The Yale expositor., 1909-12-24

ed cavalrymen have been posed for
their photographs upon the fallen bole
at one time. A similar fallen tree is
seen in the Upper grove, with fight
of 10 steps leading from the ground
to its upper surface. Two great
trees, known as the California" and
the "Wawona," have roadways cut
through them, ten feet square,
through which the stages are driven.
This serves well to give visitors to
the grove an adequate idea of the ire
mendous size of the trees.
Nearly all the Big trees in the Mari
posa grove bear black scars of the
forest fires of past years. The "Tele-
scope Tree" has been burned to
mere shell. so that one can stand in
the hollow trunk and look upward to
daylight among the branches. 200
feet from the ground. Two young cav
alrymen, now stationed in the grove
to prevent vandalism, have built for
themselves a camp that is unique
among military camps the world over.
Their horses are stabbed in the trunk
of a forest patriarch that has been
followed out by fire; and their tent
Is pitched in the shadow of the slo4
ping bole of giant tree, broken some
distance from the ground, and still
resting upon the stump from which it
was severed To particularize the 9TH
er notable trees in the grove would
be wearisome.
John Muir has pronounced the Big
Trees of California Natures forest
masterpieces-the greatest of living
things. One does not appreciate their
greatness until he has walked around
them. measured theiD girth, lain down
on the ground and allowed the eye to
travel slowly and comprehendingly up
the imperceptibly tapering trunks.
Then he is ready 90 take off his hat
to these green but venerable relics
OF the youth of the world. Prof. Da.
, vid Starr Jordan believes that some of
them are 5000 years old They ante
date the oldest civilization of which
the archaeologist finds any trace.
They were forest giants before Moses.
or Confucius, or Buddha, or any 9TH
er maker OF laws or of religion, whose
name history records, was born. They
were "old" before Christ walked the
earth; and reared their tall crowns
in majesty toward the skies centuries
before Troy fell, or the pyramids
were builded. or the foundations of
Babel were laid Who can say how
many more ephemeral civilizations
religions and social systems they will
survive? Barring accident and catas
trophe, they appear to be immortal
There is no evidence that they ever
die OF disease, decay or old age. Some
OF them are dead at the top-but thew
were blasted by lightning, and the
trunks are still as sound as ever
Many have been tunneled by fire hi.
f, even this appears not to have affected
,, their vitality. Repeated forest fires
may burn them to the ground. and q
succession of thunderbolts may per
manently blast or hopelessly shattey
them; or they may be undermined by
Hoods or blown down by terrific
storms. But death appears to be as un.
natural for them as II is inevitable 10
all things else that have life.
The Big Trees belong to genus
that is now represented by two spe
cies-the Sequoia Sempervirens of the
Coast range and the sequoia Gigantea
OF the Sierra Nevadas. The former is
the redwood of commerce. II is OF
much more rapid growth than the re
lated species OF the Sierras. but BY
no means so long lived. nor does u
grow to so great size.