HARD TO BELIEVE

Santa Cruz County, California - Illustrations by S.H. Willey, 1879

"Grace Greenwood in a letter from California to the New York Times (1872) says: ‘We had a day of pure enjoyment in the woods. We drove for five or six miles up the beautiful canyon of the San Lorenzo, a shadowed, winding mountain road, such as we find nowhere but on this coast, and picnicked among the ‘big trees.’ These are gigantic redwoods, not quite equal to those of Calaveras or Mariposa, but wait a few hundred years and you will see. The largest, named for Fremont, is two hundred and ten feet in height, and eighteen feet in diameter. In the hollow trunk of another he had his quarters for awhile. A man can ride into this on horseback and stable the horse. I was told that a devoted wife once spent here several months with her husband, a lumberman, and kept a couple of boarders. I felt for her. I know what it is to live in a trunk … But I have found that the only safe way in this country is to doubt nothing that you hear."

The Fremont Tree to which Ms. Greenwood refers is the original Fremont's Tree, so named by Isaac Graham back in 1846 during the visit of that famed explorer. Today we know it as simply, the Giant. The tree with the hollow base she does not name is now known as the Fremont Tree. Perhaps back in 1872 when Ms. Greenwood visited, the entrance of the Fremont Tree may have allowed the entrance of a man on horseback. Since the tree's hollow was first created by fire, its bark has slowly grown to heal the scar. Today adult visitors must either bend over or crawl on their knees to enter the hollow. Perhaps in another 50 to 100 years, the entrance of the Fremont Tree will seal up forever. 

Source: “Among the Big Trees,” The Charlotte Democrat, (Charlotte, North Carolina), August 6, 1872, 4:2

REDWOOD ROYALTY

King Rama VI of Siam (formerly Crown Prince Vajiravudh), circa 1920, National Archive of Thailand, public domain image, Wikimedia Commons

In 1902 California was honored with a visit from Crown Prince Vajiravudh of Siam.* The Oxford educated Crown Prince was known for his progressive, social reforms. The changes he initiated included making primary education free and compulsory, making monogamy the only legal form of marriage, implementing universal smallpox vaccination, and establishing the Thai Red Cross and Thailand’s first institution of higher learning, Chulalongkorn University. In 1910 he became King Rama VI.

The Crown Prince's California visit elicited quite a bit of commentary in local newspapers. The San Jose Mercury-News described his November visit to their fair city as follows:

"The Crown Prince of Siam has been leading rather a strenuous life since his arrival in California. Yesterday he took a twenty-five-mile horseback ride through Santa Clara valley, he drove to the summit of Mount Hamilton to visit the Lick Observatory and view the stars through the big telescope, spending the night on the mountain."

The energetic Crown Prince was off again the next day.

"He was up bright and early this morning and after breakfast made the return to San Jose. Before he had time to shake the dust from his clothes he was taken over the narrow-gauge road through the Santa Cruz mountains to see the big trees, one of which was named Crown Prince at the request of the owner. Professor Gore of Columbia College, Washington, made the dedicatory speech."

The Crown Prince of Siam Tree is the only known big tree of the grove to be named for a member of royalty. Unfortunately, the exact location of this regal tree remains a mystery.

* Siam was renamed Thailand in 1939

Sources: “Climate Like Siam Says Crown Prince – Heir to Siamese Throne Leads a Strenuous Life, Exalts California – Closer Trade Relations Urged,” San Jose Mercury-News, November 22, 1902, 1:7; “Siam’s Royal Prince Comes to the City Attended by Pomp and Pageantry of an Heir to an Oriental Throne,” San Francisco Call, November 22, 1902; Encyclopedia Britannica, “Vajiravudh – King of Siam,” 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vajiravudh. 

I WAS HERE

Lady at Big Trees Grove, 1909 - Author's Personal Collection

During an 1897 event for the National Association of Letter Carriers, an attendee commented upon one unique Big Trees Grove tradition.

"About half way down we stopped at Big Trees, and the place is well named. Here the giant redwood trees rear themselves to a height of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet, some of them decayed at the bottom, leaving hollows that would comfortably house a very large family, and these hollow places were literally covered with the cards of former visitors, a collection that we very perceptibly increased by the addition of our pasteboards."

Though this tradition continued well into the early 20^th century, its appeal was starting to dimmish. In 1914 a visitor noted that "[b]ombastic visiting-cards have been thrust upon many of these regal trees – each one a commentary on man’s conceit."

Since the calling cards were most often attached with thumb tacks, fortunately, this Victorian practice did not generally do long term damage to the redwoods. 

Please note that damaging or defacing the redwoods is strictly prohibited. Please take nothing but pictures and memories and leave nothing but footprints. Thank you.

Sources: Postal Record – A Journal for Postal Employees, by Charles P. Kelly, November 20, 1897 and The Tourist's California by Ruth Kedzie Wood, 1914.

MORE INEXPLICABLE LABELS

View of Cowell's Big Trees - Author's Personal Collection

It was a long tradition at Big Trees Grove and later, also at Cowell’s Big Trees, that some visiting groups received the honor of having a redwood dedicated to their organization whether that be a fraternal group, church or business. In 1913 one visitor commented on the frequency and growing absurdity of the tree naming tradition, stating that some of them bore rather unusual names. Among the names which perplexed him was one

"…[d]edicated to the Los Angeles Produce Exchange by the San Francisco Dairy and Fruit Exchange … I pondered these inexplicable labels for some time, and could only conclude that they were examples of the same pitiful ambition that Hamlet observed in a certain kind of players."

Perhaps it was during the May 1911 visit of California’s produce men that this unique tree name was bestowed.

"The annual high jinks of the Produce Men’s Association of California came to a grand finale yesterday and, to use the popular slogan of Santa Cruz, there was ‘never a dull moment’ … At 11 o’clock, accompanied by a band, they boarded a special train and visited the big trees."

"After an hour’s ramble the party assembled at the banquet board. Plates were laid for 400 guests. It was an old fashioned al fresco repast. The meats were barbecued. Responses to toasts were many and resounded with expressions of approbation for the first outing of this character ever held by the association. After the tables had been vacated dancing, games and other amusements were indulged in."

Sources: “Produce Men Close the Annual Convention,” May 22 - San Jose Mercury-News, May 23, 1911; Chase, J. Smeaton. California Coast Trails: A Horseback Ride from Mexico to Oregon by Smeaton J. Chase, 1913.