TALK OF BIG TREES!

"Few, perhaps, of our citizens realize the importance of the Big Trees to Los Gatos. Many of us – the great majority, no doubt – believe that to see real big trees one must go to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas – to the world-famed Mariposa, Calaveras, Yosemite, and other groves. The facts are that we have just as big trees right near Los Gatos, though not so many of them. It seems to be a case of 'distance' lending 'enchantment to the view.' 'Big Trees' is only nineteen miles from Los Gatos, and may be reached by rail or carriage. In either case you pass through some of the wildest, most romantic mountain scenery of picturesque grandeur unequaled in Europe or America."

"Big trees are measured at the ground, and while many of the giants of the Sierras have a circumference greater than those in our own Big Tree grove, they are as a rule smaller above ground, have less lumber measure and are not so tall. Take for example the 'Giant' of Big Trees; it is 60 feet in circumference and 21 feet in diameter at the ground, and 18 feet in diameter fifty feet from the ground; it is now 306 feet high, and some years ago 75 feet of the top was broken off by the wind, which would have made it 381 feet high.* The 'Giant' is the largest single tree in the grove, though there are a number nearly as large, and some clusters a great deal larger … the 'Giant' is a perfect tree from the ground up, and as straight as an arrow; it is enclosed by a picket fence to keep the souvenir hunter from desecrating its bark or body … It should be more generally known to tourists that tree[s] as big as the biggest can be reached from Los Gatos any day in the year, and that they do not have to make expensive side excursions to the Sierra Nevadas."

* Measurements for the height of the Giant varied over the years. Most estimates in the 19^th century claimed that the Giant was 306 feet and lost approximately 25 feet of its height in a storm. This measurement of 381 feet is the largest so far found in newspaper accounts.

Source: “Santa Cruz Big Trees,” Santa Cruz Evening Sentinel, April 1, 1902.

 

GOOD NEWS ABOUT FALL CREEK

Author's Personal Collection

At Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, some trails in the lower portion of the Fall Creek Unit are open to the public as of November 14th. The parking lot off of Felton Empire Road is also open.

CLOSED TRAILS (marked red on map)

Lost Empire,  Pine Flat,  Sunlit,  Tan Oak,  Big Ben, Ridge,  S-Cape,  North Fall Creek (between Cape Horn Trail and Big Ben Trail)

OPEN TRAILS

Bennett Creek,  High School,  Kiln Fire Road,  South Fork,  Truck,  North Fall Creek (between Cape Horn trail and Bennett Creek Trail)

All trails in red are closed for the winter.  Depending on debris flow this winter, the park may have to reevaluate closing more of the park. 

 A Little History of Lime at Fall Creek

In the 19th century lime was an essential ingredient in the making of mortar and plaster. Limestone found in the Santa Cruz Mountains was considered some of the purest in the nation, and the mortar made with it helped build and rebuild San Francisco. Limestone was reduced by heating it in stone kilns that were kept at temperatures up to two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. As early as the mid-1870s, the lime industry near Felton employed about one hundred men.

California State Parks exhibit panel showing the historic location of the IXL Lime Works in Fall Creek

In the 1870s, Henry Cowell bought into the IXL Lime Company located along Fall Creek. In 1900, he became sole owner of the kilns, which continued to operate until 1919. During their peak in the 1890s, these kilns produced fifty thousand barrels of lime per year. The combined limekilns of the Santa Cruz Mountains annually produced approximately 150,000 barrels of lime using as much as twenty thousand cords of wood, further decimating the old-growth forests. 

Author's Personal Collection

Thanks to the S.H. Cowell Foundation, remnants of the kilns became part of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in 1972.