272 ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



CALIFORNIA'S GIANT TREES. 



E great trees of California must be classed among the wonders of the 

 1 world. Trees four hundred and fifty feet high, and forty feet in diameter 

 must be beheld with amazement, for nowhere else upon the face of the earth 

 are found such tree-monsters. Many have journeyed across the ocean, and for 

 thousands of miles by land, to gaze upon these huge monarchs as they rear 

 their lofty heads into the clouds. 



From "The New West " we gather the following information regarding these 

 wonderful trees : 



"They were discovered in 1852, and named by Endlicher, in honor of an 

 Indian chief of the Cherokees. They are limited in range, being confined to 

 California, and grow entirely in groups. Of these groups there are eight or 

 nine if the Mariposa be considered as two. 



" The Calaveras group is in the county of the same name, near the crossing 

 of the Sierras by Silver Mountain Pass. The belt of trees is three thousand 

 two hundred by seven hundred feet, and in that space are ninety-two of the 

 monarchs. 



" Here under the shade is one of California's pet retreats. There is one fallen 

 monster, which must have stood four hundred and fifty feet in the air, and had 

 a diameter of forty feet. Another engaged the efforts of five men for twenty- 

 five days in cutting, and on the level surface of the stump thirty-two dancers 

 find ample room. Old Goliah shows the marks of a fire, that, according to 

 surrounding trees untouched, must have raged a thousand years ago. 



."The diameter of the largest is thirty-three feet ; the circumference of the 

 largest, five feet above the ground, sixty-one feet. This is the only one more 

 than sixty feet in circumference. 



"The Stanislaus group, five miles distant, contains seven or eight hundred 

 trees nearly as remarkable. Crane Flat has those boasting a diameter of 

 twenty-three feet, and a circumference of fifty-seven feet. The Mariposa 

 group, which generally divides honors with Calaveras, is situated sixteen miles 

 south of the Lower Hotel in Yosemite. 



"The same wise foresight which gave Yosemite to the State, gave Mariposa 

 to be held in perpetuity. The grant is two miles square. It has been improved 

 and made of easy access. The Tule-River groups were the last discovered, 

 being found in 1867. While Calaveras and Mariposa lead in point of being 

 known, the others are worthy any reasonable expenditure of time and money. 



"Gazing on a mountain there comes no thought that it has been a witness to 

 the passing events of the ages. But these trees have shaded races dead for 

 hundreds of years. They live, and seem almost possessed of minds ; and when 

 those who now rest under their branches are dust, they will still live, and 

 future generations may conjecture who has seen them in ages. gone. They 

 sprouted before the Christian era dawned, and unconcerned they grew, while 

 nations rose and fell." 



Another writer who once sat beneath the shade of these forest monarchs, 

 remarks : 



