258 
GEOLOGY. 
grandeur of the scene cannot he described ; it must be seen to be felt. The surface is moulded 
on a scale commensurate with this mighty forest. It rises in graceful swells, miles in extent, 
into mountain-like elevations, so smooth and rounded that a carriage may be driven almost 
anywhere among the lordly trees. 
About sundown we reached an eminence, and commenced descending into a sheltered valley. 
The hills on all sides were densely covered with pines and spruces, and there was some under¬ 
growth. The shadows became more dense, and at dark we reached the level of the valley, 
passing on our way one or two giant trunks, which rose above the gloom of the forest into the 
twilight above. We dismounted at the door of “Big Tree Cottage,” a comfortable frame 
building erected by Mr. Lapham, where we passed the night, surrounded by the shadows of the 
most magnificent forest yet known on earth. 
August 8.—This valley is sheltered on all sides, and it has a very deep and moist soil. This 
was shown by the earth thrown out when the well was dug ; it is nearly all granitic sand and 
gravel and fine clay. The only rock observed was a compact, gray granite, and some round 
basaltic blocks, on the surface of the hills on one side of the valley. This depression is so much 
sheltered by the ridges and high forests around that there is little violent wind ; and it is said 
that the ground does not freeze to a great depth in winter, although there is about thirty inches 
of snow from January to April. The elevation is estimated at 2,400 feet above Murphy’s, and 
4,550 above the sea. These results are reported to have been obtained by Captain Hanford, the 
engineer of the Union Water Company. The crest of the Sierra is about thirty-five miles distant, 
hut the lowest limit of the snow is only fifteen miles. 
The first of the great trees that claimed our attention is at the side of the cottage, and lies 
prostrate upon the earth. It was cut down by boring through it with pump-augers about six 
feet above the ground. This operation employed five men for three weeks. The stump being 
nearly flat, was smoothed off perfectly level, and now forms the floor of a good-sized room con¬ 
nected with the house. The solid wood of this stump—for it is sound to the very centre—is 
twenty-jive feet in diameter, and, adding the thickness of the hark, the whole diameter is about 
twenty-eight feet; lower down, at the surface of the ground, it is probably thirty-two or thirty- 
three feet. The largest tree now standing, called the Mammoth , is about the same size, but is 
imperfect on one side, a portion having been burned out by a fire at the roots. This tree was 
carefully measured with a tape, and its circumference found to be ninety-four feet, giving about 
thirty-one feet as its diameter. 
Mr. Lapham states that he has counted about one hundred and ninety trees, including the 
young and old. Of those of such gigantic proportions, however, there appears to be only about 
twenty, and these vary in their diameters. The principal trees have received fanciful names, 
such as, Father of the Forest, Beauty of the Forest, Pioneer's Cabin, Three Sisters, Old Maid, 
Mammoth, &c. Although I did not measure the heights of these trees, I saw no reason to ques¬ 
tion the accuracy of the statements that have been made, and I believe them to range from 
three hundred to three hundred and sixty feet in height. One is said to be three hundred and 
sixty-tliree feet; and an old one, lying prostrate, and much decayed, appears to have been over 
four hundred feet high. The prostrate tree is hollow, and I walked through it erect for a long 
distance. It is said that, before the lower part became filled up by earth and stones, brought 
in by a brook, a man could ride through on horseback. Most of the trees appear to have been 
much broken and deformed by the storms of centuries. The limbs are very short and thick, the 
foliage appearing to be in thick bunches around the trunk. The most perfectly formed tree of 
