REDWOODS VERSUS GIANT SEQUOIAS

In the mid-19^th century both the coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) and giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) were declared “must see destinations” for a tour of California. The giant sequoias were the first to be recognized as a tourist draw by the 1850s. Though the coast redwoods were “discovered”* much earlier (1769 Portolá Expedition) they did not become a major focus of tourism until Joseph Warren Welch purchased Big Trees Grove in 1867.

Both Big Trees Grove and the giant sequoias of the Sierras have trees named for the Civil War heroes Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. 

The giant sequoia named General Grant - Author's Personal Collection

These heroic appellations were bestowed on the giant sequoias before they were given to their coast redwood cousins. At Big Trees Grove the President Grant Tree was dedicated in 1879 and the General Sherman Tree dedicated in 1881. 

Author's Personal Collection

Though the giant sequoias are larger than the coast redwoods, (the General Sherman Tree at Sequoia National Park is considered the largest living tree on earth), early on Big Trees Grove drew far more visitors. The coast redwoods attracted attention for being the tallest living things on earth. In addition to its many charms, Big Trees Grove, was for many years also a more convenient choice for tourists.

Author's Personal Collection

... [T]he most striking feature of the country along the narrow gauge line of the Southern Pacific in this region - for there is a broad gauge line a little farther east - is not in fields or flocks or towns or carload rates, but in the gigantic redwood forests that were here long before the man with the axe came upon the scene. Over miles of this Santa Cruz mountain region these trees have been harvested. The almost indestructible stumps remain, each one of them large enough to furnish sufficient lumber to build a good-sized house, and new growth is thick and green again, promising another crop of big trees some 30 centuries hence, and here and there the big trees themselves still linger. At the flag station Big Trees, six miles out of Santa Cruz on the way to San Francisco, is a grove of some 70 acres, intact and almost untouched, the only big tree grove on any line of railroad in California. The big trees of Calaveras and Mariposa and the General Grant national park, and other California groves are to be reached only by stage rides, some of which are long and hard, and all of which are more or less expensive, but the big trees of the Santa Cruz grove are right on one of the three main lines of rail from San Francisco southward, and one can see them for dimes where other groves cost dollars."     

* The term "discovered" applies to the first documentation of the redwoods by European explorers. Before European settlement, the Native people of California lived among the redwoods for over 15,000 years.  

Note: In 1890 three national parks were created in California: Sequoia National Park, General Grant National Park, and Yosemite National Park. The giant sequoia known as the General Grant Tree was originally part of General Grant National Park, which later became Kings Canyon National Park (1940) and now is part of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks.   

Source: “Southwestern Saunterings – The Big Redwoods of Santa Cruz, and Their Country,” Quad-City Times, [Davenport, Iowa], June 1, 1904, 10:1-4