THE GRANDEST SCENERY

As the first coast redwoods preserved for public recreation, Big Trees Grove was often the object of lavish descriptions, with touches of boosterism, such as this one from 1892.

“The scenery through which we passed on our climb over the Santa Cruz Mountains was, in my opinion, the grandest of any we had seen on our transcontinental trip. San Lorenzo and Powdermill Canyons disclose scenes of wonderous beauty, the giant walls through which the mountain stream forced its way being almost hidden in masses of dense green foliage.”

“At Big Trees Station all alighted, and an opportunity was given to inspect the giant black-heart redwoods which have attracted visitors from every quarter of the civilized globe. The grove contains scores of these monarchs of the forest – many of them named after Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Hancock and other famous generals of the civil war. They are straight as an arrow for hundreds of feet high, and devoid of foliage except near the top." 

"Thirty-one members of our party walked in erect and stood comfortably inside one of these monsters [Fremont Tree], and it took 16 men with outstretched arms to encircle the base of another [likely the Giant]. Several beautiful groups, all separate and distinct at the base, have become Siamese overhead and thence grow up as one tree.”

“Leaving Big Trees Station we proceeded through a lovely country, literally, a continuous stretch of fruit gardens, on an easy down grade, towards San Jose, the gem of the enchanting Santa Clara Valley, and the Garden City of California.”

Source: “A Press Opinion,” Santa Cruz Surf , Santa Cruz, California, March 12, 1892 and images from Author's Personal Collection.