The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-12-31
our GIANT TREES
Over a Million Monster SeuuoiaS
In One National Park.
THE OLDEST LIVING THINGS.

Mighty Monarchs of the Forest Some
Having Seen Thirty Centuries.
The Sequoia National park is twenty
| four years old, yet east of the Rockies
1t is scarcely known. Yellowstone and
Yosemite are the only two names
which the enormous majority of east
erlers think of when national parks |
are mentioned Nevertheless Sequoia |
is perhaps, in point of average beauty. |
| the superior Of all 1t was dear to the |
heart of John Muir, father of national |
parks, and Chief Geographer r. 3. |
Marshall, who knows them all as no |
| other man knows them, having sur
veyed or traversed them In person, has |
declared in print that it possesses beau
| ty as great as all others combined
Perhaps the most potent reason for
| it's lack of celebrity is that this is the |
| big tree park, and the general public |
| associates the big trees of California |
with Yosemite. The Mariposa grove, |
within easy reach of the Yosemite val |
ley, contains several enormous sequoia |
trees. In fact, the Yosemite National !
| giants, the two others being the Merced |
and Tuolumne groves, which lie with
in easy reach TO the northwest.
The Sequoia National park, however, |
which lies many miles south of Yose- |
mite, was created to preserve, for the |
| use and pleasure of the people of the |
| United States, by far the greatest |
| groves of the oldest, the biggest and |
| the most remarkable trees living in |
this world. They number 1,1G6,0O0 |
OF these 1900 exceed ten feet in di- |
ameter. The General Sherman tree, !
most celebrated of all, is 2799 feet |
| high, with diameter of 36.5 feet The |
Abraham Lincoln tree is 270 feet high, |
with a diameter of 81 feet The Viii !
liam Mckinley tree is 291 feet high, |
with diameter of 2S feet
The General Grant National park is |
usually mentioned with Sequoia be-
cause, though separated by six miles
of mountain and forest, the two are |
practically the same national park. 1t |
contains only 2,536 acres and was Gre
ated only for the protection Of the Gen
eral Grant tree. a monster sequoia 264 |
| feet high and thlrty-fve feet In dame |
| ter. But General Grant shares his do |
main with distinguished neighbors, |
notably the George Washington tree,
which is only nine feet less in height |
and six feet less in diameter.
The sequoias are the oldest living |
things in this world "They are the |
connecting link" writes Ellsworth |
Huntington, between the ancient east |
and the modern west
'"Three thousand fenceposts, sufi-
cient to support a wire fence around |
| 5000 or 5000 acres, have been made |
from one of these giants. and that was
only the first step toward using its |
huge carcass. Six hundred and fifty |
thousand shingles, enough to cover the |
roofs Of seventy or eighty houses, |
formed the second item of its product |
Finally, there still remained hundreds |
Of cords Of tirewood. which no one
could use because of the prohibitive |
| expense of hauling the wood out Of |
the mountains. The upper third of the |
trunk and all the branches lie on the |
ground where they fell, not visibly rot |
ting, for the wood is wonderfully en-
during, but simply waiting till some
foolish camper shall light a devastat- |
ing fire.
Huge as the sequoias are, their size |
is scarcely so wonderful as their age. |
A tree that has lived 500 years is still |
in its early youth, one that has round |
ed out 1000 summers and winters is |
Iv- IN, f,1t1 al III fba
! threescore years and ten of the Sc
| quotas, does not come for seventeen or |
eighteen centuries
How old the oldest trees may be is /
not yet certain, but | have counted the |
rings of seventy that were over |
1000 years of age, of three that were
over 5000 and of one that was 3, $50" |
The sequoias are found scattered all
over the park, which has an area of /
161, ,597 acres, but the greater trees are
gathered in thirteen groups of many |
acres each. where they grow close to-
gether.
The general country is one of the
most beautiful in America, abounding |
in splendid streams, noble valleys, |
slClhIuS IluSeS anu towering IuOuu- /
tains. Some Of the best trout fishing !
in the world is found here The park |
is the home Of the celebrated golden |
trout, which is found nowhere else in |
| such perfection of color.
In laying out the boundaries of Sc
quota National park some Of the most |
superb of American scenic country |
was unaccountably omitted. Just to |
the north lies He wonderful valley of |
the Kings river, with its spectacular |
canyon and picturesque mountains, |
while directly on the east. over the |
great western divide. is a region noted |
for its beauty. Mount Whitney, on its |
east bank, is the loftiest mountain in
the United States. These two districts |
are easily reached from the national |
park, of which they are in effect, |
though not in administration and pro-
lection, a natural part. Geographical |
Survey Bulletin.
In matters of repartee word at the