The Republican journal., 1916-01-06
grade and we enter l "a n! L.. pt
reserve again. T. Ay
tourists who make }his at

establishment. These trees are the Sc
quota Gigantea, specie found only on
the Western Slope of the Sierra Nevadas
at an elevation of 1850 feet or more.
They grow from seed only and despite
their great size their cone is very small
close one, no larger than that of a small
fir, and their seed is short and thin as
paper, somewhat similar to parsnip
seed. They have no roots worthy of
mention, still they are the oldest living
things in the world.
The lower grove was reached first, and
there we saw the King of the Forest,
the Grizzly Giant, estimated 1000 years
old, standing 300 feet high and measur-
ing 1O4 feet around it's base. Its lowest
limb, 1875 feet from the ground is eight
feet in diameter. Figures give no con-
ception of the size of these trees, neither
can a photograph give any idea of them,
it is necessary for one to get some COM
parison of them with an object of we'll
known size. Will took a picture of a
part of the Fallen Monarch as l stood in
its root, and in order to distinguish me
at all in the finished print it is almost
necessary to take microscope. The
trees are beautiful reddish brown in
color. and look like enormous bronze
statues, while their soft, fbrous bark is
fluted in great folds from top to bottom.
We drove through the Lower Grove
of about two hundred redwoods, and
about a mile farther on entered the larger
Upper Grove. Here at log cabin of
ordinary size, though it looked tiny
by reason of its surroundings, we alight-
ed from the stages and wandered about,
some of us among the trees, some in the
curio store inside the cabin, and waited
for the drivers to get lunch. The tables
were set out of doors in the shade of the
redwoods, and more unique setting for
picnic could hardly be imagined. The
ground was covered deep with snow, but
this Was packed down so firmly that it
was easy to walk on the crust of it,
The air was so warm and balmy that
coats were unnecessary, and the tables
beautifully laden with food near the
picturesque little cabin in the shade of
the giant redwoods thousands of years
old, made a combination that will not
soon be forgotten.
Nearly all the trees have been named, |
some for Presidents and famous men |
and women, some for various States of
the Union. We noted with approval
that Maine was one of the finest and |
most symmetrical of the Grove. Two,
Wawona and California, have tunnels /
about ten feet square cut through their
trunks, and through these openings the
stages drive. The inside of many of |
the trees has been burned out to height
of about six feet or more this is due
perhaps to the explanation offered US
that the Indians burned them out for
shelter in time of storm. 1t NAV DOS
sibly be the true explanation, for there
is surely room enough inside one for a
Whole tribe of Indians to take refuge.
These trees are cousins of the smaller
Sequoia Sempervirens that we saw in
the Muir Grove near the coast. A visit
to them is something never to be for
gotten-the works of man seem very
small and insignificant in comparison
with these mighty works of Nature,
which have been in existence since his
tory began.
We returned to the hotel in time to
see the stages arriving from Yosemite,
and to greet among the newcomers our
friend Mr.. Stephenson of the Glacier
Point adventure. He had remained at
Y osemlte day longer than we, and had
his trip to Glacier Point, the
second time being favored with fair
W Gather. His account of his second ex-
,urslon made US regretful that our time
W ould not allow US to repeat it also.
Early next morning the stages, which
oy this time seemed like old friends to
is, again drove up to the hotel and we
set forth once more, this time for San
Francisco via MADEIRA. We bad thought
That we were accustomed to poor roads,
out the first sixteen miles until we reach
Cd the point where the auto stage could
meet US, were revelation in what mud
1y roads could be. Our four horses had
much difficulty in hauling seven people.
At one point we passed freight wagon
that had been stuck in the mud for a
week, despite the fact that it had been
pulled by ten horses. We found it hard
to imagine now ten-horse team could
be driven around the sharp curves of
the road. Lunch boxes were ready and
waiting for US at Miami Lodge, and we
ate en- route the hard-boiled eggs and
ham sandwiches that the hotel cooks
seem to love to infict on defenceless
1t took nearly five hours of steady
travel with ore stop for a change of
horses, to bring hs the sixteen miles to
the point where the auto stage awaited
US. The change to the auto, 60 h. ..
Thomas, was welcome one, although
for some thirty miles the roads were SO
poor that our driver could use second
snaad only We made stA n IF 70,