A Grove of Big Trees

Photo credit:  National Park Service

This article takes us back to a time when California was still full of unexplored land and undiscovered wonders.  It makes me thankful that these groves were eventually preserved through the creation of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks so that we can still enjoy them today.

Sacramento Daily Union,  Nov. 16, 1856

ANOTHER MAMMOTH GROVE -- We are informed, says the Mariposa Democrat, by Judge Burke, who has recently returned from Visalia, that a grove of big trees have been discovered upon a branch of King's River, near the saw mill of O.K. Smith, the Representative elect of Frezno and Tulare counties.  The grove contains over 1,000 trees, by actual count, varying in size from eight to thirty-two feed in diameter.  Many of them are from 325 to 375 feet high.  The species of tree is the same as those in Calaveras county, which are attracting so much attention.  Many have, since the discovery of this grove, visited it, and the above statement, we are assured, is no exaggeration.