Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 37 



and the Government could have bought them then, it is said, for the 

 very reasonable sum of $86,000. However the owners may have 

 acquired title, it is only fair to say that they have made no attempt to 

 hold up the Government for an unreasonable price. As usual, however, 

 Congress did not see fit to act. There is nothing to prevent the destruc- 

 tion of these trees, should the owners choose to cut them down, except 

 the fact that there is no lumber road out of the park, and the Govern- 

 ment has thus far declined to grant a right of way. If the owners 

 chose to force their claim, however, it is extremely doubtful if the 

 Government's position could be legally upheld. 



The preservation of giant trees is a question for the people them- 

 selves. How much are these trees worth to them, not as lumber, but 

 as monuments, as wonderful and beautiful relics of a vanished age? 

 For they are relics and monuments the world has no other Sequoias. 

 They are either to be preserved or destroyed forever like the Pyramids 

 or the Parthenon. And although there are several groves, the number 

 of trees which, in comparison with the majestic pines and firs and 

 spruces round them, can properly be called "giant" trees is probably 

 not more than five hundred. 



Just what methods Government, State, and individuals should adopt 

 is rather beyond the purpose of this article, which merely undertakes 

 to explain what and where the giant trees are. To be sure, one can't 

 help thinking of California millionaires. Some^ef them have public 

 spirit and wish to do something for their country. Any man who saves 

 one of these groves, or even one giant tree for the people bestows a gift 

 which not only will do him honor during his lifetime, but will still be 

 standing,, as it is to-day, hundreds, possibly thousands, of years after 

 all the vain little human structures of our day have crumbled to pieces 

 or been pounded up into macadam streets. 



DREDGER MINING. 



Our laws are stupid, too, in regard to the dredger industry. They 

 allow capitalists to come into our fertile valleys, pay big prices for 

 fields, orchards, vineyards, and convert them into barren piles of rocks. 

 This makes a temporary prosperity. The owners of the soil get a lot of 

 money, work is plentiful, prices are good and the capitalist carries 

 away large profits, perhaps. But the brief prosperity passes away in 

 a few years and what of the land? It is no more! It would have 

 otherwise been producing food, supporting people and paying taxes for 

 four or five hundred years or four or five thousand but now it is gone. 

 It is a hideous desolation for all time to come. 



