282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



ward. From near the mouth of Salinas River to the head of Carmelo Val- 

 ley, another long interruption is caused by a bituminous slate. The absence of 

 redwood in this long interval can hardly be ascribed to any other cause, for it 

 is known that Monterey and the adjacent regions are subject to heavier fogs 

 than Santa Cruz. Pinus insignis and Cupressus macrocarpa occupy here those 

 portions naturally belonging to the redwood and Tsuga Douglasii. Further 

 south, from the head of Carmelo Valley to San Luis Obispo, the most southern 

 limit, redwood occurs but sparingly, forming nowhere extensive groves. Asso- 

 ciated with the redwood we find Tsuga Douglasii, a tree of a wide range, 

 Torreya Californica, Arbutus Menziesii, Quercus densifiora, and in Mendocino 

 County Abies grandis Dougl. There are also some shrubs and herbaceous 

 plants truly characteristic to them, the shrubs increasing as underwood north- 

 ward, belong mostly to the Ericaceous family. It is a noteworthy fact that the 

 arborescent growth of the leeside of the first range of hills generally consists, 

 almost exclusively, of Tsuga Douglasii, and that this tree forms the outskirt 

 east and particularly westward. In Mendocino County Abies grandis unites 

 with it for the same cause ; there both trees form a dense belt, facing the ocean, 

 and are encroaching fast on the redwood. In fact, the western portion of those 

 redwoods show this encroachment most strikingly by a total absence of young 

 redwood, and a dense, almost impenetrable, undergrowth of the two-mentioned 

 species. The order of things is, however, reversed wherever the redwood has 

 been cut. Its roots are imperishable, and as soon as the tree is cut they sprout 

 and cover the soil rapidly to the exclusion of every other species — none being 

 of so rapid a growth. The indestructibility of the roots prevents the clearing 

 of such land; even large trunks cut down cover themselves, within two or three 

 years, so completely with sprouts that they are hardly seen. The entire after 

 growth now found on the Oakland hills, is owing solely to the indestructibility 

 of its roots and stumps. The tenacity of life in this species, which is rather of 

 rare occurrence in coniferous trees, shows itself also in the resistance it offers to 

 fire, so frequent in those woods. Trees that have been bereft completely of 

 their branches by fire, covered themselves in a few years entirely with young 

 sprouts, giving the trunks the appearance of a pillar, or remind one of those 

 old trunks covered with Rhus toxicodendron in the East. Fire is destructive to 

 the young trees only ; after they have obtained a thickness of two or three feet 

 they are not liable to perish. 



Another great beneficial feature in this species is the great power it possesses 

 in condensing fogs and mists. A heavy fog is always turned into a rain, wet- 

 ting the soil and supplying springs with water during the dry season. Springs 

 in and near the redwoods are never in want of a good supply of water, and 

 crops on the Coast Ranges are not liable to fail. The year of 1864 has proved 

 my assertion beyond doubt ; this fact is generally known — a great deal of 

 laud has been taken up since. It is my firm conviction that if the redwoods 

 are destroyed — -and they necessarily will be, if not protected by a wise action of 

 our Government — California will become a desert, in the true sense of the word. 

 In their safety depends the future welfare of the State ; they are our safeguard. 

 It remains to be seen whether we shall be benefited or not by the horrible 



