The sun., 1908-08-23
Why The REDWOODS SURVIVE
NATURE THROWS ABOUT THEM
HER OWN PROTECTION.
II Man Could Have Marketed Them at
Cost Not Pronibitive These Relics
OF a Pre-Giaciai Epoch would Have
ID. 4 xaIaillaHtnan,l Axe.

II
Cost Not Ptonibitive These Relies
OF q Pre-Giaciai Epoch would Have
Fallen Before the Lumberman's Axe.
sHow did 1t happen that any Of the big
| trees OF California escaped the axe OF the
| lumberman?" is q question frequently
| asked by those who are not familiar with
| the topography OF California The aues-
ton answers itself when one has made
/ trip to the giant forest in the Sierras.
Nature seems to have protected many OF
these trees from slaughter by providing q
| home for them In a mountain fortress.
| The big trees were discovered by the lum-
bermen when the land on which they grew
could be had for song under the home
stead act or the timber and stone act, but
the problem OF transporting the timber to
| the mill involved 80 great an expenditure
| that the lumber companies hesitated to
| tackle the job. Some OF the more audacioua
acquired ownership Of those tracts nearest
the market and expended large sums OF
money In the construction OF fumes. 1t has
been paying investment. The Hume
Bennett Lumber Company purchased
tract containing zoe. 900 900 feet OF standing
| timber, about 300, 100000 fect OF which y ls
| big trees. To float this timber to the mill
fume more than fifty miles long was
constructed But even this company did
not have the hardihood to make the expen.
diture that would be necessary to cut ana
market the timber on the crest OF the noun
tain range.
Before the glacial period the seauoia
fourished In the temperate zones OF Eu-
rope, Asia and America. The BIOLOGISTS
say that when the ioe receded just two
species, the big tree and redwood. survived.
Both grew in California, the redwood IN
afy y-it, pf tho n0aat and tl6
big tree In small groves along the west
slope Of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
There are but ten main groups OF Dig
trees They are among the soarcest OF
scientific value OF being the best living
representatives Of former geologic age.
The big tree has come down to US through
the vicissitudes OF many centuries solely
because OF its superb qualifications, says
T. W. Brahany in the Milwaukee Sentinel
Its bark IL often two feet thick and almost
noncombustible The Oldest specimens
felled are still sound at the heart. and fungus
is an enemy unknown to It,
Yet with all these means OF maintenance
since the glacial period They have only
just managed TO hold their own on the
little strip Of country where the climate
Is locally favorable. John Muir. the cele-
brated geologist. says he never saw big
tree that had died a natural death. Bar
ring accidents. he says. they seem to be
immortal being exempt from all the dis
eases that affiict and kill other trees. Un-
less destroyed by man they live on in
definitely until burned smashed by lightning
or cast down by storms or by the giving
away Of the ground on which they stand.
The largest belt of big trees Is in the
Sierras In Tulare county, some forty miles
northwest Of visalia. These trees are scat
tered over the slopes and on the valleys,
but are larger In the depressions where the
soil is more moist. The trees are not col
lected together In groves but are scattered
through the forests and associated with
su gar pine. fir and other species usually
occurring at this altitude. They are most
abundant at from 5000 to 1000 feet eleva-
ton above sea level.
In 1885 some enterprising men In Cali
fornia hit upon scheme whereby lumber
ing operations In the high Sierras could be
conducted profitably. They organized q
colony. 1t had the germ Of the socialistic
spirit, for each member contributed his
pro rata OF money or labor the the cause.
cooperative store was organized, CO.
operative mill established, farm lands were
apportioned and work was begun on the
construction of a. road to the mountain
battlements where were growing the grand
old trees that have stood since the days
Of Christ.
The Kaweah colony had a membership
Of S52. nearly every State in the Union being
represented. Several members Of the col
ony worked on the road and fully two
thirds Of splendid wagon way up the steep
slopes had been completed when. without
warming, Congress exploded a bombshell
that scattered the industrious Kaweahans