198 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOKNIA 



quoia, with, the twelve fossil species already discov 

 ered and described by Heer and Lesquereux, some 

 of which seem to have flourished over vast areas in 

 the Arctic regions and in Europe and our own ter 

 ritories, during tertiary and cretaceous times, then 

 indeed it becomes plain that our two surviving 

 species, restricted to narrow belts within the limits 

 of California, are mere remnants of the genus, both 

 as to species and individuals, and that they prob 

 ably are verging to extinction. But the verge of a 

 period beginning in cretaceous times may have a 

 breadth of tens of thousands of years, not to men 

 tion the possible existence of conditions calculated 

 to multiply and reextend both species and individ 

 uals. Tkis, however, is a branch of the question 

 into which I do not now purpose to enter. 



In studying the fate of our forest king, we have 

 thus far considered the action of purely natural 

 causes only; but, unfortunately, man is in the 

 woods, and waste and pure destruction are making 

 rapid headway. If the importance of forests were 

 at all understood, even from an economic stand 

 point, their preservation would call forth the most 

 watchful attention of government. Only of late 

 years by means of forest reservations has the simp 

 lest groundwork for available legislation been laid, 

 while in many of the finest groves every species of 

 destruction is still moving on with accelerated 

 speed. 



In the course of my explorations I found no 

 fewer than five mills located on or near the lower 

 edge of the Sequoia belt, all of which were cut 

 ting considerable quantities of Big Tree lumber. 



