New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-02-28
GIANT TREES SAVED.
Famous Calaueras Sequoias to Form
q National Forest.
[From The Tribune Bureau.l

and the famous grove of giants will be pre-
served for posterity Although Senator Perkins
and Representative Smith, of California. were
the chief legislative actors in saving the big
trees. Congress was a unit in the desire to
arrest the hand of the lumberman before It
reached the CalaYeras grove. Scientific bodies
without number had passed resolutions; govern
ment officials had reported again and again the
urgent necessity of doing something quickly"
and newspapers from end to end of the country
had printed in their news and editorial columns
for years the facts in the case.
So the signing of the bill by the President
was, in reality, the proper outcome of ma
tionaI crusade-One might almost say an inter-
national campaign. The trees are the largest
living things on earth If they are destroyed
Secretary Wilson of the Department of Agri-
culture said. mo skill expense could bring
similar wonders Of creation into existence with
In time represented by the known history OF
the world" They are the last OF their kind and.
long before the seedlings of their race, which
now surround them, can attain to their pro-
portions, the very civilization which rep
resent may have crumbled to dust
To create a national forest paper is one
thing, and to make it a reality is another. Be
fore the government come into its own and
lay valid claim to these great trees of the
sequoia grove the present owners of the prop
erty must be diSpOSsessed and recOmpensed-
peacefully and pleasantly if possible. of course,
but deprived of possession in some manner,
any way. It is not believed at all probable that
the owners of the Calaveras groves will inter-
pose any obstacles in the governments path
The market value of the land upon which the
trees stand, the value of the trees themselves,
and the value of the tract a natural curiosity,
have all been taken into consideration and care
fully computed Robert Whiteside owns nearly
all the land and the trees that the government
wishes to obtain. and will therefore receive most
of the money that the national Treasury will
disburse in making the purchase.
The total value placed by the government eX-
perts upon the groves is $2l1166. OF this
amount $179,S72 is for the south grove, s30,417
for the north grove and SS75 for the clearing in
the north grove. The computers estimate the
total number of BOARD fe4sr" in the big trees
to be 19755,335. which, the appraised value
of 50 per 1000 would come to $39,511 The
sugar pines, not so large the sequoias, are
more numerous in the groves and will total no
less than 100000 board feet OF yellow pine
there are 1864 900 board feet or about as many
as the big trees" will cut: and of white fir
more than 350OO.OOO. Incense cedar. the only
other tree found in the groves. will measure
about 100000 feet
Louis Agassiz" the largest of the sequOias
now standing. is estimated to contain 1241G
board feet; 'Old Goliath" the largest of the
fallen monarchs in the south grove. has prob
able volume Of 127 S92 feet, and Mother of the
Forest" the largest standing tree in the north
grove is estimated to contain 1869 feet Tha
bark of these trees will average two feet in
thickness
1t is almost impossible 20 give an impression
Of the age and dimensions Of these monuments
OF prehistoric times. The big sequOias are
looked upon as the most closely connected Of
living things with the prc-gIaciaI period. The
tree grew as far north the present Arctic
regions before the ice cap swept down over the
world and shaved off so much of its life. There
remained after this visitation some seedlings on
the westerly slopes of the Sierra Nevadas. and
they have continued to grow there until this
dav They are found In about dozen groves
scattered through a range of 80 miles between
Placer and Tulare counties, Cal The best
known and most interesting Of these groves are
those known as the Mariposa and the Calaveras.
The former is one of the wonders of the YoSeln-
tie region, and contains something like five
hundred seduoias Of which about one hundred
are reckoned big trees. This grove has been pro-
tected by California.
The Calaveras group contains the best big
trees There are ASH of these in the new res
ervation. of which S9S are more than three feet
in diameter and about one hundred of large size.
The taIlest specimen is perhaps 30 feet in
height Lying on the ground the fragments
Of Father of the Forest" This tree broke in
tod hat nd hGFg ~