12 BIG TREES OF CALIFOENIA. 



and is located in southern Placer County, on a tributary stream of the 

 middle fork of the American Eiver. The elevation of the grove is 

 5,100 feet above sea level. The grove is about 20 miles southeast of 

 Red Point Mine, on the Forest Hill Divide, and about 15 miles west 

 of the mining camp, Michigan Bluff, from both of which points the 

 trees can be reached by trail. The grove is about 70 miles north of 

 the Calaveras or '^Mammoth" Big Tree Grove. 



This grove is said to have been discovered by an old miner, Joe 

 Matlock, in 1855. It appears also to have been long known to the set- 

 tlers of the region, as shown by the dates 1860 to 1890 cut into the 

 smooth-barked alders near the Big Trees. But the first authentic 

 account of this grove was published by W. W. Price in the January 

 issue of the Sierra Club Bulletin for 1893. 



Of the six trees comprising the grove, only two are of large size. 

 These are respectively 220 and 210 feet high and 12 and 10 feet in 

 diameter at 4 feet from the ground. The other trees are about 180 

 feet high and 3 feet in diameter. 



A few small Big Trees in this grove have been blown down, and one 

 quite large tree is said to have gone down subsequent to 1885. About 

 200 feet of the trunk is still intact. The full height is not known, as 

 the top of the tree was broken off before the trunk fell. The diameter 

 at the roots of the tree was 20 feet. One other large dead tree, 28 

 feet in diameter, is said to have been blown down in 1855, but the 

 trunk has since disappeared — probably by forest fires, which have 

 frequently raged through the region. 



History and Size of Notable Big Trees, 

 calaveras or " mammoth " grove. 



The history and figures showing the size of notable Big Trees in this 

 grove occur in the following extracts. 



DEAD TREES, 



In 1853 one of the largest trees was cut down. It is said to b^ the 

 original tree discovered by John Bidwell (or by A. T. Dowd, as the 

 more current story has it). 



Its diameter across the solid wood, after the bark was removed (and which was 

 from 15 to 18 inches in thickness) , is 2-5 feet, although the tree was cut off 6 feet above 

 the ground. However incredible it may appear, on July 4, 1854, the writer ^ formed 

 one of a cotillion party of 32 persons dancing upon this stump, in addition to which 

 the musicians and lookers-on numbered 17, making a total of 49 occupants on its sur- 

 face at one time. The accompanying sketch was made at that time, and, of course, 

 before the present pavilion was erected over it. There is no more srikingly con- 

 vincing proof, in any grove, of the immense size of the Big Trees, than this stump. 

 [See PL IV.] 



This tree was 302 feet in height, and, at the ground, 96 feet in circumference, before 

 it was disturbed. Some sacrilegious vandals, from the motive of making its exposi- 

 tion "pay,'' removed the bark to the height of 30 feet; and afterwards transported it 

 to England, where it was formed into a room; but was afterwards consumed by fire 

 with the celebrated Crystal Palace at Kensington, England. This girdling of the 

 tree very naturally brought death to it; but even then its majestic form must have 

 perpetually taunted the belittled and sordid spirits that caused it. It is, however, 

 but an act of justice to its present proprietor, Mr. James L. Sperry,'^ to state that, 



^J. M. Hutchings in "In the Heart of the Sierras." 



^ Mr. Sperry has recently sold this grove to a lumberman, aa stated in the intro- 

 duction. 



