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“or a considerable time after its discovery, the Calaveras Grove was considered the only one of the species in existence. 
lifornia; that above Mu ill, = to-come; remain the only on 
CALAVERAS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, AND ITS AVENUES. 
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD VISCHER. 
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INTRODUCTORY, REMARK SB. 
‘HE Mammoth Tree Grove, its discovery, and the dimensions of the prominent specimens of the Sequoia Gigantca Sempervirens, have been frequently 
deseribed, and so full an account given in Hutchings’ Magazine for March, 1859, as to render any other description apparently superfluous. As, however, a 
work specially devoted to the representation of sie Grove would be incomplete without accompanying details, we give, as an appendix, an abstract from the 
But, notwithstanding the 
‘ “necess 
discovery of similar Groves in Mariposa and other-parts of Southern Ca i 
where a sufficiency of clearing allows visitors to roam and more fully’ appreciate the immense proportions of these: secluded giants, and where the comforts of 
sight-secing or pleasure-seeking parties are so well provided for. 
Time and again have we visited that beautiful spot, in sunny as well as gloomy days, and invariably returned from our rambles through the Grove wonder- 
fully refreshed in mind and spirit. The avenues conducting to it would alone repay the trouble of the journey. The ascent from Murphy’s leads through a 
splendid forest of pine, cedar and fir, interspersed with oak, following up a ravine, and subsequently the ridge on which the flume of the Union Water Company 
is constructed. The airy tracery of its scaffolding over decp gullies, the mad rush of the torrent, as seen foaming through the ditch races; then again, glimpses 
of a placid sheet of water, a natural reservoir, a saw-mill or a log cabin, diversify the scenery, until the opening meadow ground to the left of the road (where 
an arbor-covered ice-house is passed) announces to the tourist his arrival at the alluvial flat of the Big Tree V 
The quiet retirement of this Eden is the more impressive, by contrast, to the visitor who, like ourselves on previous occasions, makes it a resting place on 
a tour through the California mining region, where waste and destruction in every form is the prevailing characteristic, bearing mute testimony to the demoniac 
power of Mammon. 
he gigantic dimensions of the Sequoias, though exceeding the average elevation of the rest of the forest by fully one-third, can only make themselves 
Their stupendous forms grow upon the beholder as he prolongs his stay ; and from cach successive ramble 
silent eloquence in its sublimest grandeur. On each succeeding visit to this 
To accomplish it we took up the long neglected pencil, 
It were difficult to decide which is the greater subject for 
gradually appreciated to the eye and to the mind 
through the Grove, one returns with heightened interest, yielding to nature 
delightful spot, a longing to render some faint idea of it to distant friends gained upon uz and derived 
heartfelt gratification from our endeavors, the result of which is now presented to the public. 
admiration : the i imposing grandeur of the giants standing in the pride of full vigor, or the solemn majesty of the fallen ones, ceeply imbedded in the soil by the 
foree of their tremendous downfall ; for, though partially concealed, they speak all the more impressively to the imagination of the beholder, as they will to 
succeeding generations serve as monuments of by-gone ages. 
To the spirit bowed with affliction, or harrowed with cares, a pilgrimage to these shadowy shrines offords most soothing consolation. Behold the evergreen 
summits of trees that have withstood the storms of more than three thousand years! Gaze on the ponderous and almost imperishable remains of their sires! 
sh; and the ae harbinger of Peace, the olive branch of Hope, returns to the 
While lost in wonder and admiration. the turmoil of earthly strife seems to vanish ; 
mind, in the comparison of Time with Eternity 
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