Norwich bulletin., 1909-07-09

the magnitude Of these trees. Bishop
Kingsley Of the Methodist Episcopal
church visited the grove some years
ago, and in letter to the Christian
Advocate stated that he could not give
any idea of the trees, so he would IL
lustrate. A house of seven rooms could
be built upon the floor of the stump.
Out of the wood of the tree the house,
together with a barn, q woodshed and
legal fence (two posts and five
boards, six inches wide for every rod,
around farm of 100 acres, with two
cross fences, dividing it into four lots,
together with dooryard fence, could
be built, and then have left thirty
seven cords Of wood.
Formerly the grove could only be
reached by horseback. On one occa-
sion we circled the large tree and Ii
took seventeen horses, standing close
to the tree, head to tail, to surround
the tree. In the forest the tree, has
no foliage, except at the very top, and
most of the trees are broken off at the
top by the severe winter gales, but in
the open ground 1t has a conical shape.
| planted a Seeding in my l1wr and
after thirty-five years had to cut 1t
down. 1t was seventy feet in height
and a perfect cone in shape, ard was
four feet in diameter at the ground.
The rings in the, fiber correspond to
the number of years of it's growth. 1t
would be a great shame If those groves
were not saved by the government, as
there are only two or three left.
The Sequoia Sempervirens, or the
redwood groves, are found only in the
counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Mateo,
Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino, ex-
tending along the Pacific about $50
miles. A small reservation of the trees
has been made in Santa Cruz and Mar
IN H.
the Gigantea. They are from eight to
sixteen feet in diameter and from 300
to $50 feet high. They form one of the
largest sources of lumber in California.
The North Western railway pierces
these redwoods at many points.
Several years ago a party from Bos-
ton visiting San Francisco were de-
sirous of visiting the redwoods, and
the railroad people sent special train
carrying them to the camp. The party
consisted of about fifty gentlemen and
ladies. A luncheon was sent up In ad-
vance and one of the largest trees was
ordered cut so as to be thrown down
at their visitation. ] was asked to go
up with the company and show them
the grounds. After lunch we walked
down toward the trees that was being
sawed off. A scaffold was built about
six feet above the ground as the diam
eter of the tree was much less at this
point than at the ground. Four men,
two at either end of the saw, were
cutting the tree down and drove their
wedges in the cut behind the saw. One
of the men suggested that they mark
down the height of the tree and the
diameter and see how near they would
come to guessing theB distance. After
marking they read their estimates.
which ran from a diameter of three
feet to seven feet and a height of from
rs to $50 feet. They demanded that /
should guess, too, but told them mat
1t was no guesswork for me, that /
knew pretty nearly the height and
diameter of the tree. Well, they said,
mark it down; so 1 said twelve feet in
diameter and 325 feet high. We walk
ed down to the tree and I said to one
of the men: What is the length of
your saw" He said: Fourteen feet,
sir" They said they could throw the
tree in any direction by driving wedges
behind the saw. We indicated the po-
sition in which it was to fall and they
threw it there accordingly. When IL
was cut off it was twelve feet four
inches in diameter and the length was
327 feet beside the eight feet of stump.
1t took ladder quite sixteen feet high
to reach the top of the log Of the tree,
and / presume that every man and
lady of the company climbed the lad
der and walked along the trunk of the
tree. At 210 feet the top was broken
off and Ii was four feet two inches
where 1t was broken.
These great forests are rapidly being
consumed by the 1umbermen and it is
pity that the government does not
preserve some large tract of these in
teresting redwoods.
e. S. LrPPITT.
Petaluna Cal Univ 1aOQ