”THE BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA.

The ‘big trees’ of Santa Cruz County were the first to attract attention, and were brought into notice by General Fremont, who measured them in 1846, and gave publicity to their existence. Their size seemed incredible, and the report was not generally, in the East, relied upon, and they were forgotten until the discovery of others much larger at a later date. The tallest of the Santa Cruz trees is given at 300 feet, but is not as large in diameter as one only 276 feet high, which is 62 feet in circumference four feet from the ground. The top of this tree has been broken off, and the piece must have been at least 25 feet long. In this grove are many fine trees. They are situated about eight miles from Santa Cruz, near Felton, in the Coast Range of mountains, and in the vast forests of redwoods. The engraving represents one of these trees in which is a hollow forming a large room, in which various parties are reported to have lived at an early date. Two windows were cut through the sides, and a hole for a stove-pipe. The entrance was closed by a blanket. In this grove, Graham and Ware, about 1848, tanned leather by cutting vats out of a fallen redwood tree. These vats still remain, and are each about ten feet long, four feet wide and four feet deep. They tanned mostly hear and deer skins. …