One of the vegetable wonders of the world, is the immense tree
discovered, a year or two since, in California. The first reports
concerning this huge giant of the forest seemed fabulous, so
extraordinary were the particulars; but it is found that the largest
statement did not exceed the truth. The tree is a cedar, of the species
called _arbor vitæ_, and was first discovered by some miners in the
mountains of Calaveras, California, in a forest called the Redwoods, on
Trinidad bay, some twenty or thirty miles from the mouth of Klamath
river, on the northern sea-coast of the state, a region that has been
but very little explored. A correspondent of the Sonora Herald, who
recently made an excursion to see it, thus describes it. “At the ground
its circumference was ninety-two feet; four feet above that, it was
eighty-eight; and ten feet above that, it was sixty-one feet in
circumference; and the tapering of the shaft was very gradual. Its
hight, to the end of the trunk, is two hundred and eighty-five feet; or,
if we include the topmost branches, three hundred and twenty-five feet.
This tree is by no means a deformity, as most trees with large trunks
are. It is throughout one of perfect symmetry, while its enormous
proportions are inseparable concomitants of its grandeur. I have said
that this is the largest tree yet discovered in the world. It is so. The
celebrated tree of Fremont would have to grow many centuries before it
could pretend to be called anything but a younger brother. It is said
that a tree was once found in Senegal, in Africa, whose trunk measured
ninety feet in circumference. But nobody has been able to find it since
its first discovery. There is a tree in Mexico called the _taxodium_,
which is said to be one hundred and seventeen feet in circumference, but
this is said to be formed by the union of several trees. The hight of
all these foreign trees is not more, in any case, than seventy feet; and
none of the trunks are more than ten feet. The age of this mammoth cedar
of California, if each zone may be reckoned one year, is about
twenty-five hundred and twenty years. A section of the wood which I
brought home with me, exclusive of the sap, which is only about one inch
thick, numbers about fourteen zones or grains to the inch. At that rate,
if it were permitted to grow, it would increase its diameter one-seventh
of an inch every year. In eighty-four years its diameter would be
increased one foot; in eight hundred and forty years, ten feet; and in
twenty-five hundred and twenty years, it would be forty feet in
diameter, and one hundred and twenty in circumference.
“It seems like an act of desecration to cut down such a noble tree, such
a magnificent specimen of the growth of the primeval forest. But it has
been done, not, however, without a vast deal of labor. It was
accomplished by first boring holes through the body with long augers,
worked by machinery, and afterward sawing from one to the other. Of
course, as the sawing drew to a close, the workmen were on the alert to
notice the first sign of toppling, but none came; the tree was so
straight and evenly balanced on all sides that it retained its upright
position after it had been sawed through. Wedges were then forced in,
and a breeze happening to spring up, over went the monster with a crash
which was heard for miles around. The bark was stripped from it for the
length of fifty feet from the base, and is from one to two feet in
thickness. It was taken off in sections, so that it can be placed,
relatively, in its original position, and thus give the beholder a just
idea of the gigantic dimensions of the tree. So placed, it will occupy a
space of about thirty feet in diameter, or ninety feet in circumference,
and fifty feet in hight. A piece of the wood will be shown, which has
been cut out from the tree across the whole diameter. We are told that
this piece of wood shows a vestige of bark near the middle, and that
this bark was evidently charred many centuries ago, when the tree was
comparatively a sapling.”
Since the above was written, the section of this huge tree alluded to,
has been exhibited in Stockton and San Francisco, and thence brought to
the United States, so that some of our readers may be able to get a view
of this monster of the California woods for a trifling admission fee. In
its natural condition, rearing its majestic head toward heaven, and
waving in all its native vigor, strength and verdure, it was a sight
worth a pilgrimage to see; and it will still be a rich gratification to
look upon the section of it, though that will give but a faint idea of
what the whole was in its native forest.
Notwithstanding the calculation given above by the writer in the Sonora
Herald, it is supposed that this tree can not be less than three
thousand years old; for, for a large space on the outer surface next to
the bark, the rings of growth are so thin as not to be distinguishable
from each other. Add one-third to the hight of Bunker-hill monument, and
the outward dimensions of the main trunk of this tree would be about the
same. From actual measurement it contained more than three hundred cords
of wood. One hundred men could easily stand within the hollow of it at
the same time, and a six-foot man rode a full-sized horse through it
without touching his hat to the upper surface.