Fig. 133. “General Grant,” a Big Tree, Mariposa Grove, California
It is hard to realize this great age. It means that for centuries and centuries before the white men came these kings of the forests looked down on generations and generations of Indian tribes. They may even have seen the coming of the first Indians. What wonderful tales they might relate if they could only talk!
Fig. 134. Redwood Logs in Humboldt County, California
On that fateful day over four hundred years ago, when the three little caravels of Columbus sighted the West Indies, these hoary old trees were twenty-five hundred years old. They should be sacred to every American, and not one should ever be cut down for lumber.
There are two distinct kinds of big trees, the redwood and the so-called “big trees,” which are the largest trees in the world. They both belong to the cone-bearing (coniferous) group, and the needles are only three quarters of an inch long and the little cones an inch.
The wood is reddish, as the name implies, not unlike red cedar, but is softer and is used for many purposes on the Pacific coast.