We made a side trip to the big trees of the Mariposa group, which are
about one hour's ride from the hotel, says a correspondent of the
Pittsburg _Dispatch_. If the smallest of these trees could be planted
anywhere in Pennsylvania the railroads would run excursion trains to it
and make money. The trees in this grove are so large that it takes a
good while to fully appreciate the facts about the size of the biggest
of them. The "Grizzly Giant" is thirty-four feet through at the base
and over 400 feet high. This tree would overtop the spires on the
Pittsburg cathedral by over 100 feet. The trunk of this tree is 100
feet clear to the first limb, which is twenty feet in circumference.
Many other trees here are very nearly as large as this one, and there
are 400 in the grove. Through several tunnels have been cut and a
four-horse stage can go through these tunnels on the run and never
graze a hub. You get an approach to an adequate idea of their size by
walking off 100 yards or so while the stage is standing at the foot of
a tree and glancing from top to bottom, keeping the stage in mind as a
means of comparison. The stage and the horses look like the little tin
outfit that Santa Claus brought you when you were a good little boy.
These trees are no longer to be called the largest in the world,
however. A species of eucalyptus has been found in Australia as large
or larger. Emerson warns us against the use of the superlative, but
when you are in this region of the globe you can't get along without a
liberal use of it. He himself says of Yosemite: "It is the only spot
I have ever found that came up to the brag." And as I stood in the
big tree grove I remembered that some one called Emerson himself "the
Sequoia of the human race."