The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-03
KING OF TREES.
Cut In strips 1t Would Span the Pa

Cut In strips 1t Would Span the Pa
cific.
Correspondence of the Courier-JournaL
Olympia, Wash.--A tree that rivals in
hight and age the monarchs of the red
wood forests in California has just been
cut in two sections out in the state of
Washington. All the terms which have
been invented to describe big trees could
he applied TO this mammoth without fiat
terry or exaggeration. An idea of its size
NAV be gained from the fact that if sawed
into inch strips the lumber made from the
tree would fill ten of the largest-sized
freight cars, and the strips of wood, VI
placed end to end, would reach from the
town where the tree now is-New What
com. Wash.-across the waters of the Pa
cihc ocean to the land of Ii Hung Chang
one section of the tree is so thick that
il would be necessary for man VINO WISH
ed to see over it-that is, supposing the
section be lying on its side-to either pro-
cure a ladder and in that way gain the
TOP of the fallen monster, or else TO
stand upon the shoulders of a tall man,
who in turn. should perch in the same
way upon man equal to himself in hight
The dimensions of the tree test ones pow
ers of belief, and yet there is no doubt
whatever Of their being exactly as given
herewith. The total hight OF the tree, as
it stood before being felled, was 465 feet,
or about one-eighth of a mile. To the
point where the first limb branched out
was 22O feet. At the base the circum-
ference was found to be thirty-three feet
and eleven inches. There was not
throughout the tree the slightest indica-
ton of unsoundness. In all the forests
of Washington there is not tree, young
or old, which would make finer lumber
than this.
There is a way to tell the age of every
tree. lust as there is to learn how many
wears a horse has lived With the tree
the problem Is solved by studying the
number of rings that are clearly discern
ible when the saw has severed the great
mass of wood into sections. This test,
when applied to the Washington tree,
showed that it was at least Asa years since
the day when it became sapling in the
heart of the Cascade Mountains. There
are fierce storms in the Cascades every
winter The wind blows tremendously and
the snow falls a good deal after the
same fashion that it does in the Rocky
Mountains. But the big tree has gone
all through this weather for almost five
Ecenturies, and If man had only let II
alone it would have been none the worse
for wear.
The men who own the tree in it's pres
ent form have submitted to scientists the
| QueSIOn regarding the cuduStS WHICH uiA'
| doubtedly took place around it during
| the centuries that have interviewed since
It began to grow. OF course, 1t is i'm
possible to examine IN detail the forest:
| of the Cascade Mountains. but so far al
| investigation has demonstrated, the bis
tree was the Oldest in the state Of Wash
| ington At the time 1t was felled IL /:
| more than probable that in all that vas
| territory which goes to form one of thu
| greatest states in the union there wa.
| not a single thing which grows in ex
| istence which had come into the work
before the great tree had attained a re
| spectacle age.
| Scientists hold that the facts stated
/ prove that there has been no materia
/ change in the earth's surface in the state
| Of Washington, and probably in the en-.
| tire territory of the United States, for al
| least 800 years. It has been held by SONS
that the surface of the earth in the fai
western sections of our country differed
materially from what It is even within 81
/ recent a period, from the scientific poin
! of view, as FIVE centuries ago. Hence
1 the big tree completely dsproves the cher
/ ished theory. 1t Is quite likely the wood
ed giant was a tiny sapling In the DAYS
when Columbus first discovered the wes