Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-01-28

Having Seen Thirty Centuries.
The Sequoia National park is twenty
four years old, yet east of the Rockies
II is scarcely known. Yellowstone and
Yosemite are the only. two names
which the enormous majority of east
erners think of when national parks
are mentioned. Nevertheless Sequoia
is perhaps, in point of average beauty,
the superior of all. 1t vas dear to the
heart of John Muir, father of national
parks, and Chief Geographer r. B.
Marshall, who knows them all as no
other man knows them, having sur
yeyed 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
its 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
park contains three groves of these
giants, the two others being the MERGED
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 1,166,OOO.
OF these 1900 exceed ten feet in di.
ameter. The General Sherman tree.
most celebrated of all. is POO feet
high, with a diameter of 36.5 feet. The
Abraham Lincoln tree is 27O feet high
with a diameter of 81 feet. The Viii
liam Mckinley tree is POI feet high.
with a diameter of % 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. II
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 thirty-iye feet in diane,
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, suffi-
Gent 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 firewood. 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 IA devastat
ing fire.
Huge as the %sequoias are. their siZ.
is scarcely so wonderful as their age,
A tree that has lived 500 years is still
in it's early youth. II that has round
ed out 1000 summers and winters is
only in full maturity, and old age. the
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 l have counted the
rings Of seventy-nine that were over
1000 years of age, of three that were
over 5000 and Of n that was $780,"
The sequoias are found scattered all
over the park, which has an area of
1857 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, Astounding
in splendid streams, noble valleys,
striking ridges and towering noun
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 the wonderful valley of
the Kings river. with it's spectacular
canyon and picturesque mountains,
While directly on the east, over the
great western divide, is a region noted
Tor its beauty. Mount Whitney, on its
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