1899II Giant Sequoias 



But before starting we took an interesting side trip 

 into the Converse Basin. This forest depression An ir- 

 formerly bore a magnificent group of giant sequoias, ^^v^^"-^^^ 

 then being converted into thin boards for chalk '°^^ 

 boxes, and other petty articles — an ignominious 

 fate; as a matter of fact, however, the wood of the 

 Big Tree (pink in color) is brittle and easily marred, 

 qualities which injure its value for any important 

 service. 



The largest examples, twenty to forty feet in 

 diameter at the base, were so bulky they could 

 neither be sawed nor chopped down. They were 

 accordingly felled by dynamite exploded near the 

 root and by the same agency split up into irregular 

 chunks for the mill. In this species, as in the Coast 

 redwood, the central rings are coarse, indicating 

 rapid growth in youth, while the outer ones become 

 progressively thinner, the outermost exceedingly so 

 — a fact which testifies to an antiquity even greater Relics of 

 than had been commonly supposed before annual ''"^'?«''> 

 increments were counted. One of the very smallest 

 trees, a dozen feet through, had about 1920 rings in 

 all. The central six feet of its diameter was easily 

 found to include five hundred, so that it must have 

 been a sizable tree at the time of the Fall of Rome. 

 In another with a basal diameter of thirty-five feet, 

 and torn by dynamite into strips, the rings could 

 not be counted, but it is safe to say that it was 

 upward of 5cx)o years old. 



Leaving Millwood with a small pack-train led by 

 John Fox, a well-known guide, and accompanied 

 by the two men on foot, we started out over the 

 thirty-five miles of old trail, a short stretch of which 



C 649 3 



