286 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



REDWOODS. 

 By William Kent. 



In the hospitable country of the CaHfornia coast range 

 dwell the redwoods. They cluster in the sheltered valleys 

 and climb part way up the deep-soiled north hill slopes. 

 Through their tops sifts the mild sea fog, and at their 

 roots flow trout streams that they have condensed for 

 the benefit of all living creatures. Salmon visit them 

 from the neighboring ocean, deer trip and bear shufHe 

 down their aisles. 



Viewed from without, the forest shows a rich and 

 varied coloring. The ruddy tinge of the redwood foliage 

 makes sharp the brighter green of Douglas fir, while 

 softening all is the silver gray of mountain oak. 



There is none of the solid rounded surface of the 

 jungle, nor the ragged gray outlines of the leafless winter 

 woods. Strong and delicate show the individual trees 

 living at peace, each his own life. Beyond the ridge at 

 the back of the forest shines the sunlit sea. The landscape 

 gives scarcely a hint of the size and proportions of the 

 trees. 



As we go down the slope the redwoods increase in 

 size until in the flat bed of the valley we reach their 

 perfection. Our ideas of dimension are all at fault. We 

 expect something that will strike and challenge the eye 

 in trees that measure their diameter in terms of fathoms 

 and that climb as straight, clear columns two hundred 

 feet without a limb, with tops reaching yet a hundred feet 

 or more. We must compare these heroic proportions 

 with our own stature before we can realize the sym- 

 metrical grandeur of the redwoods. The thick, soft, 

 warm-tinted bark, with its vertical corrugations, sug- 

 gests the clear, clean wood within. The delicate foliage 

 sifts the sunlight, not precluded, but made gentle. 



