180 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA 



northern limit being near the thirty-ninth parallel, 

 the southern a little below the thirty-sixth, and the 

 elevation of the belt above the sea varies from about 

 5000 to 8000 feet. From the American Eiver grove 

 to the forest on King's Eiver the species occurs only 

 in small isolated groups so sparsely distributed 

 along the belt that three of the gaps in it are from 

 forty to sixty miles wide. But from King's River 

 southward the Sequoia is not restricted to mere 

 groves, but extends across the broad rugged basins 

 of the Kaweah and Tule rivers in noble forests, a 

 distance of nearly seventy miles, the continuity of 

 this part of the belt being broken only by deep 

 canons. The Fresno, the largest of the northern 

 groves, occupies an area of three or four square 

 miles, a short distance to the southward of the fa 

 mous Mariposa Grove. Along the beveled rim of 

 the canon of the south fork of King's River there is 

 a majestic forest of Sequoia about six miles long 

 by two wide. This is the northernmost assemblage 

 of Big Trees that may fairly be called a forest. 

 Descending the precipitous divide between the 

 King's River and Kaweah you enter the grand for 

 ests that form the main continuous portion of the 

 belt. Advancing southward the giants become 

 more and more irrepressibly exuberant, heaving 

 their massive crowns into the sky from every ridge 

 and slope, and waving onward in graceful com 

 pliance with the complicated topography of the re 

 gion. The finest of the Kaweah section of the belt 

 is on the broad ridge between Marble Creek and the 

 middle fork, and extends from the granite head 

 lands overlooking the hot plains to within a few 



