FOR TWO BITS

A group of tourists stand under the Boy's Industrial Association Tree circa 1920s - Author's Personal Collection

"In returning this morning from Santa Cruz, we passed through a small grove of Sequoias, called the 'Big Trees,' and it is a favorite place for campers to locate and tourists to stop. But our train was not scheduled even to stop, unless there was a passenger. I asked the conductor about stopping, as I had just told Clair I would, and he told me as above. I said a few words further, and he passed on. In a few minutes he came back, and said if we would like to see the trees, he would hold the train a short time. I asked how long. 'Oh,' he said, 'two or three minutes; long enough to go inside!' I asked the charge. 'Two bits,' he said."

 

"Then he told me about the different trees. 'One that was still growing, but would hold 45 people in its hollow, another 20 feet in diameter and 260 feet high, with 80 feet blown off the top, etc.' And also that scientists declare that a certain circle of very large trees were merely the suckers or succeeding trees, following the death of a venerable giant parent tree, which must have been 120 feet in diameter. In a few minutes he said, 'Here we are,' and out we ran and paid our two bits, and he called back the guide who was just boarding our train, but he was lame and slow, and with, 'Oh, you are no good,' he ran around with us himself and showed all the chief attractions."

 

"The hollow tree was lined, almost wadded, with cards and pieces of paper with names. Probably two or three thousands. Another large half-burned tree was a similar depository.* 'Jumbo' had a large knot, like an elephant's head."

 

"The conductor called 'All aboard,' after about five minutes, and we scrambled back to find some disappointed passengers, who 'didn't know the train was going to stop.' The conductor told them 'he stopped long enough' or something to that effect."

 

* The visitor was likely referring to one of the Three Sisters which fell in 1915 and is now known as the Fallen Sister. Therefore, the visit mentioned above took place in 1915 or earlier. 

 

Source: Samuel L. Allen – Intimate Recollections & Letters, compiled by Elizabeth R. Allen, 1920.