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.H 1ST 0 R I C.A L B U L LET I NNo.6 TULARE COUNTY 701 Watson Avent!" President'___n---nnnnn_nmnnmm

Felling A Big TreeI

OCTOBER1950 HISTOICALnnnnn

SOCIETY Visalia, California

G. Schutt,Sunkel,

Haroldn

Lindsay

Tulare

Vice President Vice President Secretary Trea['urernn

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Walternnunn

Mrs. W. L. Lamkin, PortervilleMiss Annie R. Mitchell 701 Watson Ave., Visalianm

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Director

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A. D. Sweet, Visalia Joseph E. Doctor, E,xeter

Director '---n nUmn' ,___'---n n_nn'---"---'nn A. B. Dickey, Dinuba The Tulare County Histor.cal Society i,s a voluntary, non-profit organization devoted to the study and spread of information about local history. All who are interested in this subject are urged to become members. Please send the ~ecretary a list of those in your community to whom an invitation should be sent. Dues are one dollar and fifty centJs for the period ending December 31, 1951. Thereafter one dollar per calender year.

BIO TREES...as early as 1868 and the pa~e becam,e so fast that in the 80's there was fear that all would be destroyed and the formation of General Grant and. Sequoia Na tional Parks in 1890 was the re- of local people California's pride and wish to sult of agitation by George Stewart, then show Big Trees to strangers was lead awakened. early and as far back publisher ~f the Visalia Delta. This Bulletin attempts to bring as 1854 the bark was stripped together Isome unpublished mafrom a tree in the Calaveras referGrove to be reassembled on a terial and recall scattered ences that have been printed but framework. The Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, which no longer have circulation. It does not tell the story very The World's Columbian Exposition No doubt there are at Chicago in 1893 and other big completely. fairs have had their exhibits of some errors of fact and many er- of omission. The Society Big Trees. At first they were rors like to obtain additional -:greeted with skepticism but grad- would statements that can be filed to ually the reports of eye-w\itnesses round out the record. and the general distribution of We hope it will lead to the ~ photographs overcame doubts and eventual publishing of an adeCaliforia's Big Trees were acceptquate story of the big mills in ed as facts. Fresno County, centering at MillSequoias were cut for lumber wood and Hume. scription ever applied by Califorians. Maybe the sight of these trees has so awed all beholders that normal powers of exaggeration have been dulled.

Probably the only modest de-

FELWW A Big Tree at Mountain Home, probably about 19G'1.Earl McDonald on right.

WORLD'S FAIR TREE

An Interview with Jesse Pattee By HAROLD G. SCHUTT The most ambitious "Big Tree" in the middle for twenty minutes exhibit was that shown at the because of the vibration. World's Columbia E,xposition at The tree was hallowed out and Chicago in 1893 (orginally schedfourteen foot "staves" cut with uled for 1892). The tree was a kthe bark and about six inches of part of the U. 8'. government ex- wood. Then a section about two hibit. A contract was made by feet thick was cut off the re Burr Mitchell, of Miramonte, to maining stump and then another cut a big Sequoia and prepare set of fourteen foot staves was pre the parDs to be used. Mr.. Ball of pared. These parts were all marked and crated and hauled out to Monson for shipment to Chicago. The stump, fifty feet above the ground, was nineteen feet six inches larger at the top of the twenty foot stump which Was left when the jOb was done. This relic is now called the "Chicago" stump. Efforts have been made to find out wha"t happened to the exhibit after the fair closed as it' was understood that it had been mov ed. After hearing that it w~nt to Washington, Senator Know land was asked to secure such in formation as he could. The follow ing W3JS furnished by the Legis" lative R:cference Service of the Library of Congress under date of March 16, 1950. "Chicago World's Fair Section of Giant 'Sequoia Tree" "The section of Giant Sequoia, originally cut for exhibit at the (Continued on Page 2)

Early Sawmills In Northern Tulare CountyWallace Elliott, who published the earliest general history of Tulare County in 1883, gives quite a detailed account of early sawmills, \Starting with Smith and Hatch who started a mill on the Wnitaker Ranch in 1856. ,Bert Barton, in a column in the Woodlake Echo, says this was at Miramonte. Because names of mills, owners and places changed so much it would be mileading to repeat Elliott's story. It can be summarized by saying that mills have been operating in the lower timber since the 50's and 60's. Eshom Valley and the area below General Grant Park have had lllany mills. There was one at

Le Grand contracted to build a road and .haul the material to mill, etc. Most of them were the railroad. The tree selected small. was the "General Noble" and was After 1881 the record is clearlocated about three miles north er. In that year Smith Comstock of the north west corner of Gencontracted with S. Sweet and Co. eral Grant Park. of Visalia, who controlled the Little description of the cutting Wagy mill, to cut lumber at Hitchof the tree is needed because it cock Meadows, near Happy Gap, is shown so vividly by the picabove Meadow Flat. In 1883, Com- tureB which are included in this stock bought the mill and moved Bul~etin. These pictures taken it up to "Big Stump" which is by C. C. Curtis are as sharp in devery close to the present main tail as ones taken today and have entrance to General Grant Park. been presented by Mr. Pattee to It operated there for six years and the Tulare County Museum. during this time one of the finest The tree was cut off about fifty standls of sugar pine in the moun- feet above the ground and JeSise tains was cut from the present Pattee will never forget the exWilsonia area. Sequoia and yel-: J.)erience of the moments when the low pine and probably fir ~ei-> -tree fell. It did not go as planned.I

Whitaker Forest about 1870. The also cut. The mill was moved names that one encountem are down stream two or three times Thomas, Osborn, Barton, Hyde, and at one time was operated by Hart, Wagy. There was the Tur- J. C. Stansfield. COIDIstock operabine mill, People's mill, Phoenix j (Continued on Page 4)

The trunk slipped back onto the stump and broke the scaffold. Pattee and the three others doing the cutting jumped onto the stump but couldn't stand even

Page2

TULARE

COUNTY

HISTORICAL

SOCIETY1932:

October, 1950

CENTENNIAL TREES

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World's F'air Tree(Continued from Page 1)

Big Redwood

Put In Stora~e

taken out via Happy Camp, Pine World's Columbian Exposition at "The 30-foot high section 0: the California's Big Trees weren't weU known when the United Springs, Rancherie and Moun Chicago in 1893, and later set up trunk of one of the giant Cali States celebrated a century of in tain View. (ie the K ncaid Mill on the grounds of the Department fornia Sequoi::" trees which has It was shipr;cd from Tu of Agriculture in Washington, D. stood on a concrete base in The dependence with its first big fair road). lare by rail to San Francisco C., was d:smantled and moved Mall in Washington, in front of at Philadelphia in 1876. What at Wood to the Arlington Experiment Farm the Department of Agriculture would permit the fair visitor to where it was exhibited visualize these trees better than ward Gardens and thence routed on the Virginia side of the Poto main building, for the past 38 to exhibit a section of the trunk east to the Centennial. One by mac River during the wintel'of years, has been taken down and I of a tree? A solid section couldn't one the partners withdrew from 1931-32. It was never re-tssem stored at Arlington Experiment be transported but the next best the enterprise. First Manley, then bled, but rested there in storage Farm, just across the Potomac and before the tree for several years. No record of its from Washington, to keep it out thing was done. Mrs. McGee re- McKiearnan I left San Franc"lsco Hubbs sold final disposal is available, but it of the weather until another suit ports, "In 1875, Martin Vivian I cut a big Sequoia near the Gen- out for two thousand dollars, three ,seems to have been destroyed. No able location is found for it. This thousand dollars less than the one was found who could sho~ huge hollow cylinder of timber, el"al Grant with axes, a sixteen foot section wws cut out and split cost of preparation. A t:nancial whether this was before or after which may possibly have been a fiasco and tradition says the January 30, 1942, when the Army husky sapling in King Solomon's pie shaped pieces taking I into luck. took over the Arl:ngton Experi day, 10 centuries B. C., was mov care to preserve the bark. They new owners had no better I then split the heart out of each The above information is sum ment Farm. Prior to this date, all ed because it was in the way in piece leaving a rim of bark and marized from a paper prepared the agricultural work with the the Government building program. sap\\ ood. These outer pieces were in 1923 by Mrs. Jay Brown. She records of research had been mov "The section was cur for dis hauled out by Happy Gap (near had difficulty securing inform a ed to the Agricultural Research play in the Government exhibit presentSeqt(o,a Lake) and Tra tion and had to rely on much Center at Beltsville, Maryland. at the World's columb'Ian Exposi ver to Cross Creek and shipped to h.earsay evidence. Her informa "The record is clear that the t:on in Chicago in 1893. The tree Philadelphia. " ~~on was that the tree was cut section wws moved to the Arling grew on the boundary line be of ton Experiment Farm, but there tween Fresno and Tulare Counties, Mrs. McGee's uncle, Israel Gam m 1875. There are a number lin, had a squatter's timber claim printed references to this exploit after nothing concerning disposal Calif. From recorls which Dr. W. in this area and he, with Mrs. t~at agree in most aspects but of the section could be found. A. Taylor, chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, wws able to f:nd, McGee's father, Tom Gamlin, Poley eIther do not mention the date of Moreover, no piece of the section cutting or place it in 1878, which was placed with the wood exhibit the tree stood some 300 feet high Kimawyer and probably others, helped cut the tree. Vivian wws would, of cource, be too late for in the Smithsonian Institution . :n the forest, section was lowed out in the California and hol the " The folio t t not well-to-do and probably had the Centennial. . wmg" s a ement is great hollow pIeces . . .' of wood was some financial backing but there copied from P a ge 2 of th Off Wallace Elhott m hIS "Hilstory for shIpment " ' i) e ICIal. cut mto 50 pIeces . . 0 f T ulare County has consider Record Dn I ted St t D :s no information about outside . ' a es epartment . . to ChIcago. Each piece being sponsors. f able detaIl about the project but of Agriculture . ' or J anuary 30 . Jesse Pattee says that Sam and gives no date. The very next ' eqUlvalent to a log 4 to 5 feet tells of the Vivian tree that the bark of one or more of through and 14 feet long. The sec Bill Harp, Huse Campbell and paragraph was referred to earlier. the giant trees of California be tion was cut 3'0 feet above the John Moore hauled the exhibit to which the railroad. He recalls that when If the McKiearnan-Hubbs-Manley taken off the trunk in segments ground level where it grew, and tree also was sent to the centen and sections, to be placed on ar it is 26 feet in diameter and 85 he first ,,'ent to the mountains Elliott would have rival on a skeleton frame of the feet in circumference. (Note: that it was a fad to fashion canes nial surely and mentioned the fact. same dimensions as the original. Pattee recollection is 20 feet from sticks split from the cen known "Bus:ness Directory and Histor Agricultural Hall having an ele which checks with stump) At the tennial log. Handbook of, vation of 75 feet, will give room exposition the section was set up Park records confirm the gen ical and Descriptive eral information above but men Tulare C'ounty, CaLfornia, 1888" for an exhibit of one of these in the Government Exhibit, a spi by Pillsbury and Ells monster trees." ral stairway wws run from the tion no names. S:nce Vivian cut published "Hand-book to the Centennial bottom to the top on the interior this tree on governII\'ent land v orth at Tulare, gives a similar and states that the tree Grounds and Fairmount Pa,ik. and many visitors to the fair view~ without permission tradition says account from the vantage that he was sentenced to a year in was cut in 1878. This same story Where to go and what to see." ed the exhibit federal prison. Wallace Elliott in is repeated in "Pen Pictures" a Philadelphia 1876, 'page 6. point thus afforded, of Fresno, Tulare ~nd '?he big tree,s of California, for "After the exposition thesec "History of Tulare County" (18 history 83) says he wws fin.ed fifty dollars Ke~n C?Unties, published in 1891. whlCh the country is famed, were tion was shipped to Washington, here represented by a piece of and in 1894 it was placed in The but should have been jailed, for It IS dlff cult to locate evidence to overcome these three almost bark about eighteen inches thick Mall where it has been an object life for his vandalism. The most interesting thing contemporary records. If the tree taken from one of these monster 10f interest to the thousands of red-woods. Photographs of them visitors to the National C 't I about this exhibit was the lack had been sent to the Centennial .' api a of enthusiasm that it encounterExhibit:on one would expect these were shown, which ' gave a very w h 0 come ItS way" . . d .d I ed at pubLshed only a few goo 1 ea of theIr gigantic pro . the fair. People were skep hlstones, tical and couldn't believe that a . years later, to mention the fact. portions." It IS hoped that the exhibit has that this was a "The Centennial Exposition. .. not been dest~oyed. Probably the tree could grow so big. They The tradition tree is very strong "Philadelphia, Hubbard Bros 18 bark was fallmg from the trunk pointed to the places the log was "Centennial" ., after. 38 years in the open in split as proof that many small and goes back at least to the 76, page's 316-362. 1890's. "AI as, the bIg . tree of Cahfornia . Washmgton. seems to ; d' t ,The picture trees had been fitted together. A typical California hoax. At the request of the Society, is a side show, and one must pa to:e Ica e Wrr6 ar~und the tree There is allso a "Centennial" eY the Free L~brary of Philadelphia 25-cents admittance if h . could ep loose bark m at place. But s thIS be replaced relative . e s~ th stump at Mountain Home. This searched the material in its files it at all! It stands i~ a I me wIly small expense nd a some mu tree was cut by John McKiear g c ttl an d h as sent the following quota other monstrosities-bi tions: . . we Imagme " a that e, seum a marvelous nan, J. R. Hubbs, and Ed Manley . .e t c. LIttle dId Tre' e could h'b" have to> ex 1 It. IncIdently the "B:a' pic . t b as a commercial venture, admis "Agricultural Building-In this anything so venerabl e as . . . Ig ure of the. tree in W as h'mg t on ' a tree could be gUI lty of f d sion being charged when it exhi b uIldmg there wIll also be a dis- California I es 0 .h e was f t T I ounC m some old f'l p Iay of ai I. the products of the so disreputable a prank'" Th e Re bited. This tree was cut off high . pnmary . u are in ounty above the ground, hollowed out, F orest, both m and sec- pubLcan, Springfield: . (Mass), - !Stored th bas Board of T ra d ~, . 0: the VI sali a M ulllcipa the rim sawed into sections and ondary form; and :t is proposed July 24, 1876. (clippings) l eme~t A uditonum.

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October, 1950

TULARE

COUNTY

HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

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Hud. Barton PioneerMy father, Hudson D. Barton, was one of Tulare Cou~ty's his torians but he sent his diary, let ters, newspapers articles, etc., to the State Historical Libr~UE-,,;

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h The .General Noble" and the men who prepared the exhibit. Left to riglit: Sam Turk, Will Gw1n, Dayton Dickey, Jesse Pattee, Capt. Jamison, Burr Mitchell, John Bodkins, "TOmGibson, Creed Archer.. 2. MakingUhd.eraut5{)feet above ground. 3. The falling tree. 4. RelDDving the .upstairs". 5. Preparing the lower set of staves. 6. On the way to Chicago. 7. After the fair the exhibit was 8et up on the Mall at Washington, D. C. and remained there until 1932-33. The building in the left background is the Smithsonian Institution. All pictures except' by C. C. Curtis.

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B1. A big sawlog -- exaot looation not known. 2. Largest load of lumber 3.- 4. Views of "Mark Twain- exhibit. Note two saws brazed together. Home in 1886. 6. Neal Van Doorman with part of his exhibit - Mountain flume, probably from Coburn~ Mill. 8. Logging on Redwood Mountain for ohute. Completed ohute in baokground. J, C. Stansfield was foreman.

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haulled from Mountain Home. 5. Frazier Mill at Mountain Home. 7. A blooked lumber Hayes Mill. 9. Building log of orew.

Pioture l"byA". R. Moore,3 & 4 by C. C. Curtis, 6 by Taber

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Comstook Mill at -Big Stump". 3. "Advertisement" ot Mountain Homeresort in Thompson's "HisD orioal Atlas of Tulare County" 1892. 4. Dillonwood, 1904. 5. SUmmer Home, 1892. Now Baloh Park. 6. "Splitter., a long saw to out big logs len~wise so that they would go thru sawmill - Dillon wood. 7. Oxen haulling pine log 0Jl ohute to Hart Mill. 8. "Centennial" (1) stump at Mountai:: Home. Pioture 1 by C. C. Curtis, 8 by E. M. Hammond.

1, Millwood lumber staoked

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7awaiting oompletion ot flume to Sanger. Note tlume.

82 The Smith