Amador ledger., 1901-03-22
Big Trees.

lFrom MY Trip to Kings River Canyon" by
DR.. Joseph LIE Conte Professor of Geology and
Natural History, University of California
| Sunset, October, 1901
On the second day we passed through
the Big Tree Grove, and here we had
striking object lesson on the necessity
of reservations. The outskirts of the
original grove was scene of horrible
desolation, ruin and ugliness. The
ground was strewed with the mangled
remains of once grand sequoias each
one the growth of thousands of years.
1t was literally slaughter pen. As we
passed on, next came the reservation
line, and suddenly, as if by magic, all is
beauty and grandeur and delight. l
know that much may be said in iusti-
fication of such butchery. 1t is true
that forests were made for man, not
man for forests; it is true that trees
are for human use. But there are
aesthetic uses as we'll as commercial
uses-uses for the spiritual wealth of
all, as we'll as for the material wealth
| OF some. 1t may be, indeed, that com
mercial uses must take precedence of
all other uses; but even here is a
rational as well as wasteful use, a use
not only for now. but for all time; not
for this generation only, but for all
generations. The forests are the prom
erty of the nation. Generation after
generation passes, but the national life
continues, AS the wise man differs
from the fool chiefiyEn thoughtful pro-
vision for the future, so a nation is wise
in proportion as it husbands it's re-
sources, and uses them in such wise as
to continue and increase them. Like
the prodigal son, the nation has wasted
his substance in riotous living, careless
of the future, and only now, when
nearly all is spent, is coming to himself
and recognizing that trees also are a
crop worth cultivating.
The Big Trees here do not occur in
isolated groves consisting mainly of
this species alone-as in Mariposa and
Calaveras-but are more scattered
among other competing species of
conifers. But they are everywhere
easily recognized by their smooth
brownish yellow, nearly cylindrical
trunks, limbless for one hundred to one
hundred and fifty feet. Some of them
in this grove are magnificent specimens.
The General Grant is, I think, the
finest | have yet seen. 1t is certainly
far more perfect and probably larger,
too, than the Grizzly Giant of Mari
posa. We find abundant evidence here
that the species is not dying out, as
many suppose, but is still vigorous and
successfully holding its own in the
struggle for life with other species.
Trees of all sizes and ages, from sprout-
ing seedlings, vigorous saplings, stately
monarchs and decaying giants are seen
on every side. 1t is true that at one
time, several millions of years ago,
sequoias were far more abundant and
diversified in species than they are now
more than fifty fossil species are
known) and also far more widely diff
fused (they prevailed at that time all
over the northern part of North
America and Eurasia.) 1t is true that
during the glacial period they were
pushed southwark by the rigor of the
climate far beyond their natural limits
and all the species destroyed except
two, and that these two on the retreat
of the ice-sheet were left stranded here
in California alone-the Big Trees on
/ the slopes of the Sierra and the Red
wood on the Coast Range. 1t is true
therefore that they are mere remnant
of what they We're, and it is this, in
deed, that Invests them with so peculiar
an interest: hut where conditions are
favorable they yet have every appear
lance of Astounding vitality.
PIONEER FLOUR always has been