The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1908-07-09
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
TREES.

The Sequoia There Grows 400
Feet High and &c in Diane
ter.
Standard
The sequoia here in Humboldt
is the tallest tree in the whole
United States. But the tourist
from the East or West knows it
not. What would he say to the
information that in the north
west of California grows a NIGH
ty continuous forest of these
great trees and that it takes days
to travel merely from end to end
of that forest, which is longer
than the distance from Boston to
New York or from Chicago to
st. Louis. Yet such is the case.
On the ridges and flats of |
Humboldt is the forest, and of
that forest the trees grow to 26
feet in diameter and tower 400
feet in the sky. Do you know
what those figures mean?I
Measure the room in which you
are now sitting. If it is a very
large room, the longest dimen-
sions would just about contain
one of these great trunks. Look
out of your window and see the
people more than a city block
away. That is the distance from
which one sees the topmost
bough of these stupendous gi-
ants.
The redwood of California is
the great tree of the Pacific coast.
Two thousand acres of it exist in
Oregon along the Chetco river.
South of the ChetcO a continuous
redwood belt begins ond increas-
es in width from ten miles at Del
Norte county to eighteen or tWen-
ty miles and keeps on unbrOken
to southern Humboldt county.
Here is a gap, but in Mendocino
the belt becomes dense again
and widens out the thirty-five
miles. South of that county the
tree grows in isolated patches.
The climate and topography of
northern California have brought
!. about this limited distribution.
North and south along the coast
in nearly parallel ridges lie the
mountains of the Coast Range,
, steep and rising to attitudes OF
1000 to 1000 feet. A few large
| rivers, the Smith, Klamath,
Mad, Eel, Russian and many
} smaller streams cut through then
: to enter the sea, and along their
= courses in places are broad bot
tom lands and gentle slopes.
( West of the Coast Range the
= climate is even and moderate
= with a temperature running
= from just below freezing II
y eighty degrees. Snow lies Oh
the top of only the highes
ridges. Thirty to sixty inche
a of rain falls in the autumn ant
: winter, and during the summe
t sea fog bathes the coast.
S But east of the mountains, les
e than fifty miles from the sea, Ii
j. hot interior valleys, never visite,
S by fog, parched and rainless il
n summer, and wet only occasion
d ally by the winter rains condi
d tiOns too unfavorable to permi
It the growth of redwood. 1t re
a quires very little from the so
e except that it be moist. 1t
il so dependent on moisture of tn
IS air that this factor mainly c
@ wholly determines its distribu
d ton and the eastern limits Of tn
r forests are determined by tn
:. distance inland to which sea fog
d may drift.
d There are two types of tn
It tree-that which grows on tn
1t hillsides, and the second, whic
1t grows on the flats along the riv
E. ers and streams. The usual tyr
:. is that of the slope; that is til
le growth found on the steep side
IF of the coast ranges, and side b
s. side with the redwood gro
other trees, such as red fir, tai
bark oak, white fir and MAJ
rY rome. AS the slopes becon
moderate, the altitude lower, tt
soil deeper the forest becom'
r denser, until on the rich flats ar
I'd in the gulches the second type
n developed. On the best redwot
Mt flats no other tree grows.
a On the slopes 225 feet is abo1
m the maximum length and te
in feet its greatest diameter, viii
4, on the flats, under better conc
e- tions, the tree grows to be 3
tn feet high with a..diameter of thir
Lr- feet, and occasionally giants e
e. ceed this. Most of the redwoo
n. are from 400 to 800 years ol
he The oldest tree scientifical
If measured was 1, 400 years. A
ey ter the tree has passed 500 yea
el, it usually begins to die down frC
1e the top. 1t has a straigE
50 slightly tapered trunk witho
of limbs for more than one hundr
.er feet and crown Of horizon
nd branches that may occupy
lie, third to half Of its lengt
ge The roots strike downward a
* sharp angle and are so large a
lie, so numerous that they form
at compact mass. The bark is o
reddish color, fbrous in teXtul
en- gives to the full grown a fiut
200 appearance and offers such a
We markable resistance to fire Il
to except under great heat it is I
yaS combustible. Insects do it lit