Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-18
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TREES
SEQUOIAS 400 FEET TALL AND
20 FEET THICK.
Forest of the Giants Through Which
Man Might Travel for Days.
The Redwood Belt.

From the Humbolt 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 northwest of Cali
fornia grows a mighty continuous forest
of these great trees and that II 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 Chi
cago 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 twenty-six feet in diameter and
tower 400 feet in the sky. Do you know
what those figures mean? Measure the
room in which you are now sitting. III IL
is very large room the longest dfmen-
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 giants.
The redwood of California is the great
tree of the Pacific coast. Two thousand
acres of ii exist in Oregon along the
Chetco river South of the Chetco
continuous redwood belt begins and in
creases in width from ten miles at Del
Norte county to eighteen or twenty miles
boldt county. Here is gap. but in Men
docino the belt becomes dense again and
Widens out to thirty-five miles. South
of that county the tree grows in isolated
patches.
The Matter of Climate.
The climate and topography of northern
California have brought about this limited
dist ribution. 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 1900 feet.
a few large rivers-the Smith, klamath.
Mad Eel, Russian-and many smaller
streams cut through them to enter the
sea. and along their courses in places are
broad bottom lands and gentle slopes.
West of the Coast range the climate is
even and moderate. with a temperature
| running from just below freezing TO eighty
| degrees. Snow lies on the tops of only
the highest ridges. Thirty to sixty inches
| of rain falls in the autumn and winter
| and during the summer sea fog bathes
the coast.
But east of the mountains. less than
| fifty miles from the sea, lie hot interior
| valleys. never visited by fog. parched and
| rainless in summer and wet only occa-
| sionally by the winter rains-conditions
/ too unfavorable to permit the growth OF
redwood. 1t requires very little from the
| soil except that 1t be moist. 1t Is so de-
|
| factor mainly or wholly determines Its
| distribution, and the eastern limits of the
| forests are determined by the distance in
land to which sea fogs may drift.
| Tree of Hills and Flats.
There are two types of the tree-thai
which grows on the hillsides. and the
| second, which grows on the flats along
| the rivers and streams. The usual type
| ia that of the slope-that is, the growth
found on the steep sides of the coast
ranges-and side by side with the redwood
| grow other trees, such a red mr.. tan
| bark oak. white fir and madrone. AS the
| slopes become moderate. the altitude
| lower the soil deeper. the forest becomes
| denSer, until on the rich flats and In the
gulches the second type is developed. Or
! the best redwood fats no other tree
| grows.
| On the slopes ODD feet is about the maxi
mum length and ten feet its greatest oil
| ameter, while on the fats. under better
conditions. the tree grows to be 800 zee,
| high, with diameter of thirty feet, ano
| occasionally giants exceed this. Most OF
| the redwoods are from 400 to 500 years
old The oldest tree scientifically meas
| ured was ] 400 years. After the tree has
passed 500 years it usually begins to die
| slightly tapered trunk without limbs foi
more than 100 feet and crown OF hori-
| zontal branches that may occupy third
| to a half of its length. The roots strike
downward at a sharp angle. and are sc
| large and so numerous that they form
| COMPACT mass The bark is of a reddish
| gray color. fibrous in texture. gives t6
| the full-groWn tree f1uted appearance
and offers such a remarkable resistance &c
| fire that except under great neat. IL !:
not combustble. Insects do 1t little harm
the wind can scarcely uproot it and flung
| seldom affect 1t.