FAMOUS TREES 97 



Martha Custis Yew, an English yew, at Williamsburg. This 

 famous tree has a circumference of 14 feet at its base, and its branch 

 spread is 35 feet in diameter. (See Trees intimately associated with 

 other famous people, p. 16.) 



WASHINGTON 



Statistics compiled by Ernest L. Kolbe, junior forester, Pacific 

 Northwest Forest Experiment Station, include several western red 

 cedars (Thuja plicata), the most notable of which is one at North 

 Bend, with a circumference of about 58 feet and a height of 200 feet. 

 He reports a smaller western red cedar on the Snoqualmie National 

 Forest as more than 1,100 years old. 



A giant arborvitae (western red cedar) in Snohomish County (fig. 

 45) is so large that a path has been cut through the trunk. The 

 trunk has a circumference of 39 feet 9 inches (10, v. 27, p. 313). 



According to C. R. Clark, former forest examiner, Kaniksu Na- 

 tional Forest, there is a giant arborvitae on that forest measuring 36 

 feet in circumference and estimated to be 2,000 years old. 



The largest Douglas fir of which there is an accurate record stood, 

 until recently, in a grove of giant cedars and firs near Mineral (60, 

 71f, 88). This tree, measured in 1924 by a Pacific Northwest Forest 

 Experiment Station expert, had a circumference of more than 48 

 feet and a height of 225 feet to a broken top. It was estimated to 

 be more than a thousand years old (fig. 46.) It was blown down iu 

 a severe wind storm in 1930. 



Another Douglas fir, near Little Rock, was reported in 1900 (60). 

 Its circumference was given as 18.8 feet, which is not remarkable, 

 but its height was 330 feet, which gained it a reputation as "the 

 tallest Douglas fir on record." 



Other Douglas firs in Washington notable for great height include 

 one near Hoquiam, 318 feet high; a second near Little Rock, 310 

 feet high; and a third, near Darrington, 325 feet high (60.) 



The oldest Douglas fir of which there is any authentic record was 

 found in 1913 by Ranger Hilligoss on the Finney Creek watershed 

 about 30 miles east of Mount Vernon. The age count was made on 

 a section about 40 feet above the stump, and the age at that point 

 was 1,375 years. Since at least 25 years were required to reach the 

 height at which the age count was made, this tree must have been 

 over 1,400 years old when cut (88). The next oldest is the tree at 

 Mineral. There may be taller, older, or larger trees than these Doug- 

 las firs, but the Forest Service has no record of accurately measured 

 trees which surpass those described. 



The statistics compiled by Ernest L. Kolbe, junior forester, Pacific 

 Northwest Forest Experiment Station, include Douglas firs at Min- 

 eral, Little Rock, Hoquiam, and Mount Vernon; and in addition, 

 one at Ryderwood, circumference 36 feet and height 303 feet; an- 

 other at Lebam Mill, circumference 31.4 feet and height 225 feet; and 

 several others with circumferences of less than 30 feet. 



Statistics for the North Pacific Forest Region in volume-study 

 data of the Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment Station, compiled 

 by Ernest L. Kolbe, junior forester, include three western hemlocks 



47782°— 38 7 



