THE TWO OLDEST TREES 



or lucid reply had been given ; frequently 

 such answers have been so ridiculous as 

 to disturb the occasion. I have tried to 

 supply in advance the information, and 

 thus add interest to the visit by telling of 

 the circumstances surrounding these great 

 wonders, as to their life, their death and 

 their family characteristics. 



At no other place that we know of, ex- 

 cept in Arizona, can you find the agatized 

 trees. 



Only in California can be found the 

 mature living Gigantea Sequoia. These 

 few groves of living trees were spared to 

 us and to this age, by the fact that the 

 glaciers of the last ice age could not, and 

 did not sweep away their immediate an- 

 cestors. 



At certain points on the west side of the 

 high Sierra range of mountains a few of 

 these trees were afforded protection by 

 being sheltered behind the range. This 

 was not the case at all points, for between 

 the several groves the glacier's tongue 



58 



