Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-03-20
SAVE I !. The | BIG TREES
How to Save the Big Trees in Cali
q ffornia From Destruction lis "a
Sl45 n u 4 Problem. ~ 49,. 4
Gigantic Forest Kings, Whose Species
4, is Extinct, Ought to Be 4. :!
ss. Preserved. 81 s. J. '5i55 ',s. a

r. To save: the" '"big trees''of California
the most remarkable forest growth ! Of
the worlds task to which those in
terested in preserving the natural world
wonders are applying themselves. It. is
time steps we're taken to set aside the
groves of big trees, if they are to be saw
ed from destruction. The species is now
extinct, with the dozen groves and forests
that are found between Place county on
the North and Tulare, county on the
south, on the western slope of the Sierra
Nevada mountains in California These
mighty trees, attaining height Of 400,
base circumference of over 100 feet,
| and an age that is yet more amazing
eight thousand years, according to Prof.
David Starr Jordan, thus being six
thousand years old at the beginning of
the Christian era-have stood unmoved
amid all the changes that have beset the
Earth's surface.
Now, these big trees, that should be
more to our nation than the pyramids
have been to Egypt-for they are both
Older and more impressive are in dan
ger Of distinctions; are in danger of be-
ing turned into shakes and shingles and
matches. Fully IS per cent of their
lumber value being lost in that industrial
process. If some one were to propose to
use the pyramids to furnish pavements
for the streets of Cairo the world would
stand aghast: but every. day sees the
number of these great trees reduced.
Only one grove is fully protected, and
that one-the Mariposa grove-co contains
but seven hundred trees. While some
of the others. are included within the
national parks, the reservations at pres
1 ent are SO doorly defined as not to admit
adequate protection, 49, ~.
It is proposed to have the government
set aside all these forests as reservations
and thus prevent the destruction of these
trees for commercial purposes. There
are several groves of especial prominence
for the number and size of the trees
they comprise. One of the best known
northern groves is the Calaveras, reached
by the lines of the Southern Pacific
Ecompany from Portland, Ore, which
contains about hundred giants, one OF
them 325 feet in height and many Others
approximating that size. These trees
}are about q hundred feet in circumfer,
ence at the base, and some of them at a
height Of eighty feet from the ground
are eighty feet in circumference. Once
these trees are destroye ard the like OF
them win not be seen again :s
1 To give an idea of the dimensions Of
/ these trees it's estimated that one OF
them, the General Sherman, contains
l,750, 900 feet of lumber and cut up into
! telegraphapoles Sx9 at the base and 4x5
at.the top, "a feet high, would supply a
line from Kansas City to Chicago. The
Humber in the same tree would make "a
miles of board fence feet high.
i Itis not strange that those people who
have an eye beyond commercial utility
an eye to the preservation of SOME of the
Emost marvellous of natures growths,
1 should desire to preserve these forests
and they should have the earnest sup.
| port Of the country generally in their
efforts SO to do. Ill., " z F.s> >1ss s.. s.. =
T. E!s