versity. "But I have counted the rings of forty that were over two 

 thousand years of age, of three that were over three thousand and of 

 one that Avas three thousand one hundred and fifty." 



The first white man to have a ghmpse of these forest giants was 

 probably General John Bidwell of California, who arrived in 1841, 

 with a party of emigrants. Reporting the marvelous trees to General 

 Fremont, he found his story scorned. A similar reception awaited 

 Mr. Dowd, a hunter who is said to have found himself in the Calaveras 

 Grove, and was, naturally, lost in wonder at what he saw. Returning 

 to his companions, at their camp, his story was ridiculed. Shortly 

 afterward, while hunting, he succeeded in guiding them into the grove, 

 and letting them see for themselves. 



The Big Trees now became known far and wide. Cones and 

 leaves were shipped to Gary and Torrey, the botanists, but were lost 

 on the voyage. It remained for a British naturalist, William Lobb, 

 to transplant specimens to England, and for Dr. Lindley of London 

 to record the tree as a new genus and name it after the Iron Duke, 

 Wellingtonia Gigantea. The Redwoods had already been known to 

 scientists for many years, however, and had been classified under the 

 name of Sequoia. Decaisne, a French botanist, decided that the Big 

 Tree was vmquestionably another member of the same genus, and 

 christened it Sequoia Gigantea, by which name we know it today. 



An American, Dr. C. E. Winslow, becoming jealous for the fame 

 of his own country, soon afterward published a letter, dated August 

 8, 1854, in the "California Farmer," urging that the Big Trees should 

 logically be named for Washington, Washingtonia Califomica. But 

 though some writers have adhered to this name, it was never adopted 

 by botanists. The name Sequoia, it may be added, which had already 

 been bestowed upon the Redwoods, was given in honors of the noted 

 Cherokee, Sequoyah, who invented the first alphabet ever used by 

 the Indians. The perpetuation of his name in this way was considered 

 an act of poetic justice on the part of the United States Government. 



The Redwoods of the Coast Range live only about half as long 

 as the average Big Tree, generally from five hundred to one thousand 

 three hundred years, probably somewhat longer. Their circumference 

 is usually sixteen feet, though the largest known measures thirty- 

 three feet, and their height varies from one hundred to three hundred 

 and forty feet. As the Redwood is an evergreen its name, sempervir- 

 ens, is well given. It has been described as a "beautiful, cheerful and 

 very brave tree. Burned and hacked and butchered, it sprouts up 

 again with a vitality truly amazing. It is the marvelous capacity for 

 new growth from trunk or from root saplings, which is perhaps the 

 most interesting character of the Redwood in contrast with the Big 

 Tree, which has no such means of regeneration and must depend on 

 its cones for reproduction." 



It was in October, 1769, that the Redwoods were first seen by 

 white men. An entry of that date in the diary of Padre Crespi, a 



79 



