The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-21

Wef-storeu Hunu, winch ne related TO
his companion. Twenty-seven years
ago the famous mountaineer passed
through the same general grove of
trees and found an old stump-the tree
having been destroyed by fire-that
measured forty feet in diameter. TAX
ing an axe, he chopped away its scared
sides and laid open its heart. When
he applied the microscope to the
rings" in the wood he found, by cal
culation, that the tree had been at
least 1900 years old at the time of its
fall from its lordly estate. When the
Saviour walked on the other side of
the earth that mighty living spire al
ready stood twenty feet through the
girth out there among its unknown
mountains. L. B. G.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.
Dr. Norman d. Kelley of Fresno. who
is responsible for the latest report re-
garding the tree, represents that it's
diameter is thirty-two feet, and John
Muir is credited with saying it meas
ures thirty feet These measurements
are each near enough TO be correct.
as the difference of three feet in
the diameter between them may be
due to Irregularities in the bark or
buttresses or to the possibility that the
tape was not drawn exactly on the
same line around the trunk in each
instance.
There is no record of any larger tree
standing in any of the California for
ests. 1t has been asserted that there
are some trees in the South Calaveras
grove which possess a diameter of
thirty-four feet, but these measure
ments seem to have been made around
the base on the ground. The largest
a,,f al Nv Naf
ney was 29.5 feet in diameter at the
base. the tree yielding these figures
being in the Mariposa grove.
A tree felled in the Calaveras grove
for the purpose of securing a section
for exhibition measured, according to
Muir, twenty-four feet inside the bark.
No record was made of the thickness
of the bark. The Fallen Monarch" is
estimated to have been 100 feet in cir
conference or nearly forty feet in d.
ameter, but that measurement cannot
be relied upon. The Father Of the
Forest" another PROSTATE trunk,
measured across the roots twenty
eight feet The newly discovered tree
is, therefore, presumed to be the larg-
est living sequoia standing in the Cali
ifornia forests.
There is a difference of opinion re-
garding the exact loca ton of this gil
ant sequoia. A member of the Sierra
Club represents that 1t Is standing on
the lands of the Sanger Lumber Com
pany. and may, therefore, be in dan
ger of being felled for conversion into
lumber. DR.. Kelley testifies, however.
that 1t is growing just inside of the
United States forest reserve. 1t is to
be hoped that his statement is correct,
as II will save 1t from destruction.
II is surrounded by a grove of other
magnificent specimens of sequoias. Its
preservation is really a matter OF pub
lie interest. as the trunk is not only
larger than that OF the General
Grant sequoia in the General Grant
National Park. and the General
Sherman" in the Sequoia National
Park. the largest specimens previously
known to exist, but II Is also the state
Hest example OF It's tribe. Means should
be taken 20 definitely determine It's
true position. so that measures may be
adopted 70 save IL from the lumber
mans ak, II Il II standing on private
property, or 20 guard II from damage
or destruction II Il IL growing within
the forest reserve. These monarchs ~
the forest are too rare 70 be sacrificed
10 WaHtonness Or commercialiem.