CALLS FOR PRESERVATION

It is well known in Santa Cruz history that Josephine Clifford McCrackin’s March 7, 1900 Santa Cruz Sentinel editorial about saving the redwoods sparked preservation efforts. She beseeched "the people of this county and our neighbor-counties, indeed the people of all our State, to unite their voices with mine and make it loud enough, and strong enough, to reach our legislators and law-makers, so that they may secure to the ownership of the public another one of those wonderful redwood groves that are the admiration, the envy of the whole civilized world." At the time of her proclamation, only three sites containing giant sequoia groves had been provided government protection:  Sequoia National Park, General Grant National Park and Yosemite National Park.

The incident which led to McCrackin's call to action took place at Big Trees Grove. “The origin of the agitation is due to the refusal of the owner of the property to allow a local photographer to take some pictures of these natural wonders a few days ago for a London illustrated newspaper. The photographer [Andrew P. Hill] reported the occurrence here on his return, and then came rumors that the owner of the property was seriously contemplating the destruction of the trees in the lumber interest.”

The focus of those preservation efforts quickly turned away from Big Trees Grove. Locals and the new Sempervirens Club, soon began agitating to make Big Basin California’s first state park. But that spring there were preservation efforts also underway elsewhere.

According to William Tweed in his book, King Sequoia, on February 19, 1900 a joint resolution was introduced calling for federal acquisition of the Calaveras tract [of giant sequoias]. On March 8^th, both houses of Congress approved the resolution which called for negotiations between the owner of the Calaveras Grove and the secretary of the interior. The goal was federal management of the Calaveras Grove which was the first giant sequoia grove discovered and the first marketed to tourists.

Courier-Journal [Louisville, Kentucky], March 11, 1900

With news of this joint Congressional resolution many Santa Cruzans asked, “Is it too late to include the Santa Cruz Big Trees in these negotiations?” The fallout from the recent confrontation between Hill and the Welch family spawned fears that “if the Santa Cruz Big Trees do not become National property and reserved there is no telling what their destiny may be.”

A few days after McCrackin’s editorial, an article advocating the preservation of the redwoods along with the giant sequoias appeared in the March 13^th Evening Sentinel.

“A number of leading citizens have undertaken to bring about a movement looking to purchase by Congress of the famous big trees in the Santa Cruz mountains on the line of the narrow-gauge railroad. Among those leading the movement are Judge Hyland, James R. Lowe, Mayor Martin, Judge Rhodes and many others. They say that the Santa Cruz giants are in their way as great an attraction as the famous Sequoias of Calaveras, which are about to be reserved by virtue of a resolution of Congress just signed by the President, and that, in the public interest, they should be likewise included in a Government reservation.”

The local press was “unanimous in favor of saving the giant redwoods to posterity.” A San Jose Mercury correspondent advocated for government protection ...

"The Big Trees Grove at Felton, Santa Cruz county, is also worthy the attention either of the Government or the State, and steps should be taken to have these grand redwoods made public property. The new local Board of Trade at Santa Cruz ought to take this matter up in earnest, and it may rest assured of having the support of every similar organization in the State and the active backing of the California press."

Author's Personal Collection

The Pajaronian also advocated for preservation.

“The people of Santa Cruz are very anxious to have the Big Tree Grove made a national or State reservation. That Grove should be saved, and so should the redwood forests of the Big Basin, in the northern end of Santa Cruz county.”

Multiple editorials advocating Big Trees Grove be included in the Calaveras Grove resolution also appeared March 10, 1900 Santa Cruz Sentinel:

“The Santa Cruz Big Tree Grove should become the property of the Nation, and be thrown open to the people.”

“The ‘Sentinel’s’ motion to make the Santa Cruz Big Trees National property and throwing them open to the public, is being seconded all over the State.”

“Let the new local Board of Trade take hold of the project of the Nation owning the Santa Cruz Big Tree Grove and throwing it open to the public. It is of little value, judging from the assessment roll.  From statements made it has always paid little. It will never earn much under private ownership and blind management.”

When Congress balked at the purchase price for the Calaveras Grove and declined to legally condemn the privately owned property, the deal fell through. The slight chance that Big Trees Grove, the first coast redwoods to attract tourist attention, might also receive federal government protection also evaporated.

Fortunately for us, the Welch family decided to continue their patriarch’s original preservation goal. The grove which Joseph Warren Welch first purchased in 1867 continued to operate as the resort Big Trees Grove until 1930. That year the grove was sold by the Welch family to become a Santa Cruz County park. 

It took quite a few years until the first famed redwood and sequoia groves attained state park status. For the Calaveras Grove government protection came in 1931. For Big Trees Grove it took donation of additional land by the Cowell family for our grove of coast redwoods to became Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in 1954.  

Sources: King Sequoia: The Tree that Inspired a Nation, Created Our National Park System, and Changed the Way We Think about Nature, by William Tweed; Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2016. Santa Cruz Sentinel, March 10, 1900;  “Santa Cruz Big Trees Said to Be in Danger,”Evening Sentinel, March 13, 1900; Santa Cruz Sentinel, March 13 1900, [multiple editorials about Big Trees].