HISTOEICAL NOTES ON SOME CALIFORNIAN TREES. 65 



Newberry, of one of the Pacific Railway exploring expedi- 

 tions, writes of a similar district as follows: "This timber 

 belt is composed of the most magnificent oak I have ever 

 seen." Comparing the groves of them with eastern oak for- 

 ests he says: "They are not crowded as in our forests, but 

 grow scattered about singly, or in groups, with open grass cov- 

 ered glades between them. The trunks, often seven feet in 

 diameter, soon divide into branches which spread over an area 

 of which the diameter is greater than the height of the tree.'^ 



The largest Californian oak tree of which any kind of rec- 

 ord has been made, was doubtless of this species, and gave 

 the name of Big Oak Flat to a mining camp in Tuolumne 

 County at an early day. The trunk of this is said to have 

 been eleven feet in diameter; but this giant was destroyed by 

 the miners, to make firewood. 



Inasmuch as the wood of white oak in general is of world- 

 wide celebrity for its hardness and durability, it is much to 

 be desired that some of our botanists should take in hand 

 * some researches into the merits of our Californian species 

 from an economic standpoint. According to Vancouver a 

 hundred years ago, the timber of Q. Idbata^ to repeat his 

 words, '' is reputed to be equal in quality to any produced in 

 Europe." One must doubt if, as early as 1792, this oak had 

 fairly earned such reputation. It does not seem likely that 

 any fair tests had so early been given it. And, whether to 

 this day, any such article as Californian white oak lumber, is 

 made use of by the manufacturers of wagons, machinery, or 

 household furniture, I doubi I am under an impression 

 that all such woods in use here are imported from the 

 Atlantic side of the Continent; but there is room at this 

 point, as I have just hinted, for an investigation to be made 

 by some zealous student of our trees. 



Later writers have attributed to even this fairest of our 

 native oaks, a poor quality of wood; but upon what kind of 

 tests — if any have been made — I know not. 



But, as subserving one need of the aboriginal inhabitants 

 of California, this species of oak was perhaps the most 



