SAVING THE REDWOODS 



525 



been allowed to grow entirely free from 

 fire throughout their age-long existence, 

 and had carried their proportionate 

 growth (calculated from the tapering of 

 the trunk) to their uttermost limits, they 

 would be 600 feet high. 



This is mere speculation, as is the theo- 

 retical age of some of the more ancient 

 trees. The known age of trees which have 

 been cut is from 1,100 to 3,250 years, but 

 there is little doubt that this long period 

 is much exceeded in such cases as the 

 General Sherman tree or the Grizzly 

 Giant. The life of these giants can be 

 computed only by comparison with the 

 measured trunks of lumbered trees, the 

 actual age of which has been ascertained 

 from the rings of growth. 



There is always a factor of uncertainty 

 in the size of trees, depending on their 

 rate of growth and supply of water. In 

 exposed positions, with poor water and 

 soil, development may be greatly retarded, 

 and a tree may be very ancient although 

 relatively small in size. On the other 

 hand, a favorable location, such as a 

 pocket in the rock or access to underly- 

 ing water, might greatly accelerate the 

 growth of a tree within the same grove. 



REDWOODS OF THE COAST 



The redwood of the coast, Sequoia 

 sempervirens — the immortal Sequoia — far 

 from being a battered remnant, like its 

 cousin of the Sierra, whose shattered 

 ranks remind one of massive Roman 

 ruins, is a beautiful, cheerful, and in- 

 domitable tree. Burned and hacked and 

 "butchered, it sprouts up again with a 

 vitality truly amazing. 



It is this marvelous capacity for new 

 growth from trunk or from root sap- 

 lings which is, perhaps, the most inter- 

 esting character of the redwood in con- 

 trast with the big tree, which has no 

 such means of regeneration and must de- 

 pend on its cones for reproduction. 



All the redwood forests have been 

 more or less injured by fire, sometimes 

 of ancient origin, but more often delib- 

 erately started by the lumbermen to 

 clear away the slash, and it is a wonder- 

 ful sight to see a charred trunk throw out 

 a spray of new growth twenty or thirty 

 feet above the ground, or a new tree 

 standing on top of an ancient bole and 

 -sending its roots, like tentacles, down into 



the ground around the mother stump. 

 Other trees stand athwart the fallen bod- 

 ies of their parents and continually re- 

 adjust their root systems to the decaying 

 trunks beneath it. 



The vitality of the second growth 

 throws up a circular ring of new and 

 beautiful redwoods around the parent 

 stump, and these little trees come up 

 again and again if cut. If, however, they 

 are buried several times in succession, 

 this capacity of shoot reproduction ap- 

 pears to be lost, and there are cases, 

 notably about fifteen miles north of Ar- 

 eata, in Humboldt County, where the 

 highway passes through three or four 

 miles of very large and thickly set burned 

 stumps that show little or no signs of 

 reforestation, proving that there are con- 

 ditions where human greed and human 

 carelessness make it impossible for even 

 the redwood to survive. 



REDWOODS ARE YOUNGSTERS FROM 500 TO 

 1,300 YEARS OLD 



The age of the redwood is about half 

 that of the Sierra big tree, and the life of 

 a mature redwood runs from 500 to 1,300 

 years, in many cases probably more. 



The diameter of the larger redwoods 

 is sixteen feet and more and the height 

 runs from 100 to 340 feet. Thus, while 

 its diameter is less, its height is far greater 

 than its cousin, the big tree, with the re- 

 sult and effect of a graceful beauty rather 

 than impressive solidity. It is probable 

 that trees will be found which will exceed 

 this maximum altitude, and it is quite 

 possible that an ultimate height of 350 

 feet may be recorded. One would an- 

 ticipate the discovery of this tallest tree 

 on earth either in Bull Creek Flat or 

 along Redwood Creek. 



Of course, in discussing the present 

 redwoods, one must always bear in mind 

 that many of the finest groves have fallen 

 to the axe, judging from the silent rec- 

 ords of gigantic stumps along the Eel 

 River, especially at Sonoma Flat, only 

 recently destroyed. 



It is probable that the existing groves, 

 with few exceptions, such as Bull Creek 

 Flat, do not represent the finest groves 

 of redwoods of fifty years ago. How 

 needless all this sacrifice of Humboldt 

 redwoods has been may be measured by 



