The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-06-10
SAVING THE REDWOODS
OF BIG BASIN GROVE,
TNHE calaveras big tree grove is saved.

c1fSHE Calaveras big tree grove Is saved.
II thanks 10 the good offices If the
California club. The preservation
OF this noble tract has led to an agitation
for the public care OF another grove.
scarcely less noble. The citizens OF Santa
Cruz. San Mateo and Santa clara coun-
ties are devising ways and means Of saw
ing the Big Basin grove which caps the
junction Of the three counties.
The Big Basin grove lies on n plateau
which forms the end of the Santa Cruz
mountains. the Catskins OF California.
Here, when the white man came. stood
Wild grove of singular beauty. crowned
with thousands OF magnificent specimens
OF the Sequoia sempervirens which bears
about the same relation TO the Sequoia
gigantea of the Calayeras groves which
a setter bears to mastin Then, there
were in California many other spots OF
similar growth and OF almost equal beau
~, but their accessibility was their ruin.
The Big Basin grove. on the contrary.
was too far from transportation 20 be Of
much use to the lumbermen. So the
trees remained and with them the birds
and beasts and shrubs which fourished
under their shade. To-day, the spot Is
almost as It was when the Indian ruled.
Wild beasts. the few singing birds youch-
safed TO California still abound and the
aisles OF the huge grove hold the silence
OF the forest primeval. over ALL The red
woods rise to a great height. They can
not quite vie with their sister trees OF
the Calaveras groves. but they come very
near It, a score pass the three hundred
foot mark, and hundreds go over two hum
dred and fifty feet Nevertheless. lit Is
not their size but their beauty that makes
them worthy Of preservation The sem
pervirens is a much more handsome tree
than the gigantes. Moreover II Is neigh
borly and charitable in its ways permit.
ting other growing things to have a share
In the privileges Of the forest. This Is con-
trary 10 the habit OF the giant species.
which seems averse to other vegetable
life in the region. so that the carpet OF
needles beneath Is as bare as a floor. The
Big Basin grove has over fifty varieties
of tree growth including redwood, ma
drone oak, pine, maple and sycamore.
II has also its share OF show features and
sensational conformations. In one spot.
four pf the giants stand on the corners
Of a diamond figure. as perfectly arranged
as though they had been laid out and
planted by a surveyor. In the confines
Of the tract are the springs and sources
OF score OF streams. some of them
arising to the dignity Of rivers before
they empty into the Pacific.
For many years. the possible future OF
this tract has been a subject OF thought
to far-seeing Californians. As early az
twenty years ago the project Of forming
n park there was suggested. 1t was seen
that the settling Of the country would
soon make Il accessible and that the AK
of the observation-disclosures would do the rest.
II was the purpose OF Leland Stanford to
purchase the tract and Keep Il as a sort OF
botanical experiment station In connec-
ton with stanford university. His death
prevented this. as it did many of his other
plans And now the lumber men are
stripping the forests along the beautiful
western slope of the Santa Cruz range
and are beginning to bite into the Basin.
Three or four years more and 1t will be
past saving
u would be us great strain on the NIT
ton or the state to preserve both the
Calaveras and Santa Cruz tracts The
time will come unless our laws are rad
ically changed. when Seuuoias, outside of
public parks. will be As extinct as the
buffalo The government. has saved a
park OF the greater trees, and II is now
10 he asked 10 save the smaller, but more
graceful AMI beautiful. sempervirens -
The Wave.