STEEP TRAILS 



The largest tree of this species that I have 

 myself measured was nearly twelve feet in 

 diameter at a height of five feet from the 

 ground, and, as near as I could make out under 

 the circumstances, about three hundred feet 

 in length. It stood near the head of the Sound 

 not far from Olympia. I have seen a few others, 

 both near the coast and thirty or forty miles 

 back in the interior, that were from eight to 

 ten feet in diameter, measured above their 

 bulging insteps; and many from six to seven 

 feet. I have heard of some that were said to 

 be three hundred and twenty-five feet in height 

 and fifteen feet in diameter, but none that I 

 measured were so large, though it is not at 

 all unlikely that such colossal giants do exist 

 where conditions of soil and exposiu-e are sur- 

 passingly favorable. The average size of all 

 the trees of this species found up to an eleva- 

 tion on the mountain-slopes of, say, two thou- 

 sand feet above sea-level, taking into account 

 only what may be called mature trees two 

 hundred and fifty to five hundred years of age, 

 is perhaps, at a vague guess, not more than a 

 height of one hundred and seventy-five or 

 two hundred feet and a diameter of three 

 feet; though, of course, throughout the richest 

 sections the size is much greater. 

 • In proportion to its weight when dry, the 



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