Imperial Valley press., 1918-08-13
\ NATURES DOMAIN;
GIANT REDWOOBS
HOLD \ CONCL\NE

California Redwood Park, August
are arriving at this state
park, called Jhc big Basin in lar
scr numbers his year than ever be-
fore. Lying only seventy miles south
OF San Francisco, it is a favorite rem
aezvous for automobjlists, and it is
estimated that in the five months
summer season more than $4,000 per
sons will have enjoyed the beauties
of this virgin forest of redwoods and
Douglas frs.
There are now l44 camping sites
equipped with piped water, tables,
benches and sanitary arrangements,
free to those who wish to occupy
them. The rush has been 50 great
this year that many more camps are
to be built in the "craters' of the
redwoods. The thousands of automo-
1ilists being driven into the park
carry tents, blankets, cooking appara-
tus, canned goods and other provis-
ions. There is an inn for those who
10 not care to camp.
The Big Basin" which was pur-
chased by the state in 1902, largely
shrough the efforts of Andrew 2.
Hill, an artist and president of the
Sempelvirens CLUB, is one of the most
beautiful of California; S forests of viz
yin redwood, Notwithstanding its
proximity to cities. 1t is being pre-
served in its native wildness except
FOR necessary roads and thirty-five
niles of trail. The $500 acres of fiji
y-two varieties of shrubs and trees
are at an elevation of only 1000 feet,
put are pocketed by heavily forested
edges of 1900 feet, giving ragged
ness like that of the high Sierras.
Vet the Big Basin is in the Coast
Range, and only eight miles in an
airline from the ocean.
Scientists have computed the age
u this forest as the oldest in the
orld, descending from the Pliocene
lGe. 1t was saved from the glaciers
that ovelspread North America, il is
thought, by warm currents in the
ocean. The Sequoia Gigantea os the
ierYa Navadas, although the lal gest
trees in the world, are believed to
.ave sprung from seed preserved in
the prehistoric je9, while the Sequoia
5o13pervireaa, tha ledwood5 Of the
species, escaped the DESTROYING ice.
Ther are q part Of ths redwood a-,
Thich extends from twenty miles
above the Oregon line to a short dis
ance below Monterey, Cal, and .Lou
ifty mics in land from the ocean
aaing found nowhere else
In the Big Basin are seen "c~a-crs"
p to fifty-fivo feet in diameter,
barking the places whore stood ,ua
'normous trees Of a past age. Tho
old trees having PASSED away their
roots have sprouJed to form gr.a.
.ircles of younger generation Of gi-
mt redwood. The tallest tree in ta.
grove today is The Mother,' which
overs 304 feet, tie greatest in tha
world. Before its top broke off it |
vas 32S feet high, Its diameter is /
Il feet, and it is thought to be more
han 5000 years old.
Fire has swept throught the forest
'orhaps hundred times, but the red
wood, is most difficult to kill. L. is
loW-burning, and when fclled inme-
lately sprouts from its roots in a
NP generation. The life of tree
Is close to its bark. In the Big
asin are hundreds of trees Scared
= fire, and it is possible to pass
2rough many that are perfectly
ealthy, l.
Through the forest, deer roam in Sc
'rity. One Of the sights is TO see
bert Weaver, assistant warden. call
'2m from the forest at nightfall. He
ocds them lettuce, barley and apples.
md It's said--whisper tits said,
Weaver also gives them the Jumps of
ugar allotted by the Food Admin
Jraton for his coffee. With hun
rc@2 of persons looking ON, the most
mid animals Of the forest munct ,
lcn feed, unafraid Of Weaver, but S
lelt for AN overt act of others. {