f I 



BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA. 



Government Holdings. 



The United States owns and in part controls two considerable areas, 

 comprised within the Sequoia and General Grant National parks. 

 These are very difficult to define. According to the acts of Congress 

 which established them October 1, 1890, they amount, respectively, to 

 101,280 and 2,560 acres. But it is well known that in the first at least, 

 the Big Trees stand largel}^ in one group on the Marble Fork of the 

 Kaweah River, with only very scattering neighbors of their own kind; 

 and a like distinction prevails in the General Grant National Park 

 grove. Furthermore, along the west and south boundaries of the 

 bequoia National Park, there are seven valid private holdings, amount- 

 ing to 1.012.87 acres, and an equally good claim of 160 acres in the 

 General Grant National Park. In the first, also, there is a sawmill 

 operating at the edge of the main clump of Big Tree timber, which is 

 again true of the second grove. Consequently, as it is not possible to 

 assert what proportion of these parks contain Big Trees, or just what 

 the private tracts comprise, it is equally impossible to state the extent 

 of the Government holdings in Big Tree timber. It can onl}^ be 

 said that they are considerable, but imperfectly defined and poorly 

 protected. 



Private Holdings. 



These include by far the greater part of the Big Trees, and, except 

 some groves in Tulare County, they are held by sawmill or logging 

 companies. The large tract on Kings River is almost entirely so 

 owned; and the famous Calaveras or ''Mammoth" Grove, which has 

 been carefully preserved since the early fifties, is now owned by a man 

 who is said to represent a lumber syndicate. The Big Trees of Fresno 

 County are controlled b}^ the Sanger Lumber Company. The rest of 

 the southern tracts, in and about and to the south of the Sequoia 

 National Park, are divided chiefly into small areas among private 

 owners. 



Location of Big Tree Lands. 



The following list, and accompanying large map (PL XVI), compiled 

 from notes and a sketch map prepared by Prof. William R. Dudley,^ 

 give the location, amount, and ownership of Big Tree lands in Fresno 

 and Tulare counties. The data compiled is based upon the Tulare 

 County records of 1899-1900, and upon Professor Dudley's personal 

 examination of the areas in question. The accompanying small map 

 (PI. XVII) gives the general location of all the Big Tree groves. 



Fresno County. 

 TOWNSHIP rs SOUTH, RANGE 27 EAST. 



No. of No. on 

 section, map. 



Size of 

 claim. 



Name of owner. 



Residence. 



Acres, 

 a 40 

 a HO 

 a 40 

 120 

 40 

 440 

 480 

 160 

 280 



Fannie Wilcox 



do 



G. T. Nightbert and J. M. Fox 



Sanger Lumber Co 



Ellen S. Eastwood 



Sanger Lumber Co 



do 



J. W. Blade 



Sanger Lumber Co 



Sanger, Cal. 



Do. 

 Do. 



Do. 



* A collaborator in the Division in Forestry, United States Department of Agriculture. 



