4 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



they have witnessed the destruction of other groves unmoved, 

 seems strange until the rapid growth that right pubhc opinion 

 has made during the last few years is considered and the 

 peculiar interest that attaches to the Calaveras giants. They 

 were the first discovered and are best known. Thousands of 

 travelers from every country have come to pay them tribute of 

 admiration and praise, their reputation is world-wide, and the 

 names of great men have long been associated with them— 

 Washington, Humboldt, Torrey and Gray, Sir Joseph Hooker, 

 and others. These kings of the forest, the noblest of a noble 

 race, rightly belong to the world, but as they are in California 

 we cannot escape responsibility as their guardians. Fortunately 

 the American people are equal to this trust, or any other that 

 may arise, as soon as they see it and understand it. 



Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot defend themselves 

 or run away. And few destroyers of trees ever plant any ; nor 

 can planting avail much toward restoring our grand aboriginal 

 giants. It took more than three thousand years to make some of 

 the oldest of the Sequoias, trees that are still standing in per- 

 fect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty 

 forests of the Sierra. Through all the eventful centuries since 

 Christ's time, and long before that, God has cared for these 

 trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a 

 thousand storms ; but he cannot save them from sawmills and 

 fools ; this is left to the American people. The news from Wash- 

 ington is encouraging. On March third [1905?] the House 

 passed a bill providing for the Government acquisition of the 

 Calaveras giants. The danger these Sequoias have been in will 

 do good far beyond the boundaries of the Calaveras Grove, in 

 saving other groves and forests, and quickening interest in for- 

 est affairs in general. While the iron of public sentiment is hot 

 let us strike hard. In particular, a reservation or national park 

 of the only other species of Sequoia, the sempervirens, or red- 

 wood, hardly less wonderful than the gigantea, should be quick- 

 ly secured. It will have to be acquired by gift or purchase, for 

 the Government has sold every section of the entire redwood 

 belt from the Oregon boundary to below Santa Cruz. 



