Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-09-20

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showed that this giant was already
centuary old when Christ was born.
The Calaveras grove occupies a belt
5000 feet long by 700 feet wide, in a
depression between two slopes. There
are just 101 trees Of large size and a
considerable number OF small ones.
| Several have fallen since the grove
was discovered, one has been cut down
and the bark has been stripped from
another up to the hight of 116 feet
This bark was formed into a room at
the Sydenham Crystal Palace, and was
lost in the fire there a few years ago.
The two trees thus destroyed were the
finest in the grove. The tallest one
ROW standing is the Keystone State"
and the largest and finest is the EN-
pire State"
The tree stripped of it's bark has
long been known as the mother of
the forest" Without the bark it
measures SO feet in circumference at
height of 20 feet from the base.
Seventy feet from the ground it is
1872 feet in girth. Its height is 24I
feet; the vertical distance to the first
branch is 137 feet, and it is estimated
to contain 1000 feet of sound inch
lumber. Near by lies PROSTATE the
father Of the forest" which was even
larger, measuring over 400 feet in
height, with a circumference of ITO
feet at the base
70 i,
is known as "Smits's Cabin" and was
for years the home of an old trapper
named Andrew Jackson Smith. it's
burnt-out hollow trunk providing him
with room II by Is feet Some years
before he occupied this natural shelter
tremendous storm blew down the
father of the forest" and in falling
this UOble monarch struck "old Her.
cules, and old-time rival, shivering
the upper part Of the latter. Fire has
eaten out the heart of the father Of
the forest" so that one can ride erect
on horseback through the trunk for a
distance of eighty-one feet. The dis
lance from the base of the trunk to
the first branch is nearly 200 feet.
"Old Hercules" was the largest stand
ing tree in the grove in 1862, being
325 feet high and measuring ninety-five
feet in circumference at the ground
He too was blown down in a storm.
"Old Goliath" succumbed to the same
storm that overthrow "Old Hercules"
and both catastrOphes were witnessed
by Andrew Jackson Smith, who was
living in Smiths Cabin" at the time.
He was rather surprised, indeed, that
his own shelter was not demolished.
"Old Goliath" has a circumference Of
over 100 feet at the base, and one of
his limbs was over eleven feet in di-
ameter In the southern part of Cal
Veras grove is the tree of refuge" so
called because ten cattle sought shelter
in it one severe winter. They found
protection from the storm, but perish
ed of starvation, and their bones re-
main there to this day to tell the tale.
Late in autumn the big tree bursts
into bloom, myriads of cones crowd
ing the ends of the slender sprays Of
brOWnishy-ellow foliage and giving
color to the whole tree while the
ground beneath is busted with golden
pollen. The fertile cones are bright
grass green, two inches long, and
made up of scales densely packed,
with from five 10 eight at the base
of each scale. One cone, therefore,
contains from 200 to 300 seeds No
other Sierra confer produces nearly
so many seeds, millions being ripened
annually by a single tree. Few of
them terminate, however, and those
which do sprOut rarely survive.
The sequOla has been introduced in
Europe and is now widely cultivated
there, but the climate does not seem
to suit it very we'll. Occasionally it
has been induced to survive in the
eastern part of the United States, and
at Rochester there are two big trees
thirty-fve feet in height In CaIifor-
MIA the southern groves show some re-
production, through which there is
hope of perpetuating the species. but
in the northern groves it hardly no4ds
its own. There are now only ten is0-
ance, and forty mills and i@gging
camps are attacking those for timber.
Unfortunately, the numbering Of the
big trees is done by such methods
thet more than half of the material is
wasted. Often the huge logs are bro
ken up with gunpoWder as q prelim-
mary to moving them. The trees
stand in forests Of many other spe-
cies, and the destruction followed by
the fall of their enormous trunks Is
great. But the principal source Of
damage is the immense amount of de-
bris left on the ground, composed of
broken branches, trunks and bark,
often five or six feet in depth-a GER
tain cause Of fierce fires The devas-
tation that follows such numbering is
complete and deplorable, and as a
rule has not even the advantage of
being profitable.
The forestry division Of the Depart
ment Of Agriculture, which has fur
nished the material of this article, es-
Inmates a growth Of one inch in diam
eter for every twelve years in the life
Of a big tree. This would make a
25-foot tree $500 years old. Probably
these forest giants sometimes live
5000 years, or even more. Unless de-
stroyed by man, they survive indef-
nitely, until burned, smashed by
lightning or cast down by storm. The
wiping out Of the few remaining sur