Sierra Club Bulletin. 



Vol. VL San Francisco, June, 1908. No. 5 



WILLIAM KENT'S GIFT. 



By E. T. Parsons. 



The peculiarly enlightened and significant gift of Muir 

 Woods, the Redwood Canon grove on the flank of Mount 

 Tamalpais, to the National Government by William Kent, 

 of Chicago, is a transaction w^orthy of record in these 

 pages. 



This, the only remaining nearby forest of the kind, 

 easily and cheaply accessible to nearly three quarters of 

 a million people, rich and poor alike, was in imminent 

 danger of destruction. Apparently not a single Cali- 

 fornian of sufficient means either perceived or under- 

 stood this opportunity for the greatest benefaction the 

 bay region can ever receive. 



The architraves of these groveland temples were 

 already emplaced when Columbus first sailed the ocean. 

 King Arthur's Round Table might have been made from 

 one of their pillars. Our Druid ancestors might have 

 celebrated their mystic rites beneath these lofty arches. 

 Had the prevailing shortsighted commercialism succeeded 

 in overthrowing these canopied columns centuries could 

 not have replaced their grandeur and beauty. So that 

 the gift of this easterner of fine perception and ideals 

 is beyond compare, inestimable and priceless. 



The accompanying photographs give some vistas in 

 this beautiful park; and, that we may better know and 

 understand the giver, I introduce an appreciation of the 

 redwoods by William Kent and his correspondence rela- 

 tive to this gift with our worthy President and the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior: 



