The Washington times., 1901-07-21
CALIFORNIA; Big TREES.
The Giant RedwOOds Threatened
With Extinction.
Enormous Proportions Reached by
These MOparchs of the Forest
Sections Used for Dancing PaNii-
ions and Large Dinner Parties

Much has been said and written OF
late concerning the giant redwood trees
of California. now that those superb
monarchs of the forest are threatei'eu
with extinction When the latter event
comes to pass it will only be from the
visible evidences preserved, such as the
hollow trunk in the grounds OF the
Agricultural Department and the au-
thentic data collated, that future gem
erations can be made to believe OF the
sometime existence of these wonderful
trees.
Some time ago a cross-section of a
California redwood tree was sent to
England on a wager that it would form
a table which would accommodate forty
guests. The cross section, which was
two feet in thickness, showed the
greater diameter of the tree TO be 10
feet inches. and the smaller diameter
II feet IL inches. The circumference
was, therefore. about 81 feet, and the
table accommodated forty men with
out difficulty.
Although this section existed great
surprise in England, il was but tiny
affair compared with sections of some
California trees. Many of the redwoods
measure sixty feet in circumference
and there have been examples OF some
that have measured seventy-iive feet.
These, again, are outstripped in size by
the so-called big trees" of the Gala
veras and Mariposa groves. the like OF
which are seen in no other part of the
world.
Many of the trees are known by char
acteristic names given to them in honor
of popular heroes and favorites. A sec
ton of one of the fallen kings of the
Mariposa group is called Chip of the
Old Block" Another is styled Uncle
Toms Cabin" on account of the tent
like opening at its base-an opening so
large that the figure of a full grown
man standing in it looks dwarfed. The
most famous tree still standing is prob
ably that known as Grizzly Gil
ant" which is over ninety three
feet in circumference at the ground,
and over sixty-four feet at a distance
of eleven feet from the base. 1t reaches
a height of 2O0 feet before throwing out
a branch, and its first branch is eight
feet in diameter. Grizzly Giant" is the
largest living tree in the world, and
stands over 275 feet high. Mere figures,
howeY er, can but suggest the mammoth
girth II this celebrated sequoia, which
people travel from all parts Of the
world to see.
1t is estimated by Agricultural De-
partment experts that this tree has
been standing for $500 years; it was a
mere bush when Nero fiddled before
burning Rome.
The big trees" were discovered, 1t is
supposed, in 1852 by a white hunter
named Dowd, who in that year found
himself in the neighborhood of Gala
veras Grove. The date 1850 is carved
On one of the trees. and this has led
many people to think that the big trees
had been visited previously to 1852.
Since that time the trees have been one
of the remarkable natural sights" of
the State of California. Botanists have
quarreled over the proper names to
give them. and have estimated their
age from the rings in the fallen logs.
ross-sections have been cut and for
warded to different parts of the coun-
try. in order that people might see for
themselves that the many big tree
stories are true.
In Boston some time ago one of these
cross sections was erected in a public
square. and dances were held on its pol
ished surface. The idea of using tree
for such purpose originated in Cali
fornia, where a stump of one of the
trees has had house built upon it to
serve as a ballroom.
The appearance Of a forest of red
woods in its palmy days. now rapidly
passing away, is, or rather was, i
grand spectacle. The primeval forest
in Humboldt county stretched out for
100 miles along the coast, not in SEN
tinel groves as a poetical writer has
put it, but in one continuous belt
dense. stately, dark, and forbidding."
But the enterprise of the Western
timberman has been on as gigantic
scale as that of nature in her grand
productions. The forests have for
years past resounded with the cry of
the former and the crash of the falling
tree. With these may be heard the
grating of the saw as it cuts its swath
through the heart of the tree, the
scores of sawmills in the neighborhood.
and the pun of powerful locomotives
engaged in pulling the heavy logs out
of the woods.
In order to cut down the trees, the
choppers stand on platforms raised
around the tree at some little distance
from the base. The steady movement
of the axe makes a quick impression on
the massive timber, but it sometimes
takes two weeks for two men to start
the tree on its crashing fall to the
ground. II is said that most of the I'M
skilled laborers of Humboldt county are
employed in telling, although even this
class of work requires a special amount
OF skill
The huge bulk of redwood logs. their
immense weight, and the fact that op-
erations in the logging regions are in
progress only during summer months
and the absence of snow makes lum-
bering in Humboldt different from the
methods used elsewhere. Capital and
ingenuity have combined to overcome
all difficulties, however, and to expe-
dite the transformation Of the trees into
sawn lumber in a manner that is truly
wonderful. Almost every extens We
redwood mill plant includes several
miles of railroad. with locomotives,
cars. and other equipments for trans
porting logs and lumber, numerous