The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-04
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, D. c.
TO SAVE THE REDwooDs.

TO SAVE THE REDWooDs.
San Francisco, Cal, Dec. l.
Save the Redwoods before it is too
late!" is now the popular cry in Cali
fornia. The whole state is up in arms
lover the wholesale destruction of these
oldest and rarest trees which is now
going on. If you are a loyal Califor-
nian-if you were born there, or if
/ v our loyalty is based merely on two
weeks visit which you have never been
able to forget, or let your friends for
get-join this "Save the Redwoods"
campaign, and send an angry protest
to your congressman.
| Whether you have been to Califor-
MIA or not. you have, heard of its red
woods, its monster trees. which are
Il the oldest living things in the world.
protected. In the Calaveras grove at
| Wawona, in the Sequoia National park
and General Grant National park, the
giant trees are safe for generations to
come. But the beautiful redwoods of
the coast, smaller of girth but taller
even than their Sierra cousins, are en-
tirely without protection.
Thru the heart OF some of the finest
groves of the coast redwoods, the state
| of California built its coast highway
one of the most glorious highways ever
conceived by man. For several miles
d..
way so old and stately that it makes
the motor achievements of the goth
century appear smart but insignificant.
Yet the very building of this road
which has made it possible for mo-
florists to visit the redwoods, has re-
suited in their destruction. For a good
road and motor trucks have made the
timber marketable, and the owners of
the trees have lost no time in convert
ing them into lumber.
Today everyone who travels over
! this highway is heartsick at the
thought of the certain ruin that awaits
the entire stand of redwoods unless
sufficient funds are raised to buy the
| timber lands along the road and turn
them into state or national park.
i Only Few Left.
| mot such a great deal is left to be
saved explained the secretary of the
/ Redwoods league, in discussing it's
campaign. ut is not such a great
task that faces us, and the mills are
working within a hundred feet of the
state highway, in the very heart of
one of the most beautiful remaining
groves. Signs along the road warn
the motoriSt to beware of falling trees.
There are only few miles of red
woods along the state highway, not
more than a dozen at most" he con-
tinued, hunting thru his desk for a
map that would show their exact To-
cation. you go along for some dis
lance on a beautiful road, shaded by
oak and pine trees. Then, all at once,
the road dips sharply into the shade
of tremendous trees that rise in
straight columns 800 feet or more in
the air. They are not like the clumsy
giants of the Sierras, but graceful and
beautifully proportional.
THE contrast between one of these
groves and the stretches of desolation
where the lumbermen have been at
work is terrible. The world must
woods must furnish their share, but
. there are thousands of redwoods else
where in the state that may be used
for this purpose. To destroy the red
; woods along the highway is simply a
monstrous piece of vandalism that it
will take ten centuries to make
amends for"
Perhaps it is the ancient treewor-
shipper in every man that makes him
love the redwoods. There seems to be
inspiring about them, as if, having
watched man for centuries. they had
nothing but pity left for him.
The sequoias at one time covered
almost the entire northern hemisphere,
according to scientists, who have I'M
earthed their fossil remains in Europe.
Siberia, Alaska and Canada. And OF
all this tremendous stretch of sequoia
; forest that once encircled the world,
, only the California redwoods of the
coast and the Sierras have survived.
Among the latter, protected in the
national forest, are $4,000 trees which
exteed 10 feet in diameter The Cen
eral Sherman tree, the most celebrated
| of all, is 279 feet high, with a diameter
of SO feet. The Abraham Lincoln is a
close second, being 270 feet tall with
} a diameter of 8 feet, and the William
Mckinley is POI feet tall, with a
diameter of 2S feet.
The Parks.
The General Grant National park
which is sometimes mistaken for the
Sequoia National park because it is
separated from it only by six miles OF
mountain and forest, was created
merely for the protection of one giant
sequoia, the General Grant tree, 264
, feet high and 35 feet in diameter Next
to General Grant is his distinguished
neighbor, George Washington, who is
only nine feet less in height and SIX
: feet less in diameter.
| It is a matter of record that 5000
fence posts, sufficient to build wire
fence around eight or nine thousand
= acres of land, were once made from
5 one of these giant trees, and that was
merely the first step in disposing OF
it's great carcass. Next, $4,000 shin
gles-enough to cover the roofs of Il
: or so houses-were taken from It's
trunk. This left hundreds of cords Of
firewood which had to remain where
it was because it was too expensive tC
I haul it down from the mountains.
Z With trees of minor but still tremen-
. dous capacity in their possession, the
owners of the redwood tracts alons
I the coast highway cannot be blamed
S for attempting to realize on the value
a of their timber lands. At present. &C
. cording to the secretary of the Red
woods League. much of the cuttint
has been held up by options secured IN
1919 for the price of $50, 200. Thi
money was provided by Humboldt
county in California, which contributed
t 5000, and by two private citizens
n William Kent and Stephen Mather wht
-. gave $4,000 each. Unfortunately
: hoWever the options will soon expirl