MAMMOTH TREES—QUARTZ ROCK—BASALT—CAYE. 
259 
the group is called the Beauty of the Forest, and it is favorably exposed to view by the clearing 
which has been made around Mr. Lapham’s hotel. A sketch of it is presented with this report, 
View XIV. It is said to he only fifteen feet in diameter at the base, and three hundred and 
twenty-five feet high. It is surrounded by a forest of large pines and firs and a thick under¬ 
growth of small trees. 
The tree which was cut down was partly used for lumber, and a part of the top has been 
levelled off, and a full-length double howling-alley built on it. The log tapers so gradually, 
and its great diameter is so well preserved for a long distance, that at the extreme end of the 
alley it is not possible to get from the ground to the top of the log without climbing up by the 
limbs. The bark was stripped off from the lower part of the log and sent away for exhibition. 
Since that time a second tree has been stripped of its bark to the height of ninety feet, and 
the tree is still standing. It is the intention of the proprietors of the grove to surround it with 
a spiral staircase, so that visitors may ascend to the top, and have a full view of the surrounding 
forest, with here and there a giant trunk rising above it. 
It had been stated that these gigantic trees were about 3,000 years old, and this appeared to 
he the belief at the locality. The end of the great, fallen trunk, which had been cut square off by a 
cross-cut saw, was favorably exposed for examination, and all the rings of annual growth could 
he distinctly seen. A portion of this was measured, and the rings were counted ; the result 
was, that I became satisfied that the tree could not have been more than 1,200 years in attain¬ 
ing its growth. If time had permitted, the exact age, as far as indicated by the annual rings, 
would have been determined. 1 
CAVE CITY. 
From the Mammoth Grove we passed by a horse-trail, or bridle-path, over the hills for about 
eighteen miles to Cave City , a new mining town near a great cave in the limestone. Soon after 
leaving the great forest-covered valley, the hills became less thickly covered, and at last they 
were almost devoid of trees. Granite was the chief underlying rock for the greater part of the 
way; but we saw great numbers of round blocks of basalt strewn over the surface here and 
there, as if they were derived from the weathering of a horizontal layer. The descent from 
the elevated region of the trees became rapid, and at length the trail skirted the margin of a 
hroad valley far below us. At the foot of a long hill we came suddenly upon an immense mass 
of quartz-rock jutting out from the side of the mountain and rising some fifty or sixty feet 
above the trail. On gaining the top, by the aid of cedars growing along its precipitous side, 
we found that it formed a sheer precipice, twelve or fifteen hundred feet high, overlooking the 
valley. This is a most favorable point from which to view the valley ; it extends for several 
miles in every direction, and is thickly wooded with pines. The distant ridges are also well 
wooded with tall, conical pines ; and on the west a long line of plateaux show horizontal 
terraces and lines of the strata. They are over 2,000 feet high, and can be traced for miles, 
reaching across valleys over ten miles wide. These strata are probably a continuation of those 
at Knight’s Ferry, Abbey’s Ferry, and Mokelumne Hill. 
After descending by the winding trail to the level of the valley, and crossing to hills on the 
opposite side, we looked back and saw a most beautiful water-fall, with a descent of about a 
1 The eminent English botanist, Prof. Lindley, on receiving specimens of this remarkable tree, regarded it as forming a 
new genus, and he proposed for it the name Wellingtmia gigantea. Prof. Torrey, having recently received a great number of 
more perfect specimens, decides that the tree must be referred to the old genus Sequoia, and it is now known as Sequoia 
giganiea. It is similar in many respects to the redwood, Sequoia sempervirens. 
