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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



43 



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HALL OF FAME" FOR TREES 



most interesting relic of this expedition, the 12-pound brass 

 howitzer which had been mounted on wheels and dragged 

 all the way from Kansas City until it had been regretfully 

 abandoned in the snows on the west fork of the Walker, 

 now stands under a pine at Tahoe City overlooking the 

 lake. The expedition suffered almost incredible hardships 

 on its journey from the summit to Sutter's Fort, but finally 



arrived there without the loss of a man. Kit Carson had 

 been in California twelve years before, but he had entered 

 the State from the south on a trapping expedition from 

 the Colorado River. His only other known visit to the 

 State was in 1853, when he drove a large band of sheep 

 from his home in Taos, New Mexico, across the Great Basin 

 and the Sierras and sold them in "one of the frontier camps." 



II 



THE BEAUTIFUL HILGARD CHESTNUT 



Named for the first dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of California 

 the Hilgard Chestnut is submitted for the Hall of Fame by M. B. Pratt, the deputy state 

 forester of California. The State Board of Forestry of California has the picture in its 

 collection and the description is furnished by Professor Woodbridge Metcalf, of the division 

 of forestry of the University of California. The tree stands in front of Agricultural Hall 

 near the north fork of Strawberry Creek on the University of California campus at 

 Berkeley. It has always grown in the open without interference from other trees and is 

 therefore low-branched with a wide-spreading rounded, symmetrical crown. It is now 41 

 inches in diameter at one foot from the ground but at about four feet the trunk divides into 

 eight spreading branches. These being so near the ground make climbing easy and the tree 



is, therefore, a favorite roosting place for children living about the campus. The crown 

 has reached a height of 35 feet in its 35 years and its branches spread over a circle about 

 50 feet in diameter. Dr. Hilgard was the first dean of the College of Agriculture, foremost 

 soil expert of his generation and one of the pioneers of agricultural education in the United 

 States. This fine old tree was planted in 1885 by W aldemar G. Klee, a Danish gardener, who, 

 at that time was superintendent of the gardens and orchards of the College of Agriculture, 

 under Dr. Hilgard; it is only since the death of the latter in 191$ that the tree has been 

 given his name in appreciation of his work for California agriculture. The tree is the 

 Italian variety (Castanea saliva). 



