148 



THE FORESTER. 



July, 



The Redwood Forest of California. 



BY THE GEOGRAPHER OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



As one who makes a pilgrimage to the 

 old English abbeys, the traveler through 

 the great Redwood forests of the Pacific 

 Coast seems to stand transfixed by the 

 silent grandeur of the place. He finds 

 himself in one of Nature's cathedrals, 

 with a high, o'erarching roof of foliage, 

 supported by great tree columns, while 

 the dimltwilight of the scene suggests 



with its shadowy recesses and a stillness 

 which suggests the possibility of dryads 

 confronting one at any moment, will ap- 

 preciate in greater measure the almost 

 supernatural conditions existing in the 

 home of these tree-giants. '^T.'r. 



The densest forest on earth is, in all 

 probability, the Redwood forest, of the 

 Pacific Slope, as measured by the amount 



COURTESY OF 



NATL. GEOGRAPHIC MAG. 



REDWOOD FOREST, SHOWING DENSITY OF GROWTH. 



the stained glass windows of the preten- 

 tious edifices built by man remarkable 

 in their conception and execution, yet 

 less wonderful than the marvelous forest 

 temple of the lordly Redwood. 



In a Redwood forest the sun never 

 shines it is always twilight. Those 

 who are acquainted with the beautiful 

 deep-green of the Pine forest, as found 

 in various parts of the East and South, 



per acre of merchantable timber that is, 

 of timber suitable for the saw-mill. As I 

 said in an article in the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine, it is not merely the 

 size of the trees which accounts for this, 

 although even in this State of large 

 things they are exceptionally large but 

 it is the number of trees on each acre. 



The closeness of stand of Redwood 

 trees is as remarkable as its habitat is 



