the at
tack. AS their Iabors progressed the
staging was lowered, and, after chop
ping in about one-third the diameter of
the tree, it was removed to the
side, and the operation was
repeated. The remaining portion of
the trunk was now small enough to
admit of the use of a dou ble-handed
saw, and after chopping out small
section from the third side to serve as a
shoulder" or hinge, for the tree in its
fall, the saw was applied to the fourth
side. Wedges were driven in the open
ng made by the saw, and the tree was
thus made to fall in the desired direc-
ion. After three weeks of chopping
md saving the giant yielded, and, (
With roar which echoed through the /
lills, it fell PROSTATE upon the long /
rack prepared to receive it.
1t was now the end Of the lumber /
eason, and before going down to the
7alleys for the winter, a number OF the
employees of the mill were photographed
n the trunk, and also on the stump of
he tree. Three tiers of men were
one above the other on the cut
ections Of the trunk, while ffty-two
ormed a circle around the outer edge
f the stump.
But the museum did not want an en-
ire big-tree. and in order to obtain the
ection desired two double-handed
avs, each thirteen feet in length, were
oined by brazing, and section four
nd half feet long was sawed from
he trunk just above the place where
he aXmen had commenced to chop.
his section is about twenty feet in
iameter, and weighs about thirty
)ns. To reduce il to portal BILE size il
'as split into several smaller pieces.
he lumbermen use dynamite for this
urpOse, but on this occasion iron
edges were employed. 1t was pro-
osed to cart these specimens to the
lilwaY station at once and ship them
to the museum. but a heavy
III of snow prevented their removal
Id it was necessary to wait until the
blowing spring. Frank II. Chapman,
St. Nicholas