THE SECRET OF THE BIG TREES. 
13 
two men stand and chop out huge chips, sometimes a foot and a half 
long. As the cutting proceeds a great notch is formed, flat on the 
bottom and high enough so that the men actually stand within it. 
In this Avav they chop 10 feet more or less into the tree, until they 
approach the center. Then they take a band saw 7 15 or 20 feet long 
and go around to the other side. For the next few 7 days they pull 
i the great saw back and forth, soaking it liberally in grease to make 
it slip easily, and driving wedges in behind it in order to prevent 
the w 7 eight of the tree from resting on the saw 7 . Finally, when the 
tree is almost cut through, more wedging is done, and the helpless 
trunk topples over with a thud and a stupendous cracking of branches 
MARIPOSA GROVE, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. 
* Photograph by Pillsbury Picture Co. 
