A THOUSAND-YEAR PINE 



year 1540 was a particularly memora- 

 ble one for him. This year brought the 

 first horses and bearded men into the 

 drama which was played around him. 

 This year, for the first time, he felt the 

 edge of steel and the tortures of fire. 

 The old chronicles say that the Span- 

 ish explorers found the cliff-houses in 

 the year 1540. I believe that during 

 this year a Spanish exploring party 

 may have camped beneath Old Pine 

 and built a fire against his instep, and 

 that some of the explorers hacked him 

 with an axe. The old pine had distinct 

 records of axe and fire markings during 

 the year 1540. It was not common for 

 the Indians of the West to burn or 

 mutilate trees, and it was common for 

 the Spaniards to do so, and as these 

 hackings in the tree seemed to have 



