486 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



time operations. Agriculture is al- 

 ready successful in the Tanana Valley, 

 and in the long run there will be a per- 

 manent farming population there, possi- 

 bly within two decades. 



Everything points to the need of 

 holding on to the Federal Forests, and 

 to the further need of securing such 

 forests in the interior, though the task 

 of administration is difficult and ex- 

 pensive because of the great fire danger. 

 Now the development of Alaska is to be 

 assured on right lines. The coal leas- 

 ing bill now being considered will mean 

 further development of the territory in 

 the right way. 



Those who have the best interests of 

 the territory at heart will wish to see 

 the Government program go through, 

 as to railroads, forests, coal, and other 

 resources. It already begins to look 

 as if in our newest land we will put into 

 effect a wise system of public owner- 

 ship or control, and that the nation has 

 learned a lesson from the profligacy 

 which marked the disposal of most of 

 the resources of our great West. Who 

 can say that Alaska's development will 

 not mark the wisest use the nation has 

 yet made of the people's resources. 



THE WORLD'S OLDEST TREE 



WHAT is, with good reason, 

 claimed to be the oldest tree 

 in the world may now be 

 seen at Los Angeles, Cal., 

 having recently been unearthed from 

 the fossil beds at Rancho La Brea, Cali- 

 fornia, together with bones of the sabre 

 toothed tiger, the giant ground sloth, 

 the dirus wolf, and other animals of the 

 distant Tertiary period. How old the 

 tree is scientists can but estimate, but 

 there is little doubt that it is fully one 

 hundred thousand years since it was 

 buried and preserved in so wondrous a 

 fashion that it is in existence today. 



The tree was found by men working 

 in the pits under the direction of Prof. 

 PVank S. Daggett, director of the Mu- 

 seum of History, Science and Art, at 

 Exposition Park, Los Angeles. Prof, 

 Daggett in the California Outlook de- 

 scribes the excavations and the discov- 

 ery of the tree. He says : 



"As the diiTerent pits were opened 

 and bones exposed to view, interest left 

 the field as a whole and centered on these 

 little spots. As unusual finds began to 

 show up these pits began to be desig- 

 nated by some descriptive name. For 

 instance, Pit 3 soon became known as 

 the 'Tree Pit' owing to the discovery of 

 a fine specimen of tree in it. This find 



soon became well known and was 

 watched by scores of local scientists 

 with great interest. It was an educa- 

 tion, or otherwise, to listen to the 

 learned discussions carried on as the 

 men slowly exposed the tree from day 

 to day by the removal of the surround- 

 ing asphalt packed bones. 



About three feet from the surface a 

 strata of fossil bones was encountered. 

 Owing to several gas vents water had 

 been admitted to the mass and the bones 

 were too soft to be saved. Beneath this 

 layer, after passing through a couple of 

 feet of clay, the men came upon a more 

 or less worm-eaten stub. As the bones 

 were removed from the bottom of the 

 pit more of the tree was constantly ex- 

 posed. One day a magnificent skull of 

 a mastodon was taken out, followed by 

 that of a camel. Sabre-toothed tigers 

 and wolves came with such frequency 

 as to cause no comment. Not so, how- 

 ever, when a skull of a lion of the Afri- 

 can type, of monstrous size, came to 

 view. This was found crowded closely 

 beneath a big fork of the tree. 



"Now we began to feel sure that this 

 'tree' was no drifting log end uj) in a 

 vent. Great caution was taken to save 

 and note every detail which might have 

 a bearing on its occurrence. Fragments 



