Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-04-25
.GLORIOUSREDWOODS
WONDERFUL FOREST IN CALI
FORNiA SAVED,
CHANCE FOR MILLIONAIRE
Other Grand Tracts That Might Be
Bought and the Name of Their
Purchaser ImmortaIized Timely
Hint Thrown Out by an Apprecia-
tive Boston Man.

ating $250,Q00 to purchase a tract OF
redwood forest near Santa Cruz for 6
public reservation has aroused inter
est in every part Of the country, per
haps nowhere more than in Massachu
sets, where for years an intelligent
body Of tree-lOvers have urged the
necessity Of some such step if any
part OF the redwood lands was to be
preserved to future generations in its
original glory.
At the Arnold arborentum in this
city the opinion is expressed that the
Santa Cruz reservation should be con.
sidered as only the entering wedge;
other and larger reservations being
required If really adequate and typi
cal portion of one of the most remark
able forest grOWths in the worldly
all odds the most remarkable in this
COuntry-is to be saved from the raw
ages of the lumber dealer. The di
rector Of the arboretum, Professor
Charles S. Sargent,-Wnose work in
the tenth census and, later, as head OF
the committee of the National aead
envy appointed to consider the dangers
arising from the wholesale destruc-
ton Of the western timberlands, was
the direct cause Of such national for
est reservations as we now possess
| is not disposed, however, to minimize
in the slightest the Importance of the
action which has been taken. A re.
cent statement of Professor Sargent
| ~
| lows:
THE action of the California legis-
lature, which is largely due to the eff.
forts Of the SemperVirens society, a
body of CalifOrnians organized spe-
cially to accomplish the preservation
of some part of the redwood forest, is
a matter of national rejoicing. The
redwood tree is one of the wonders OF
the world. It's first cousin, the so
called big tree of the western slopes
of the sierra Nevada, surpasses it n
glrth of stem, but no other tree in the
world attains a larger size and no
North American tree grows so tall
The redwood forest extends, or once
extended, before it was attacked by
the lumberman, from the northern
borders of California southwark to
Monterey county in a belt facing the
ocean and rarely more than 80 miles
wide, for the redwood has only flour
ished in post-glacial times, within the
influence of the cold fogs which,
sweeping in from the Pacific ocean,
are arrested by the range of noun
tains which follows the California
coast. Fifty years ago this belt of red
wood contained more mercantable tim
Der than any other forest of similar
area which has been known to the hui
man race. Trees 10, II or Is feet in
diameter were abundant, and individ-
uals from 20 to 25 feet in diameter
were not rare. Only some of the gum
trees of Australia approach or surpass
it in height. Indeed, the extreme
height which this tree attains has
never been satisfactorily determined
A few years ago John Muir, the we'll
known California naturalist, Gen.
Henry L. Abbott, one of the engineer
corps Of the army, and Professor Sar-
gent found tree which had recently
been cut on one of the streams which
flow into Humboldt bay that had a to-
tai length of $40 feet In Prof. Sar-
is probably the tallest North Ameri-
can tree of which there is any authen-
tic measurement, the tallest sequoia OIL
the Siearras hardly surprising the
height Of 800 feet. This tree, more
over, was hardly more than a sapling,
with a trunk but six feet in diameter,
or little more than quarter of the
size which redwood trunks sometimes
attai
"The redwood tree is interesting for
its size;" says Professor Sargent,
but it is more interesting as the sole
representative, with the allied species
of the Sierras, of race of giant trees
which before the glacial period were
widely spread over the northern hem
isphere. The forest of redwood, too,
is robably the most beautiful confer
Gus forest in the world, with mighty
trunks covered with bright red bark
lifting aloft broad crowns of dark
green delicate foliage, while the
ground beneath the trees is clothed
with masses of ferns, MOSES, and
many charming Towering shrubs and
herbs.
I'm the history of the redwood for
est since California became a part Of
the United States can be found one OF
the darkest pages of congressional
| oil md fnIo
By the bill known generally as the
timber and stone act, which was
enacted by congress in 1873, authority
was given the land department to sell
Unreserved surveyed but unoccupied
timber lands in California, Nevada
and Washington, in parcels not ex-
ceeding 120 acres to one person or as.
ISOLATION Of persons, at the rate of
$50 an acre. Under the workings of
this act great areas Of valuable timber
lands speedily passed into the hands
Of individuals, corporations, and syndi
Gates, domestic and foreign, for pur-
poses of speculation, the gOvernmeA 1T
only obtaining a small part of the &C
tual value of the standing timber.
Under this act practically all of
the valuable redwood forest was
quickly secured at merely nominal
prices, or through the medium OF
fraudulent entries, by corporations anc
weaIuny individuals, either for manu-.
featuring lumber Or to hold for specu
| latiye purposes. The greater number
Of these entries were made in the