10 BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA. 



ber of trees counted. They stand mostly on the north slope of a hill, rather sheltered 

 from the wind, and, so far as observed, are rather smaller than those of the Calaveras 

 Grove. The largest sound tree measured was 57 feet in circumference at 3 feet from 

 the ground. A stump so burned that only one-half remained was 23 feet in diameter, 

 inside the bark at 3 feet from the ground. 



A single Big Tree stands in the woods by itself somewhere southwest of the Crane 

 Flat Grove, and between it and the Merced. It is the only instance, so far as we 

 know, of the occurence of this species solitary and alone. There is an almost entirely 

 unexplored region between the Beaver Creek and the Crane Flat groves, and there 

 may possibly be some more Big Trees existing there and not yet discovered. It is 

 about 20 miles, still in a southwesterly direction, from Crane Flat to the Mariposa 

 Grove, and that region has been so thoroughly explored by the Survey, that there 

 is no reason to suppose that any more of these trees will be found there. 



MARIPOSA GROVE. 



The Mariposa Grove is situated about 16 miles directly south of the Lower Hotel 

 in the Yosemite Valley, and between 3 and 4 miles southeast of Clark's ranch, and 

 at an elevation of about 1,500 feet above the last-named place, or of some 5,500 feet 

 above the sea level. It lies in a little valley, occupying a depression on the back of a 

 ridge which runs along in an easterly direction between Big Creek and the South 

 Merced. One of the branches of the creek heads in the grove. 



The grant made by Congress is 2 miles square, and embraces, in reality, two dis- 

 tinct or nearly distinct groves; that is to say, two collections of Big Trees between 

 which there is an intervening space without any. The upper grove is in a pretty 

 compact body, containing, on an area of 3,700 by 2,300 feet in dimensions, just 365 

 trees of the Sequoia gigantea of a diameter of 1 foot and over, besides a great num- 

 ber of small ones. The lower grove, which is smaller in size and more scattered, 

 lies in a southwesterly direction from the other, some trees growing quite high up 

 in the gulches on the south side of the ridge which separates the two groves. 



The principal trees associated with the Big Trees in this grove are the pitch and 

 sugar pines, the Douglas spruce, the white fir {Plcea grandis) [now Abies concolor}, 

 and the bastard cedar {Libocedras decurrens). 



There are but very few of tlie young Big Trees growing within the grove, where 

 probably they have been destroyed by fire. Around the base of several of the large 

 trees on the outskirts of the grove there are small [natural] plantations of young 

 Sequoias of all sizes up to 6 or 8 inches in diameter, but only a few as large as this. 

 Those trees which are about 10 feet in diameter and entirely uninjured by fire, in 

 the full symmetry of a vigorous growth of say 500 years, are, although not as stupen- 

 dous as the older giants of the forest, still exceedingly beautiful and impressive. 



The southern division of the Mariposa Grove, or Lower Grove, as it is usually 

 called, is said to contain about half as many (182) trees as the one just described. 

 They are much scattered among other trees, and do not, therefore, present as impos- 

 ing an appearance as those in the other grove, where quite a large number can often 

 be seen from one point. The largest tree in the lower grove is the one known as the 

 "Grizzly Giant," which is 93 feet 7 inches in circumference at the ground, and 64 

 feet 3 inches at 11 feet above. (See PL III. ) Its two diameters at the base, as near as 

 we could measure, were 30 and 31 feet. The calculated diameter at 11 feet above 

 the ground is 20 feet, nearly. The tree is very much injured and decreased in size by 

 burning, for which no allowance has been made in the above measurements. Some 

 of the branches of this tree are fully 6 feet in diameter, or as large as the trunks of 

 the largest elms in the Connecticut Valley, of which Dr. Holmes has so pleasantly 

 discoursed in the Atlantic Monthly. This tree, however, has long since passed its 

 prime, and has the battered and war-worn appearance conveyed by its name. 



FRESNO GROVE. 



The next grove south of the Mariposa is one in Fresno County, about 14 miles 

 southeast of Clark's, and not far from a conspicuous point called Wammelo Rock. 

 Mr. Clark has described this grove, which we had not visited, as extending for above 

 2| miles in length by from 1 to 2 in breadth. He has counted 500 trees in it, and. 

 believes the whole number to be not far from 600. The largest measured 81 feet in 

 circumference at 3 feet from the ground. 



No other grove of Big Trees has been discovered to the southeast of this along the 

 slope of the Sierra, until we reach a point more than 50 miles distant from the Fresno 

 Grove. Here, between the Kings and Kaweah rivers, is by far the most extensive 

 collection of trees of this species which has yet been discovered in the State. 



