The sun., 1908-06-14
TREES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
The sequOia There Grows 400 Feet High
and 26 In Diameter.
From the Humboh Standard.

From the Hunboh Standard.
The sequoia here In Humboldt is the tallest
tree In the whole United States. But the
tourist from the East or West knows 1t not.
What would he say to the information that in
the northwest Of California grows a mighty
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 fats Of Humboldt is the
forest. and Of that forest the trees grow to
20 feet In diameter and tower 400 feet In tho
sky. Do you know what those figures meanf
Measure the roep in which you are now
sitting II It is very large room the longest
Dimensions would just about contain one OF
these great trunks. Look out OF your, window
and see the people more than city block
away. That is the distance from which one
secs tho topmost bough Of these stupendous
giants.
Tho 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 q continuous redwood
belt begins and increases In width from ten
miles at Del Norte county to eighteen or
twenty miles and keeps on unbroken to south
ern Humboldt county. Here is a gap. but in
Mendocino the belt becomes dense again
ana wiQeno OUT 70 ty-hNc hiioo. Coush
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
tho Coast Range. steep and rising to attitudes
Of 1, 900 to 1900 feet. A few large rivers, tho
Smith, Klamath Mad. EEL Russian and many
smaller streams cut through them to enter
ALI kat1 In
| broad bottom lands and gentle slopes.
West Of the Coast Range the climate Is even
| and moderate, with q 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.
neycr visited by fog, parched and rainlees
| IN summer and wet only occasionally by the
winter rains-conditions too unfavorable to
| permit the growth Of redwood. It requires
! very little from the soil except that It be
moist. It Is so dependent on moisture of the
air that this factor mainly or wholly deter
| mines It's distribution and the eastern limits
| of the forests are determined by the distance
| inland to which sea fogs may drift.
There are two types Of the tree-that which
| grows on the hiilsides. and the second. which
| grows on the fats along therivers and streams.
| The usual type is that Of the slope that Is the
\ growth found on the steep sides Of the coast
| ran ges, and side by side with the redwood
! grow other trees, such as red fir. tanbark
| oak, white FIR and madrone. As the slopes
become moderate. the altitude lower. the soil
deeper the forest becomes denser. until
| on the rich fats and In the gulches the second
type is developed. On the best redwood fats
no other tree grows.
On the slopes 225 feet Is about the maximum
len 9Th and ten feet It's greatest diameter. while
on the flats, under better conditions, the tree
grows to be $50 feet high with diameter OF
thirty feet, and occasionally giants exceed
this. Most OF the redwoods are from 400 to
800 years old. The oldest tree scientifically
measured was 400 years. After the tree has
passed 500 years It usually begins 10 die down
from the top. II has q straight, slightly
tapered trunk without limbs for more than
one hundred feet and q crown OF horizontal
branches that may occupy a third to half
OF it, length. The roots strike downward
at a sharp angle and are 30 large and so nu-
merous that they form compact mass. The
bark Is OF q reddish gray color. fibrous In
texture, gives to the full grown tree huted
appearance and offers such a remarkable
resistance TO fire that except under great
heat Il Is not combustible. Insects do II
little harm, the wind can scarcely uproot II
and fungi seldom affect IT,