702 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



American river, at an elevation of 5100 feet, and 70 miles north of the Calaveras 

 Grove. It now contains only six trees, of which the two largest are 240 and 220 

 feet high. 



2. The Calaveras Grove ^ is at an elevation of 4750 feet, occupying a belt only 

 32CK) by 700 feet in extent, and containing 90 to 100 trees of large size, besides a 

 considerable number of small ones. The largest tree standing here was barked up 

 to 116 feet high, and the bark set up in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, where it 

 was afterwards destroyed by fire. This tree was 302 feet high and 96 feet in girth 

 at the ground. It was felled by boring holes all round the trunk with pump augers, 

 which occupied five men for twenty-two days. An even larger tree in this grove 

 was the "Father of the Forest," cut down in 1853, and now lying on the ground; 

 it has been hollowed out by fire so that a man can ride through it on horseback 

 for a distance of 82 feet. Its extreme length, so far as could be judged from 

 the remains, was 365 feet, and its circumference at the base is said to have been 

 no feet. 



The largest living trees in this grove were as follows, only nine being, according 

 to Whitney, over 300 feet : 



" The two Sentinels," over 300 feet high by 23 feet in diameter. 



3. The Stanislaus or South Calaveras Grove is about six miles south-east of 

 the last, and is said to have contained, when Mr. Sterry owned it, 1380 trees from 

 I foot to 34 feet in diameter, but the number now existing is much less. The 

 largest standing trees mentioned were as follows : 



" Columbus." 



" New York," over 300 feet high by 104 feet in girth. 



"Ohio," 3" .1 103 



" Massachusetts," 307 98 



Besides these, " Smith's Cabin," a hollow tree in which a hunter is said to 

 have lived for three years, 21 feet by 16 feet in size inside, and "Old Goliath," a 

 fallen tree said to be 100 feet or more in circumference, were remarkable for their 

 size. 



About 25 miles south-east of this is a grove called the Crane Flat Grove, 

 most of the trees in which are said to be rather smaller than those in the Calaveras 

 Groves. 



* Cf. note 6 on p. 701. 



