[64 MY LIFE 



hunter in each camp to procure game for them, venison, and 



especially bear's meat, being highly esteemed. These men 



used to search the forests for ten or twenty miles round the 



camps while hunting. The hunter of the highest camp on the 

 Stanislous river came home one evening, and after supper 



told them of a big tree he had found that heat all he had ever 

 seen before. It was three times as big a trunk as any tree 

 within ten miles round. Of course they all laughed at him, 

 told him they were not fools. They knew what trees were as 

 well as he did ; and so on. Then he offered to show it them, 

 but none would go ; they would not tramp ten or twelve miles 

 to be made fools of. So the hunter had to bide his time. A 

 week or two afterwards he came home one Saturday night 

 with a small bag - of game ; but he excused himself by saying 

 that he had got the finest and fattest bear he had ever killed, 

 and as next day was Sunday he thought that six or eight of 

 them would come with him and bring the meat home. 



The next morning a large party started early, and after a 

 long walk the hunter brought them suddenly up to the big 

 tree, and, clapping his hand on it, said, " Here's my fat bear. 

 When I called it a tree you wouldn't believe me. Who's the 

 fool now ? " This was the great pavilion tree of the Calaveras 

 Grove, twenty-six feet diameter at five feet from the ground ; 

 over eighty feet circumference, so that it would require four- 

 teen tall men with arms outstretched to go round it. This tree 

 was cut down by boring into the trunk at six feet from the 

 ground with long pump-augers from each side, so as to meet 

 in the centre. The first fourteen feet was then cut into sec- 

 tions, and one supplied to each of the older states. The rest 

 remains as it fell, and can be walked on to a distance of about 

 two hundred and ten feet from the stump, and here it is still 

 six feet in diameter. To examine this wonderful wreck of 

 the grandest tree then living on our globe is most impressive. 

 The rings on the stump of this tree have been very carefully 

 counted by Professor Bradley, of the University of California, 

 and were found to be 1240, which no doubt gives the age of 

 the tree very accurately, as the winters are here severe, and 

 the season of growth very well marked. 



