34 DUDLEY MEMORIAL VOLUME 



The forests of the Sierra Nevada in October are not dissimilar in aspect 

 to those of the Appalachian mountain ranges. Yellowing oaks lighten 

 the somber conifers, and crimson dogwoods lend an aspect of brilliancy 

 to the forest, unknown to the camper beneath its shade in summer. Even 

 Sequoia exhibits a warm golden tint, due to a thousand small yellow branch- 

 lets which are maturing preparatory to the annual natural pruning of the 

 species. It was a pleasure to incidentally note these forest charms when 

 in October, 1900, I made my way into the lumber camp belonging to the 

 Sanger Lumber Company in the Converse Basin near the Kings River. 

 This mill is probably the largest in capacity of any along the forested 

 slopes of the Sierra Nevada. During the previous month of August it 

 cut 200,000 feet of lumber a day, or considerably above 5,000,000 feet for 

 that month. The records for the other working months of 1900 fell some- 

 what short of this amount, but an enormous quantity was flumed for forty 

 miles down to the railroad at Sanger, in the San Joaquin Valley, 6,000 feet 

 below the mill. While some of this was pine and fir, the greater proportion 

 was made from the giant trunks of the California Big Tree. Had a measur- 

 ably large amount of these trunks been utilized for lumber the cutting might 

 have been justified from the lumberman's point of view; but frequently 

 one-half to even three-fourths or seven-eighths of the great trunks were 

 broken and rent beyond use in falling. Not anywhere in the world is there 

 such wasteful lumbering, and this is a species that above all trees, should 

 be saved from the lumberman! 



The Converse Basin, before its deforestation for its forests have now 

 been entirely leveled presented for observation and study the best develop- 

 ment of this rare coniferous species that existed. The trees were large and 

 continuous in area, and this high mountain "basin," like all others on the 

 slopes of the Sierras containing Sequoias, is watered by small brooks of 

 sparkling spring water. Here, too, the streams soon plunge by cataracts 

 into the profound gorge of the Kings River, thus ensuring excellent drain- 

 age and good conditions for growth; and here a brief visit in the summer 

 before had shown me the great number of cut trees with logs and stumps 

 remaining, which gave an unrivaled opportunity to continue certain ob- 

 servations already begun. My object, while determining the age of the 

 trees by means of the number of their annular layers of wood, was to 

 observe their record year by year, century by century, of their behavior toward 

 nutrition, injury or disease. 



The age of a tree can only be told by counting the concentric rings 

 of growth on the cross-section of the felled trunk. The question may 

 be asked: Does each ring represent a year's growth? A considerable 



