The herald., 1895-08-15
ANOTHER LANDMARK GONE
A Sycamore Tree FOur Hundred
Years Old
FELLED ON ALSO STREET
A. Magnificent Example of Natures
Finest Handiw0rk
To Be Sawed Into Pieces, Polished end Dis
tributed-An Old Indian Bsnchmark
In Its Youth

One by one old landmarks in Southern
California are giving way to the fin de
steele Improvements that are asserting SUI
premacy in all departments of life, and
the last to 90 is one of the most ancient.
The oldest inhabitants great-grandfather
would remember the magnificent syca-
more that was big tree when he was
little boy, and has been the pride and Joy
OF all the country round about it ever
since.
On Also street, about four blocks east
OF Main, it has been standing through
rain and SHINE, fire and flood, glorious
example of natures handiwork, for 400
years, so they say; and now that it is be-
ing felled to earth by an experienced
woodman, he corroborates the story.
For the past ten or twelve years it has
given moral support to the Philadelp phia
brewery, and has been protected and ia
vored and saved in every way by Messrs.
Maier e Zubelein in return, until at
last they decided discretion was the bet
ter part of valor, and now it is literally
on its last legs.
Until 1889 it stood in all its grandeur,
its tallest limbs towering above the flag
staff that topped the tallest part of the
brewery. At least 125 feet in height it
stood, and some of its linn bs stretched
clear across Also street. yet SO low was
their sweep that famerrs driving their
loads of hay to town could reach up and
grasp the leaves. But in 1889 one of the
limbs broke, and, falling upon one of the
brewery wagons, smashed it; then it was
that, fearful of other mishaps and of the
possible danger to human lifr, all the
llim BIS were removed, leaving the bald,
bare trunk. But that in itself is worthy
in diameter, twenty-five feet in circum-
ference and is about twenty-five faet to
tho output of the branches.
In the gradual evolution of the brewery
plant from small beginning ten or
,welve years ago to the present. all
made with Difference, as we'll as reference.
to that sycamore tree. All additions
have been built around it, and even now
the stump. unsightly as it Is, would not
have been cut down but that the life has
gone out of it too far ever to be resusci-
tated; it is therefore being removed TO
make place for more important things
Its heart and top burned out and off
three separate times. but each time it
has grown up again from the mammoth
roots that extend for four or five rods in
all directions and several feet under
ground, ana william WllOuGn0y, VINO
has done nothing else for eight years but
chop down forest trees has been at work
on the base OF this stump for two days,
and says it will be another yet before t
yields its place and falls. 1t will then
be carefully sawed, the pieces polished
and distributed as Messrs. Maier g. Zobe.
| lein shall decree; out one of the best il
| to be sent to the chamber of commerce.
Mr.. Joseph Maier spoke OF the old tree
with c.ost affectionate interest yesterday
afternoon, and said that ten or eleven
| years ago, when it was at the height OF
| its beauty, he looked out OF the office
| window one afternoon, and there in front
of the tree stood a Mexican, and an In
dian who was with him was dancing up
and down and executing the most mar
| velous antics around the tree. MIR. Maier
| dashed out to see if the man was crazy,
| when he was informed by the Mexican
| that this Indian bad been brought from
| Indio as a witness in case then in the
courts. and strolling about town be had
recognized as the wonderful sycamore.
| tales Of which had been handed down by
his ancestors. 1t seems that among other
historic properties, this tree was "bench
mark that is, a starting point from
| which the Indians calculated distances
and tine boundary lines of property. 1t
was to be seen from all the peaks and
| plains in the surrounding country. and
| according TO the particular Lo in Ques-
| ton. was 400 years old. because his
| fathers grandfathe.'s great grandfather
| had seen it and said so.