The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-02-18
The GIANT TRIES
OF CALIFORNIA
They Have Escaped the AK
Only Because of Their
lnaccessibility.

"How did it happen that any of the
Dig trees of California escaped the
AK Of the lumber men?' is a question
frequently asked by those who are
not familiar with the topography of
California. The question answcr it,
self when one has made a trip to the
giant forest in the Slerras.
Nature seems to have protected
many of these trees from slaughter by
providing q home for them in a noun
tain fortress. The big trees We're dis
covered by the lumber men when the
land on which they grew could be had
for a song under the homestead act
or the timber and stone act. but the
problem of transporting the timber to
the mill involved so great AN expendi-
ture that the lumbe companies hest
tated to tackle the job. Some of the
more audacious acquired ownership of
those tracts nearest the market and
expended large sums of money in the
construction of fumes. Ii has been q
paying investment. The Hume-Rennett
Lumber COMPANY purchased g tract
containing 800, 900, 900 feet OF standing
timber, about 800, 900. 900 feet of which
IS big trees. To float this timber to the
mill a f1ume more than so miles long
was constructed. But even this COM
pany did not have the hardwood to
make the expenditure that would be
necessary to cut n market the TIM
Der on the crest of the mountain.
Before the glacial period the sequoia
hourished in the temperate zones Of
Europe, Asia and America. The geol-
ogists say that when the ice receded
just two species. the big tree and red
wood. survived. Both grew IN Cali
fornia, the redwood in a narrow strip
of the coast ranges and the big trees
In small groves along the west slope
of h Sierra Nevada mountains.
There are but 10 main groups of big
trees. They are among the scarcest
of known tree species and have. the
extreme scientific value Of being the
best living representatives of a former
geologic age. The big tree mas come
down to us through the vicissitudes Of
man. centuries solely because of its
superb qualifications. says Il. w. Bra
hany in the Milwaukee Sentinel. Its
bark is often two feet thick and almost
felled are still at the heart, and
fungus is an enemy unknown to It.
Yet with all these means of mainten-
ance the big trees have not increased
their range since he glacial period.
They have only just managed to hold
their own on the little strip OF
try where the climate is locally favor
able. John Muir, the celebrated geolo-
gist, says he never saw a big tree that
had died a natural death. Barring ac-
cident, he says, they seem to be i'm
mortal. being exempt from all the dis
eases hat afflict and kill other trees.
Unless destroyed by man, they live o n
Indefinitely 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 4C
miles northwest Of Visalia. These trees
are scattered over the slopes n or
the valleys, but are larger in the de-
pressions where the soil is more moist
The trees are not collected together ir
groves but are scattered through the
forests and associated with sugar pine
fir and other species usually occurring
at this altitude. They are most abun.
dant at from 5000 to 1000 feet eleva-
ton above sea level.
In 1885 some enterprising men ir
California hit upon a scheme Whereby
numbering operations In the high Sier.
ras could be conducted prof1tably. The,
organized n profit-sharing societ,
known as the Kaweah colony. It hae
the germ OF the socalistic spirit, To-
each member contributed his pro rata
of money or labor to the cause. A co
operative store vas organized, a co
operative mill established, farm land
were apportioned and work was begun
on the construction of a road to tn,
mountain battlements where wer'
growing the grand old trees that hav,
stood since the days of Christ.
The Kaweah colony had a member
ship of 352, nearly every state in tn
union being represented. Several mem
! bers of the colony worked on the road