Redw)oods

By Lloyd Harris Holnes - Eureka Lumber Company

It is my pleasure from time to time to travel between San Francisco and Eureka over the beautiful and well-graded Redwood Highway and it is during these sojourns to the North that a great lesson in fellowship is drawn from the open pages of Nature's wonder books. Traveling through Marin, Mendocino and Sonoma Counties we notice that the hills near the Highway are clothed with Madrone, the Manzanita and the Scrub Oak, intermingled now and then in the cool fertile canyons with the Douglas Fir and the Redwood. The Scrub Oak and the Madrone are of no commercial value and neither do we find the isolated groups of Fir or Redwood of economic importance. Each group seems to be a law unto itself. They lead a selfish hermit life, fighting for'their food and for the sunshine and with the greediness that causes itself to become gnarled and a menace to the younger growth.

But how different the conditions are when we pass into the Eel River Valley country. We pass through the wonderful groves that are dedicated to the memories of heroes. Living organizations that have for their objects the betterment of mankind. We notice the tops piercing the azure blue of the sky, reaching to drink Godls warm sunlight.

We also observe that the nearer these trees grow tggether, the larger they become-the nearer they grow the taller they are, and the taller they become, the finer quality of lumber they produce; that each is protecting the other from storms and the savage winds and they are acting as a support and a help to each other.

In this day and age the dealer is no hermit like the Scrub Oak but like the primeval redwood forest, is strengthened by contact with his co-worker, meeting and exchanging views and ideas and by rubbing elbows as it were, the dealer is broadened, made richer in knowledge and of greater value not only to himself but to the ,community in which he belongs. Thus, the Redwood forest to me stands as a living emblem and truth of the association principlethat association broadens us and protects us like the Redwood trees that grow in their protective groves.

Many natural wonders are in the State of California, such as the Petrified Forest at Calistoga, the Yosemite Valley, Lake Tahoe and the Pinnacles but of all these wonders within the boundaries of our state, are to be found the oldest forest of trees in the world. On the Eastern side of the state is the Sequoia Gigantea and on the Western side the Sequoia Sempervirens, (live forever).

Just a few words about the Sequoia Gigantea. This wonderful tree is found on the Western slopes of the Sierra, approximately from Placer County to Tulare, a longitudinal distance of approximately 250 miles and ,the elevation running _from 5,00O to 8,000 feet. The range is not continuous but is broken into about 32 small s:roves such as, the Calaveras, the Wawona and the Maripoi ,chain. These. trees are not found in pure stands but intermingled with the While Fir, the Yellow Pine, the Sugar pine and the fncense Cedar. When a very young tree, it is a beautiful pyramid but in older life, lighfning-oft-times removes the upper pa-rt of the crown, giving if a very rugged appeara.nce: The ages by actual couni are 1100io 24C[..- yeaii and the height is_ about 225 f.eet. Geneologically -they are direct descendants of a powerful family living-in th6 Tertiary period and were se6dlings 500 years befdre the Christian era. The leaves are awl or lanceolate shaped, about one-eighth of an inch long and fold one into the dther, simi. lar to the cypress. The bark is from 6 inches to 2 feet in thickness and is a sort of dull salmon pink in color. The wood is a dark red, but pink when freshly sawn, and is very light, fairly strong and extraordinarily durable. On ad,count of its- scarcity and its location in -the high mountains that make logging impossible, it is not found'in our markets.._ 4 !S* years ag'o, some posts were cut but today even the "Big Tree posts" are not fo be found on our mar[<et.

Redwood was first discovered in l79l bv Thaddeus Haenke of the Malaspina Expedition, the firs[ botanist to visit California. The range of this tree is from the Oregon line to the Santa Lu,cia Mountains, a distance of 450 mTles and this includes from about a mile to forty miles back from the Coast. In the lowlands it can be found in almost pure stands although when it gets to the small altitude it is_intermingled wiih the Dou[las Fir, Tan Oak and the Western Hemlock. The besf of this tree is found in Northern Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. The Indians at one time believed the center of the world was to be found among'the Redwoods. This no doubt is their belief because of ihe very limited and very narrow space in which it is to be found in the world.

The age of this tree is just under 2,000 years and, as can be seen, is younger by -several centuries ihan the Sequoia Gigantea. It reaches a height of from 100 to 300,feet. 'The largest trees have a volumt of as much as one-quarter to over one-third of a million board feet. One.tree-was estimated to contain over 360,000 board feet, enough to build approximately 20 average homes. On the boltom lands where they are in pure stands, it is quite common to find them producing from 100,000 to 1,000,000 board feet.

The wood of this tree_is light in weight, is straight- grained, free from resin, keeps its shape well and wdrks into columns and smaller bric-a-brac with ease. It also holds paint extremely well and while it is comparatively a

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