IN CALIFORNIA 157 



spared her gold mines but not the resources of the 

 redwood belt. " It is from this wood in conjunction 

 with that of the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga Doug- 

 lasii) the Oregon pine of the lumberman that the 

 timber bungalows which are so characteristic a fea- 

 ture of modern California, are constructed the 

 Douglas fir supplying the frame-work and much of 

 the interior finish, and the redwood being used for 

 the walls and such parts as touch the earth. The 

 redwood is exceedingly slow to rot, and posts of 

 this material sunk in the ground have been found 

 still good after a generation, although this extent of 

 durability is not to be depended upon in all cases. 

 The timber is remarkable for its straightness of 

 grain, and lightness of weight. Curiously enough, 

 its value for building was slow to be realized, and 

 the American pioneers, thinking the softness of the 

 wood made it unsuitable for building, not infre- 

 quently imported timber at great expense from the 

 East, bringing it around the Horn in sailing ves- 

 sels. The traveler of to-day in out-of-the-way 

 places in California, may still see houses of timber 

 which made this long voyage, more than half a cen- 

 tury ago. 



In matter of height the redwood in its best de- 

 velopment would appear to exceed any other of our 

 native trees, and specimens measuring 340 feet, ac- 



