Back on April 10, 2021, I gave a presentation for the Santa Cruz area historian's group Researchers Anonymous on the research and the process I undertook to write my book, Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park - Big Trees Grove.
In case you missed the Zoom presentation, you can view it on YouTube
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| Two ladies rest next to the Giant, circa 1880s - Author's Personal Collection |
"The remarkable group of Sequoias known as the 'Santa Cruz Big Trees' are, unlike many of the natural wonders of the world, easily reached by rail or carriage."
"Perhaps the pleasantest way to visit 'The Trees' is by the road from Santa Cruz. The drive takes but a short while, the road winding through a shady forest for the most part, skirting the rapid San Lorenzo. Soon after leaving the city, it enters Powder Mill Cañon, and then, climbing the hillside, leaves the railway and follows the windings of the valley, affording many beautiful views of the river, the tunneled spurs of the range, and other bits of scenery. Finally the road winds sharply around a steep hillside, and abruptly reaches the grove."
"All about stand the grand trees. The dark red, rugged shafts rise to such a height as to diminish their colossal bulk. Though some of them are in circumference so great as only to be encircled by at least a score of people joining hands in a ring about them, their great height—three hundred feet or more—gives them the appearance of grace and symmetry we generally associate with trees of lesser growth. Following the winding paths laid out through the grove, we come upon tree after tree, each having a distinct individuality that has suggested the names they bear. There stand in solemn majesty the 'Generals Grant and Sherman,' the stately 'Daniel Webster,' the group known as 'Ingersoll's Cathedral' and the 'Y. M. C. A.,' the curious 'Buhrl Redwood,' and the strangely beautiful 'Eagle's Nest,' 'Idle Wild,' a charming camping ground, is set about with noble trees. The 'Centennial' group is a magnificent cluster, each tree being named for a revolutionary hero; and close to the hotel buildings is the 'Fremont' group, the 'Giant,' 'General Castro,' the 'Seven Sisters,' and other fine specimens. Going southward in the grove we come to the 'Chimney,' the '[V]ats,'’ [several tanning vats made of a single redwood] and many other interesting trees and groups. The walks amidst the Big Trees are delightful. In the broader, more open paths are always to be seen groups of happy picnickers, while the sequestered bypaths are ideal 'lovers' walks,' where, in the sweet seclusion the wild woods grant, wanders many a happy pair."
"… No more pleasant spot for a midsummer day's lounge can be found in the county; and nowhere in the State is there a more beautiful grove of California's royal tree, the redwood, or Sequoia sempervirens."
In my book, Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park – Big Trees Grove you will find a list of tree names. On the list, in addition to a tree name, I provided the name origin, if known, and date of dedication or the year of the earliest known published use of the name. When my book came out in 2020, the list had 100 names for trees located on the sites of both Welch’s Big Trees and Cowell’s Big Trees resorts.
I continue to add to the tree name list and to date have compiled over 120 names. A few trees have two or more names. The Giant was the originally called Fremont's Tree, the San Lorenzo Giant, the Felton Giant, the Rotary Tree and the National Educational Association Tree. The current Fremont Tree was also known as the House Tree, the Pioneer, Fremont's Cabin and the Bridal Chamber House.
Locations are known for less than a third of the named trees. My update of the Redwood Loop Trail map, also in the book, marks the location of several named trees you can easily see along the loop trail.
Source: History of Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, California, Cradle of California’s History and Romance, by Major Rolin C. Watkins, editor, 1925.
Check out the latest issue of Santa Cruz Style magazine which includes an article entitled, "Exploring Our Yesterdays" about three local history books by three local women authors whose books came out when the pandemic lockdown began last year.
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| View from the Rincon along San Lorenzo Canyon, circa 1920 - Author's Personal Collection |
"Even
though not a resident of Santa Cruz, permit me, as one feeling for your best
interests, to make a suggestion. We Easterners, when coming to California, are
always greatly impressed by your rare redwood trees. Your cliff and Big Tree drives
are your foremost attractions for us, so your livery men tell me. They say the
canyon of the San Lorenzo river is always greatly admired. I believe it is a
wonderful sight, especially that section between the Powder Mills and Rincon."
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| View of the California Powder Works from Beauties of California by N.W. Griswold, 1883 |
"To look down from the picturesque drive to the clear water of the river,
hundreds of feet below, to see those great Sempervirens stretch their stately
branches hundreds of feet above us, is a sensation not entirely of this earth.
People of Santa Cruz, surely you do not appreciate this 'Grand Canyon of the
San Lorenzo'. Would that you would call it some such name, as the one I propose
above, and would make efforts to preserve it for future ages. Already almost all
of the western banks have been stripped. A few days ago, when I was driven on
this road, woodmen with their yoked oxen were laying bare still more of these
monarchs that have taken thousands of years in their formation. I am told that
the only reason the Eastern slope of the canyon is not laid bare is that as yet
no road reaches across the river to it. What a reason!"
"People of Santa Cruz, you admit that this spot is perhaps the grandest piece of mountain scenery for visitors that you possess, and yet you are doing absolutely nothing to preserve it. It is not five miles from town, a rich heritage to you. Do not let it be wasted for its mere value in cord wood. I am told the estate of Henry Cowell owns the land. I do not know the parties, but surely no difficulty would be encountered, if the city would attempt to come to some understanding with them, whereby this wonderful 'Grand Canyon of the San Lorenzo' might be preserved for all time as a beauty spot of Santa Cruz."
This editorial, signed simply from an "Eastern Visitor", appeared in June 30, 1904 Santa Cruz Evening Sentinel.
Just a few years before this was written, Henry Cowell did begin to log his land adjacent to the Welch family's Big Trees Grove resort. Eventually most of the Eastern portion of San Lorenzo Canyon also fell to the logger's ax. It would take another 50 years after this editorial, and thanks to Samuel Cowell, before the spectacular San Lorenzo Canyon finally came under the protection of the State of California. This southern portion of what is now Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is covered in over one hundred years of impressive second growth redwoods.
Source: “Desecration of San Lorenzo Canyon – Eastern Visitors Sound Notes of Warning Concerning Big Trees Drive,” Santa Cruz Evening Sentinel, June 30, 1904.
