NAPA VALLEY. 23 
who settled and died here. This lady has a large 
estate, which contains more improvements than any 
about thirty miles north of Sonora, in Calaveras county. The mam- 
moth tree which has been felled, was bored down with long augers, and 
took four men twenty-two days to get it down. The stump stands about 
six feet above the level of the ground, and its top has been made level 
and smooth, which required sixteen days work. 1 measured it from the 
inside of the bark across to the inside of the bark, and it measured twen- 
ty-five feet, and is perfectly sound clear to the heart. The bark, to the 
height of 52 feet, has been taken from the trunk in sections, and sent to 
the fair at New-York. Ifthe top half of the tree were taken off, so as to 
make a level surface, a stage coach with four horses might be driven on 
it, from the butt towards the tip, a distance of 166 feet, it being at this 
length ten feet in diameter. At the length of 280 feet, it is four feet in 
diameter. At this pointit was broken off in falling, and the tip was 
broken into fragments so fine I could not measure them; but its height 
had been taken before it was felled, and set down at 300 feet. It is 
called arbor vite; but it is not fully decided to what variety it belongs. 
It is a little curious that no other’ trees of the same kind can be found 
less than seven feet in diameter, and this tree is estimated by a scientific 
gentleman from San Francisco to be 3,100 years old. 
“There are many others still standing, of the same kind, which are 
monsters ; some even larger than this, but not sound. One, called Un- 
cle Tom’s Cabin, has a more commodious room in it than many miners’ 
cabins. There are some large ones blown down, and one I must not 
fail to describe. It was evidently decayed before it fell, and in its fall 
broke off sixty feet from the roots. This part is hollow; and I cannot 
give youa better idea of its size, than by telling you that I rode my 
horse through it from end to end. At the end where it is broken off, 
the shell is very thin, and as I sat on the horse, I couid not reach my 
hand to the inner surface, over my head; but half-way through, the 
shell was as much as three feet thick over my head, and more than that 
under the horse’s feet, and here it was necessary to lean forward. But 
this is not the largest. There is another one blown down, which meas- 
ures 110 feet in circumference and 410 feet in length. This, too, is hollow ; 
and if the hollow were enlarged alittle, it would make a very good rope 
walk,” 
