Big Trees

the sequoia gigantea, “big tree” of California, is found only on the.W. slope of the Sierra, while the “redwood,” belonging to the same genus, is confined to the Coast Range. The Calaveras Grove of sequoia gigantea is the northernmost of the California groves of >i trees, and it is the nearest to San Franciseo. It is, however,, eg seldom visited, as the Mariposa Grove is convenmelts included in the usual route té the Yosemite. The Calaveras Grove covers an area 1,100 yards long and 70 yards wide, 4,750 feet above the sea, and contains about 100 trees of large size, besides many smaller ones. The tallest now standing is the Keystone State, which is 325 feet high and 45 feet in girth. The Mother of the Forest (denuded of its bark) is 315 feet high and has a girth of 61 feet, while the prostrate Father of the Forest measures 112 feet in circumference. Two other trees are over 300 feet high, and many exceed 250 feet. A house has been built over a stump with a diameter of 24 feet. The bark is sometimes 1144 feet in thickne . About 5 miles to the S. is the Stanislaus or South Grove, also containing many fine trees. The Mariposa Grove of big trees, so called from its situation ay Mariposa county, occupies a tract of land (6,- 590 feet above the sea) 4 square miles in area, reserved as a State Park, and consists of two distinct groves, one half mile apart. The Lower Grove contains about 100 fine specimens of the sequoia gigantea, including the Grizzly Giant, the largest of all, with a circumference of 94 feet and a diameter of 31 feet. Its main limb, 200 feet from the ground, is 6% feet in diameter. In ascending to the Upper Grove, which contains 365 big trees, the road pa es through a tunnel, 10 feet high and 914 feet wide (at the bottom), cut directly through the heart of a living sequoia, 27 feet in diameter. About 10 of the trees in the Mariposa Grove exceed 250 feet in height (highest 272 feet) and about 20 trees have a circumference of over 60 feet, three of these being over 90 feet. The Calaveras Grove has taller trees than any of the Mariposa Grove, but the latter has those of greater circumference. The wood of the sequoia gigantea, like that of the sequoia sempervirens, is easily worked, durable, and susceptible of a high polish. The sequoia sempervirens, or redwoods, sometimes reach a height of 300 feet. The Santa Cruz Grove of big trees contains about a score of the genuine redwood with a diameter of 10 feet and upward. The largest is 23 feet acro ; one of the finest, named the Pioneer, has a girth of 70 feet. The redwood is one of the most prized varieties of lumber, and is shipped in great quantities to the Eastern States, where its ornamental qualities are fully appreciated.