A PLEASURE RESORT

Author's Personal Collection

"Of the tract a few acres are open to all comers without charge, but the major part, and much the better part, is enclosed by a fence, high and tight, and a small fee is charged for seeing them. The owner refuses to allow a twig to be touched, and visitors are permitted to gather no souvenirs, except at the counter of the curio dealer, and is deaf to all overtures to sell, at any figure. It is said to have been bought 40 years ago for $8000,* and it is reported that $150,000 has been refused by the heirs of the purchaser. They make almost no effort to advertise it, and quite as little to provide accommodations for the sojourner, and are seemingly content with a fraction of the revenue the grove might be made to yield, but those who know about the place find good entertainment there; rather of the frontier order than of the character the California traveler is prone to expect at a pleasure resort, yet all the better for that, and surprisingly cheap. If ever these big trees pass into the hands of owners who have progressive ideas regarding these matters they will prove the biggest bonanza of all the resorts of the Golden State."

* According to the January 4, 1868 Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, in December 1867 Edward Stanley sold 350 acres of land on the "Seyante and Rincon Ranchos" to Joseph Warren Welch for $8,750.

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