Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-10
TREES OF NORTH CALIFORNIA
Giants Among the Redwoods OF the
state, How They Flourish
and Where.

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 con-
tlnuous redwoo belt begins and increases
In width from ten miles at Del Norte
county to eighteen or twenty miles and
keeps on unbroken to southern Humboldt
county. Here is a gap, but in Mendocino
the belt becomes dense again and widens
out to 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 2.0co 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 so
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
ffty miles from the sea, lie hot interior
valleys, never visited by fog. parched and
ra&nless In summer and wet only &C.
casionally by the winter rains-conditIons
TOO unfavorable to permit the growth of
redwood. 1t requires very little from the
soil except that It be moist. 1t Is so de-
pendent on moisture of the air that this
factor mainly ~ vvAxII. -.
distribution and the eastern limits of the
forests are determined by the distance in
land to which sea fogs may drift.
There are two types of the tree-tbat
which grows on the hillsides, and the sec
ond, which grows on the flats along the
rivers and streams. The usual tyne is
that Of the slope; that is the growth
found on the steep sides OF the coast
ranges. and side by side with the red
wood grow other trees, such AZ
mr. tan bark, oak, white fir and
madrone. As the slopes become moder-
ate' the altitude lower. the soil deeper, the
Forest becomes denser, until on the rich
RATS and in the gulches the second tvne
Is developed. On the best redwood flats
no other tree grows.
On the slopes 25 feet is about the max,.
mum length and ten feet its greatest dia
meter While on the flats, under better ron.
oiuons' the tree grows to be $50 feet
high with a diameter Of thirty feet. and
occasionally giants exceed this. Most OF
the redwoods are from 400 to 500 years old
Inc Oldest tree scientifically measured wa,
lNO years. After the tree has passed X,
years II usually begins to die down from
the Top IL has a straight slightly taperee
trunk without limbs for more than 100 fee
and a crown of horizontal branches tina
may occupy a third to a half of a.,
iensth' The roots strike downward at :
sharp angle and are so large and SO M.
merous that they form a compact mass
Inc park Is OF a reddish gray color. fib.
rous In texture, gives to the full GROW,
tree a fluted appearance and offers suct
a remarkable resistance to fire that ex.
eept under great heat it is not eombusti.
Die Insects do It little harm, the VIM
can scarcely uproot it and fungi seldom
attest it.-Humboldt Standard.