THE SEQUOIA FORESTS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA— 
THEIR LOCATION AND AREA.* 
With Plate VIII. 
By Frank J. WALKER. 
In the Standard Guide Book to the Pacific Coast, of a late issue, 
we read this statement: ‘‘ There are nine groves of big trees in Cali- 
fornia;’ and in the descriptive sketch following this remarkable 
statement, we find three of the nine groves mentioned as lying south 
of King’s River, vaguely described as: The King’s River grove, the 
grove in the basin of North Tule, and the grove in the basin of 
South Tule. There are in the localities named, as containing three, 
no less than seven distinct groves and forests of big trees, while in 
the enumeration given there is no mention whatever by the author 
of the several groves and forests of Middle Tule, Kern or Kaweah 
rivers, nor of the most southern grove, on Deer Creek; in short, the 
omissions comprise some twenty distinct Sequoia groves and for- 
ests, aggregating an erea of at least 25,000 acres. Few, indeed, of 
the inhabitants of Tulare County, where most of the forests are 
found, have any conception of the wide extent of their Sequoia 
possessions; probably not one person in five hundred knows of the 
existence even of big trees on the Kern River slope, and many would 
dispute the fact—a fact I have never seen referred to in print—and 
yet there are no less than 2,000 acres in that region, and some of it 
the most dense forest growth of Seguoia gigantea known to man: 
And so with other groves; many of them are to the general public oe 
_ practically unknown and unexplored. . 
_ The accompanying map is the first ever published with an ap- 
_ proximate showing of the area, location or existence even of what is 
by far the larger part of our Sequoia possessions. 
With reference to this map, it is my purpose in this paper to 
. briefly mention what may be termed the forests of Sequoia, and the 
_ neighboring groves; and in making the distinction between forests 
oe and groves, it will be necessary to draw a somewhat arbitrary line; 
< and for this purpose we will classify as forests all areas of 1,000 acres 
Oe 5 upwards, and all below that as groves. According to this dis- 
__ tinction we can safely assume that all forests of Sequoia gigantea 
> are to be found to the south of King’s River, and nearly all of them _ 
cae 
ae _ -*Read before the California Academy of Sciences, September 1 i660 
