THE RED WOOD FOREST

Author's Personal Collection

"Have you seen the big trees? asks one and another. Oh, yes, I have driven through the Red Wood forest, and although I have not seen the Yosemite with the Calaveras and Mariposa groups of trees, yet near Santa Cruz there is a delightful picnic ground called Big Trees, where I have helped to measure trees having a circumference of seventy-five feet, and over 300 feet in height. The largest trees are named after distinguished people – among them Grant and Fremont – and are covered with cards bearing the names of thousands of visitors; while the trees themselves speak of the ages in which they have stood sentinels upon the spot. You must not fail to go there, and certainly you must visit Santa Cruz, the rose-crowned city by the sea. I have visited all the principal cities, both in northern and southern California, and think Santa Cruz carries off the palm, all things considered."

Source: “Letter from California,” St. Albans Daily Messenger, [Saint Albans, Vermont], February 26, 1887.