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| Author's Personal Collection |
According
to the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 1902 the proprietors of Big Trees Grove
boasted of “a tree which has a rift in it through which two horses and a surrey
can be driven without touching either side, similar to the famous tree in the
Calaveras Grove through which a stage coach has been driven, with the exception
that the tree in our Big Tree grove has not been trimmed or hewn in any way to
increase its aperture.”
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| Author's Personal Collection |
The
only tree at the grove which comes close to this description is the Natural
Graft Tree along the Redwood Loop Trail (trail guide marker #3). The Natural
Graft is composed of fire scarred redwoods, two of which are joined high up by
a natural graft. In more recent years it was also referred to as the Triple
Burn Tree. It may also have been the tree described earlier as the Driveway
Tree.
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| Author's Personal Collection |
The article
further stated that any “… person
who comes to these trees and gives them a hurried visit can form no
comprehension of their wonderful beauties and attractions, and half a day can
be spent with profit and interest looking over these natural wonders ... That
group of Big Trees – the subject of private ownership, with interests as
sacredly vested as any man can have in property – are one of the principal
attractions to Santa Cruz. How many tourists would come to Santa Cruz in the
winter time from the East were it not for these Big Trees? How many people would come to Santa Cruz to
enjoy our superb summer climate, were not these trees on the lists of
attractions?"
Note: The tree at the Calaveras Grove with the man-made aperture cut in the 1880s was the Pioneer Cabin Tree, a giant sequoia, which unfortunately fell in a storm in 2017. The most famous giant sequoia with such an man-made opening was the Wawona Tree in Yosemite's Mariposa Grove which fell during a snowstorm in 1969.
Source: “The Felton Big Tree Grove,”
Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 20, 1902.
