294 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



whether it ^was true that the Big Trees were 

 really so big as people say, he warmly replied, 

 " Oh, yes sir, you bet. They 're whales. I never 

 used to believe half I heard about the awful size of 

 California trees, but they 're monsters and no mis- 

 take. One of them over here, they tell me, is the 

 biggest tree in the whole world, and I guess it is, 

 for it 's forty foot through and as many good 

 long paces around." He was very earnest, and in 

 fullness of faith offered to guide me to the grove 

 that I might not miss seeing this biggest tree. 

 A fair measurement four feet from the ground, 

 above the main swell of the roots, showed a 

 diameter of only thirty-two feet, much to the 

 young man's disgust. " Only thirty-two feet," 

 he lamented, " only thirty-two, and I always 

 thought it was forty ! " Then with a sigh of 

 relief, " No matter, that 's a big tree, anyway ; 

 no fool of a tree, sir, that you can cut a plank 

 out of thirty feet broad, straight-edged, no bark, 

 all good wood, sound and solid. It would make 

 the brag white pine planks from old Maine look 

 like laths." A good many other fine specimens 

 are distributed along three small branches of the 

 creek, and I noticed several thrifty moderate- 

 sized Sequoias growing on a granite ledge, appar- 

 ently as independent of deep soil as the pines and 

 firs, clinging to seams and fissures and sending 

 their roots far abroad in search of moisture. 

 The creek is very clear and beautiful, gliding 



