The record-union., 1899-05-28
CALIFORNIA; BIG TREES.
Interesting Facts Concerning
These Wonders.

interesting Facts Concerning
These Wonders.
The following article was prepared
by B. M. Leitch, Superintendent of the
Mariposa Grove of Big Trees:
This group is included in a tract of
land which was granted to the State
of California by the United States in
1864. and accepted by the State
Legislature in 1866, and contains
2,5S9.26 acres The name given to
the grove is due to the latter's posi-
ton in Mariposa County. The sew
eral groups which make this grove
number about 621 individual trees.
When the species was discovered, bota-
nists contended over the name, but
adopted Sequoia gigantea for these
trees. For their smaller and more nu-
| merous cousins. the redwood of com
merce, the name Seqaoia sempervirens
was given. George Guess was the Cad
mus Of the Cherokees. He invented the
alphabet which made the Cherokee
written language and gave it a litera-
ture. His Indian name was SeQuoia,
and this was chosen by the botanists
and dendrologists for these big trees.
This grove is no less a wonder than
the trees are more wonderful than the
valley because they live. Each spring
the sap has risen in their mighty col
umns and they represent continuous
vegetable life that began on the further
side of human history.
The sequoias of this group are really
divided into two groves, called the
upper and lower groves from their re-
iyva CIT thn fair
side whereon they grow. In the upper
grove there are said to be 365 big trees
measuring from one foot to more than
forty feet in diameter. In the lower
grove there are about 1858 trees of con-
siderable size. In approaching by the
wagon road, the lower grove is first
visited. The largest sequoia in the
lower grove stands Immediately by the
road. 1t is called the Grizzly Giant,
and its rugged, time-wo appearance
is in keeping with it's name. 1t has sew
eral very large limbs, one of which is
100 feet from the ground and measures
2O12 feet in circumference. 1t is 104
feet in circumference at the base and
224 feet in hight.
The tallest tree in this group is in the
upper grove and called Columbia. It
otdi44S neal Liz CdDlll anu Is 10 I6SC III
hight and 81 feet in circumference The
sequoia called Wawona Qndian name
for big treel is situated in the upper
grove and is 2S feet in diameter and
26O feet in hight. The tunnel through
which the wagon road runs is ten feet
high, nine feet six inches wide at the
bottom, sloping to six feet six inches at
the top. In the lower grove there is
another VII;
road runs. 1t is named California and
is tWenty-one feet in diameter at the
base and 24S feet in hight. There are
a great many trees running from thirty
to sixty feet in circumference, measure
ments having been taken accurately of
only a few of them.
The first discovery os the big trees
of California was made in October.
1919, by Major Burney, then Sheriff of
Mariposa County. He came across a
few of these trees probably forming
part of group in what is now MADEIRA
County, and known as the Fresno
grove. There are ten groups of the
sequoias in California, as follows: Cal
averas, South Grove, Merced. Mariposa.
Fresno, Tuolumne, Dinkey Creek.
Kings River. New Kings River. Ka-
Weah or Tule. Elsewhere in California
these trees are not known TO exist. The
wood of the big trees, like that Of the
redwood of the Coast Range, is valu-
able for its utility. When exposed to ex-
cessive moisture it is unsurpassed for
durability. It is easily worked into any
shape, is light and receives a high pol
lsh, and some specimens are beautifully
marked In it's natural condition if is
generally of pale red tint The bark
is very thick, some Of it being thirty
inches through.
The Mariposa grove was discovered
by Galen Clark in the fall of 1850. Mr.. F.!
clark was for many years guardian of |
the Yosemite Valley and the Maripcsa |
grove of big trees
Attitude of big trees.-Sentinel 5.4OO. |
Grizzly Giant 5000, Cabin upper trove) |
o,oOo, Wawona tree 1000 and Wawona |
point 1900.
Flsh stories in Connecticut are re- |