THE FORESTER. 



April 



It has been said the majority of the 

 Sequoias were in process or in danger of 

 being logged. This is based on the facts 

 that nine tenths of the known tracts are 

 privately owned, and that, taking all the 

 counties together which contain Sequoias, 

 forty mills are at work upon the timber : 

 more specifically, there are in the Cala- 

 veras county seven, in Tuolumne county 

 seven, in Frenso county eighteen, in Tu- 

 lare county eight saw-mills. Not all of 

 these cut Bigtrees exclusively, but each 

 cuts some, and a few cut nothing else. 

 Just how many of these owners are also log- 

 gers cannot be stated without actually go- 

 ins: over the ground, but from the number 



r 



and distribution of the mills, it is safe 

 to say that a very large part of the 

 ownership is as good as controlled by 

 lumbermen. To offset this it may be 

 slated that the Mariposa, General Grant, 

 and Sequoia Parks will preserve a great 

 body of Bigtrees. Taken all together 

 these offer but indifferent consolation. 



The Mariposa is safe, being owned and 

 protected by the state of California ; and it 

 is fairly accessible. But the Mariposa has 

 nothing like the advantages, either in 

 situation or natural beauties, of the Cala- 

 veras grove, whose trees are in many ways 

 unrivalled. As for the other parks the 

 Sequoia and General Grant they are 

 merely nominal. It is true each contains 

 a body of Bigtrees which probably never 

 w r ill be cut, but each is being constantly 

 depleted by a saw-mill which has bona 

 fide timber claims within its limits. Be- 

 sides this, the Sequoia Park is likely to 

 lose at any time whatever Bigtrees there 

 may be on certain good, private claims 

 amounting to 1012.87 acres ; the General 

 Grant may suffer a like loss of 160 acres. 

 Furthermore, neither park is accessible 

 without more time and money than the 

 ordinary person has to spend; so that, as 

 national parks and conservatories of 

 natural curiosities, they are failures. 



Up to the recent sale of the Calaveras 

 Grove these matters gave the country very 

 little concern, that grove having seemed 

 so entirely satisfactory for the purposes of 

 a park. But now that these, the best 

 trees, are on the point of destruction, 



such facts have some pertinence. Cali 

 fornia in particular, is roused to action 

 Petitions and memorials have been sen 

 out from clubs, newspapers and privat 

 individuals; and some weeks ago, a Cali 

 fornia Congressman, Mr. De Vries, ir 

 troduced a bill in the House touching th 

 Calaveras Grove. Contrary to the gener? 

 impression this bill does not secure th 

 ownership of the grove to the government 

 It merely authorizes the Secretary of the Ir 

 terior to " open negotiations for, and if pot 

 sible, secure a bond upon," the said grou 

 of Bigtrees. Its result will be a repoi 

 to Congress by the Secretary, on th 

 strength of which further proceedings ma 

 be instituted. If, in the meantime, Cor 

 gress is sufficiently impressed by popuk 

 interest in the trees, money may be ap 

 propriated for their purchase. This 

 there is good reason to believe, will t 

 the fortunate outcome. 



ADDENDA. 



Since the above article was writtei 

 Mr. R. B. Whiteside has completed h 

 purchase of the Calaveras Grove, an 

 Secretary Hitchcock has asked him t 

 name the price at which he will sell it 1 

 the United States government. M: 

 Whiteside has replied that he is ready t 

 consider any offer based on a fair valuatio 

 of the property, and that he wishes to ha\ 

 this officially examined, in order that m 

 gotiations may proceed understandingly. 

 R. T. FISHER, 



Washington, D. C. 



The largest wood pulp mill in the worl 

 is at Saulte Ste Marie. Twenty-two acr< 

 of the best spruce land is cleared and coi 

 verted by this mill into 250 tons of pulp in 

 single day. This is consumed by a gre; 

 newspaper in two clays. But the rapid cu 

 ting of the forests in the Upper Lake r 

 gions has stopped their supply of wood ar 

 a serious famine threatens this industr 

 Canada demands an export duty on woe 

 of $1.90 per cord, in order to protect the 

 forests from annihilation. The flower < 

 the forest, the young, thrifty trees ai 

 taken for pulp, entirely preventing tl 

 maturing of any trees for future lumbe 



