Calaveras North Grove visit

So a bit of history on the Calaveras North Grove. In about the late 1800s everyone who saw and admired the enormous trees in the grove seemed to get the idea that they should name one after their favorite celebrity or person of note. It became quite common for people to have a bright white marble plaque made up with the chosen name engrave upon it, and attach it to the tree for all and sundry to admire.  Marble was expensive, but it was a very durable material, so well chosen for the application. Some of these approximately two-foot-wide plaques were stolen, lost, or broken, and a few were replaced as needed. In spite of many disappearing before the rest were systematically removed from the trees, a certain number of the plaques still exist. The ones still around show very little wear, despite the weathering of decades outside in the snow and rain. Although they are no longer hanging from the trees, you can see a few of the remaining marble plaques adorning the walls inside the museum.

My buddy John recently made me aware of one of these plaques being offered by a private seller on eBay. It was one that hung on the Lincoln Tree in Calaveras North Grove for many decades starting in 1865. The plaque was listed on the auction as Abraham Lincoln memorabilia. Although it was named for the president, it is more sequoia memorabilia than presidential. It was being offered for a pretty exorbitant amount, so I notified the local museums in hopes of them being able to obtain this piece of history. About three or so auctions later, the price came down to a somewhat less exorbitant amount and I came to the conclusion that the official channels were not going to respond fast enough to get a bid in on the plaque; so I went ahead and put in a bid myself, and received a heavy white marble artifact for my trouble.

The plaque was originally created in 1865, the year of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Another of my sequoia hunter buddies, Fredrik, found an article mentioning it that was published in a local rag the following year. The author, a rather vociferous and somewhat vexed opponent of the whole tree naming process, reveals the originators of the name. An excerpt from the entertaining article, shown below, indicates that we owe the Lincoln Tree name to a triad of people:  Mr. Louis Leland, Mrs. Thomas Mins, and a Mrs. Farrell.

The plaque hung on the tree for several decades, and I have seen pictures, circa 1870, of it hanging in at least two different locations on the tree, so likely it was rehung at least once prior to its subsequent entrance into "private" ownership. I was told by the eBay seller that the plaque was originally “taken down” from the Lincoln Tree by a gentleman named Jim Hunter, for whom the Hunters Reservoir is named, apparently after a fire slightly damaged the tree and presumably the plaque’s mountings, and that he subsequently hung it over his doorway for many decades. Another of my explorer friends, Chris, looked up some data on fires in the area and found that in the very early 1900s there was a significant fire that may have only slightly burned the tree. Perhaps that was when the plaque was taken down. I notice the Lincoln Tree is not named on the Owens tree survey map from 1924, so I’m assuming the plaque was removed prior to the year of that survey.

I didn’t purchase this plaque to keep it however. As special as pieces of the big trees history like this are, I believe it should be in a museum, where the public can see it. I therefore donated it to the Calaveras Big Trees Museum, and it will likely show up on its walls soon. Below are some pics of the plaque, mounted on a sequoia wood base, and some other knickknacks that I sent along with it.

But, back to the usual tree volume assessing...

During this visit to Calaveras, I measured another large and interesting outlier sequoia of note named Columbus. It was off trail, but not far, and based on my measurements it turned out to be the sixth largest in the South Grove, so it's of a pretty respectable size. I really like the character evident in this exceptional specimen. It's suffered some, obviously from many years of stoic resistance to the forces of nature. The base has large burns showing fires it has had to endure.  Large broken off branches up high and a foreshortened top that has taken its share of damage show its continuing patient resistance.  I always like a big tree with a lot of unique character...  Its size specs are as follows:

Base Circumference: 75' 10"
DBH: 20' 
Height: 218' 
Volume: 27,159 Cubic Feet

In the North Grove, I have also measured some of the larger trees and came up with the following numbers on the two of the largest, the Empire State Tree and Mother (of the Mother & Son grouping). It turns out that the Empire State is larger around in base dimensions; however, the Mother ekes out the win on total volume. Here are the specs on the two of them:

Empire State
Base Circumference: 84'
DBH: 20.7' 
Height: 258.5' 
Volume: 25,122 Cubic Feet

Mother
Base Circumference: 76' 4"
DBH: 18.36' 
Height: 276.5' 
Volume: 25,662 Cubic Feet

Since they are so close in total volume, I may have to go back and do another measurement on both trees from 90 degrees offset on the original direction. That will give me a more exact calculated volume. One tree or the other may end up being slightly larger or smaller when evaluated from another angle, and that could change their standing. Inquiring minds want to know.

And there are still some other trees that look like they might be near to the 25k mark also in the northern grove that I have yet to measure.  I will have to get to them next trip so we can get a clear picture of exactly how they measure up against these big ones.

Pics below are 2 pics each of the Empire State Tree and the Mother & Son grouping.