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.H 1ST 0 R I C.A L B U L LET I NNo.6 TULARE COUNTY 701 Watson
Avent!" President'___n---nnnnn_nmnnmm
Felling A Big TreeI
OCTOBER1950 HISTOICALnnnnn
SOCIETY Visalia, California
G. Schutt,Sunkel,
Haroldn
Lindsay
Tulare
Vice President Vice President Secretary Trea['urernn
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Walternnunn
Mrs. W. L. Lamkin, PortervilleMiss Annie R. Mitchell 701 Watson
Ave., Visalianm
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Director
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A. D. Sweet, Visalia Joseph E. Doctor, E,xeter
Director '---n nUmn' ,___'---n n_nn'---"---'nn A. B. Dickey,
Dinuba The Tulare County Histor.cal Society i,s a voluntary,
non-profit organization devoted to the study and spread of
information about local history. All who are interested in this
subject are urged to become members. Please send the ~ecretary a
list of those in your community to whom an invitation should be
sent. Dues are one dollar and fifty centJs for the period ending
December 31, 1951. Thereafter one dollar per calender year.
BIO TREES...as early as 1868 and the pa~e becam,e so fast that
in the 80's there was fear that all would be destroyed and the
formation of General Grant and. Sequoia Na tional Parks in 1890 was
the re- of local people California's pride and wish to sult of
agitation by George Stewart, then show Big Trees to strangers was
lead awakened. early and as far back publisher ~f the Visalia
Delta. This Bulletin attempts to bring as 1854 the bark was
stripped together Isome unpublished mafrom a tree in the Calaveras
referGrove to be reassembled on a terial and recall scattered ences
that have been printed but framework. The Centennial Exhibition at
Philadelphia in 1876, which no longer have circulation. It does not
tell the story very The World's Columbian Exposition No doubt there
are at Chicago in 1893 and other big completely. fairs have had
their exhibits of some errors of fact and many er- of omission. The
Society Big Trees. At first they were rors like to obtain
additional -:greeted with skepticism but grad- would statements
that can be filed to ually the reports of eye-w\itnesses round out
the record. and the general distribution of We hope it will lead to
the ~ photographs overcame doubts and eventual publishing of an
adeCaliforia's Big Trees were acceptquate story of the big mills in
ed as facts. Fresno County, centering at MillSequoias were cut for
lumber wood and Hume. scription ever applied by Califorians. Maybe
the sight of these trees has so awed all beholders that normal
powers of exaggeration have been dulled.
Probably the only modest de-
FELWW A Big Tree at Mountain Home, probably about 19G'1.Earl
McDonald on right.
WORLD'S FAIR TREE
An Interview with Jesse Pattee By HAROLD G. SCHUTT The most
ambitious "Big Tree" in the middle for twenty minutes exhibit was
that shown at the because of the vibration. World's Columbia
E,xposition at The tree was hallowed out and Chicago in 1893
(orginally schedfourteen foot "staves" cut with uled for 1892). The
tree was a kthe bark and about six inches of part of the U. 8'.
government ex- wood. Then a section about two hibit. A contract was
made by feet thick was cut off the re Burr Mitchell, of Miramonte,
to maining stump and then another cut a big Sequoia and prepare set
of fourteen foot staves was pre the parDs to be used. Mr.. Ball of
pared. These parts were all marked and crated and hauled out to
Monson for shipment to Chicago. The stump, fifty feet above the
ground, was nineteen feet six inches larger at the top of the
twenty foot stump which Was left when the jOb was done. This relic
is now called the "Chicago" stump. Efforts have been made to find
out wha"t happened to the exhibit after the fair closed as it' was
understood that it had been mov ed. After hearing that it w~nt to
Washington, Senator Know land was asked to secure such in formation
as he could. The follow ing W3JS furnished by the Legis" lative
R:cference Service of the Library of Congress under date of March
16, 1950. "Chicago World's Fair Section of Giant 'Sequoia Tree"
"The section of Giant Sequoia, originally cut for exhibit at the
(Continued on Page 2)
Early Sawmills In Northern Tulare CountyWallace Elliott, who
published the earliest general history of Tulare County in 1883,
gives quite a detailed account of early sawmills, \Starting with
Smith and Hatch who started a mill on the Wnitaker Ranch in 1856.
,Bert Barton, in a column in the Woodlake Echo, says this was at
Miramonte. Because names of mills, owners and places changed so
much it would be mileading to repeat Elliott's story. It can be
summarized by saying that mills have been operating in the lower
timber since the 50's and 60's. Eshom Valley and the area below
General Grant Park have had lllany mills. There was one at
Le Grand contracted to build a road and .haul the material to
mill, etc. Most of them were the railroad. The tree selected small.
was the "General Noble" and was After 1881 the record is
clearlocated about three miles north er. In that year Smith
Comstock of the north west corner of Gencontracted with S. Sweet
and Co. eral Grant Park. of Visalia, who controlled the Little
description of the cutting Wagy mill, to cut lumber at Hitchof the
tree is needed because it cock Meadows, near Happy Gap, is shown so
vividly by the picabove Meadow Flat. In 1883, Com- tureB which are
included in this stock bought the mill and moved Bul~etin. These
pictures taken it up to "Big Stump" which is by C. C. Curtis are as
sharp in devery close to the present main tail as ones taken today
and have entrance to General Grant Park. been presented by Mr.
Pattee to It operated there for six years and the Tulare County
Museum. during this time one of the finest The tree was cut off
about fifty standls of sugar pine in the moun- feet above the
ground and JeSise tains was cut from the present Pattee will never
forget the exWilsonia area. Sequoia and yel-: J.)erience of the
moments when the low pine and probably fir ~ei-> -tree fell. It
did not go as planned.I
Whitaker Forest about 1870. The also cut. The mill was moved
names that one encountem are down stream two or three times Thomas,
Osborn, Barton, Hyde, and at one time was operated by Hart, Wagy.
There was the Tur- J. C. Stansfield. COIDIstock operabine mill,
People's mill, Phoenix j (Continued on Page 4)
The trunk slipped back onto the stump and broke the scaffold.
Pattee and the three others doing the cutting jumped onto the stump
but couldn't stand even
Page2
TULARE
COUNTY
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY1932:
October, 1950
CENTENNIAL TREES
I
World's F'air Tree(Continued from Page 1)
Big Redwood
Put In Stora~e
taken out via Happy Camp, Pine World's Columbian Exposition at
"The 30-foot high section 0: the California's Big Trees weren't weU
known when the United Springs, Rancherie and Moun Chicago in 1893,
and later set up trunk of one of the giant Cali States celebrated a
century of in tain View. (ie the K ncaid Mill on the grounds of the
Department fornia Sequoi::" trees which has It was shipr;cd from Tu
of Agriculture in Washington, D. stood on a concrete base in The
dependence with its first big fair road). lare by rail to San
Francisco C., was d:smantled and moved Mall in Washington, in front
of at Philadelphia in 1876. What at Wood to the Arlington
Experiment Farm the Department of Agriculture would permit the fair
visitor to where it was exhibited visualize these trees better than
ward Gardens and thence routed on the Virginia side of the Poto
main building, for the past 38 to exhibit a section of the trunk
east to the Centennial. One by mac River during the wintel'of
years, has been taken down and I of a tree? A solid section
couldn't one the partners withdrew from 1931-32. It was never
re-tssem stored at Arlington Experiment be transported but the next
best the enterprise. First Manley, then bled, but rested there in
storage Farm, just across the Potomac and before the tree for
several years. No record of its from Washington, to keep it out
thing was done. Mrs. McGee re- McKiearnan I left San Franc"lsco
Hubbs sold final disposal is available, but it of the weather until
another suit ports, "In 1875, Martin Vivian I cut a big Sequoia
near the Gen- out for two thousand dollars, three ,seems to have
been destroyed. No able location is found for it. This thousand
dollars less than the one was found who could sho~ huge hollow
cylinder of timber, el"al Grant with axes, a sixteen foot section
wws cut out and split cost of preparation. A t:nancial whether this
was before or after which may possibly have been a fiasco and
tradition says the January 30, 1942, when the Army husky sapling in
King Solomon's pie shaped pieces taking I into luck. took over the
Arl:ngton Experi day, 10 centuries B. C., was mov care to preserve
the bark. They new owners had no better I then split the heart out
of each The above information is sum ment Farm. Prior to this date,
all ed because it was in the way in piece leaving a rim of bark and
marized from a paper prepared the agricultural work with the the
Government building program. sap\\ ood. These outer pieces were in
1923 by Mrs. Jay Brown. She records of research had been mov "The
section was cur for dis hauled out by Happy Gap (near had
difficulty securing inform a ed to the Agricultural Research play
in the Government exhibit presentSeqt(o,a Lake) and Tra tion and
had to rely on much Center at Beltsville, Maryland. at the World's
columb'Ian Exposi ver to Cross Creek and shipped to h.earsay
evidence. Her informa "The record is clear that the t:on in Chicago
in 1893. The tree Philadelphia. " ~~on was that the tree was cut
section wws moved to the Arling grew on the boundary line be of ton
Experiment Farm, but there tween Fresno and Tulare Counties, Mrs.
McGee's uncle, Israel Gam m 1875. There are a number lin, had a
squatter's timber claim printed references to this exploit after
nothing concerning disposal Calif. From recorls which Dr. W. in
this area and he, with Mrs. t~at agree in most aspects but of the
section could be found. A. Taylor, chief of the Bureau of Plant
Industry, wws able to f:nd, McGee's father, Tom Gamlin, Poley
eIther do not mention the date of Moreover, no piece of the section
cutting or place it in 1878, which was placed with the wood exhibit
the tree stood some 300 feet high Kimawyer and probably others,
helped cut the tree. Vivian wws would, of cource, be too late for
in the Smithsonian Institution . :n the forest, section was lowed
out in the California and hol the " The folio t t not well-to-do
and probably had the Centennial. . wmg" s a ement is great hollow
pIeces . . .' of wood was some financial backing but there copied
from P a ge 2 of th Off Wallace Elhott m hIS "Hilstory for shIpment
" ' i) e ICIal. cut mto 50 pIeces . . 0 f T ulare County has
consider Record Dn I ted St t D :s no information about outside . '
a es epartment . . to ChIcago. Each piece being sponsors. f able
detaIl about the project but of Agriculture . ' or J anuary 30 .
Jesse Pattee says that Sam and gives no date. The very next '
eqUlvalent to a log 4 to 5 feet tells of the Vivian tree that the
bark of one or more of through and 14 feet long. The sec Bill Harp,
Huse Campbell and paragraph was referred to earlier. the giant
trees of California be tion was cut 3'0 feet above the John Moore
hauled the exhibit to which the railroad. He recalls that when If
the McKiearnan-Hubbs-Manley taken off the trunk in segments ground
level where it grew, and tree also was sent to the centen and
sections, to be placed on ar it is 26 feet in diameter and 85 he
first ,,'ent to the mountains Elliott would have rival on a
skeleton frame of the feet in circumference. (Note: that it was a
fad to fashion canes nial surely and mentioned the fact. same
dimensions as the original. Pattee recollection is 20 feet from
sticks split from the cen known "Bus:ness Directory and Histor
Agricultural Hall having an ele which checks with stump) At the
tennial log. Handbook of, vation of 75 feet, will give room
exposition the section was set up Park records confirm the gen ical
and Descriptive eral information above but men Tulare C'ounty,
CaLfornia, 1888" for an exhibit of one of these in the Government
Exhibit, a spi by Pillsbury and Ells monster trees." ral stairway
wws run from the tion no names. S:nce Vivian cut published
"Hand-book to the Centennial bottom to the top on the interior this
tree on governII\'ent land v orth at Tulare, gives a similar and
states that the tree Grounds and Fairmount Pa,ik. and many visitors
to the fair view~ without permission tradition says account from
the vantage that he was sentenced to a year in was cut in 1878.
This same story Where to go and what to see." ed the exhibit
federal prison. Wallace Elliott in is repeated in "Pen Pictures" a
Philadelphia 1876, 'page 6. point thus afforded, of Fresno, Tulare
~nd '?he big tree,s of California, for "After the exposition thesec
"History of Tulare County" (18 history 83) says he wws fin.ed fifty
dollars Ke~n C?Unties, published in 1891. whlCh the country is
famed, were tion was shipped to Washington, here represented by a
piece of and in 1894 it was placed in The but should have been
jailed, for It IS dlff cult to locate evidence to overcome these
three almost bark about eighteen inches thick Mall where it has
been an object life for his vandalism. The most interesting thing
contemporary records. If the tree taken from one of these monster
10f interest to the thousands of red-woods. Photographs of them
visitors to the National C 't I about this exhibit was the lack had
been sent to the Centennial .' api a of enthusiasm that it
encounterExhibit:on one would expect these were shown, which ' gave
a very w h 0 come ItS way" . . d .d I ed at pubLshed only a few goo
1 ea of theIr gigantic pro . the fair. People were skep hlstones,
tical and couldn't believe that a . years later, to mention the
fact. portions." It IS hoped that the exhibit has that this was a
"The Centennial Exposition. .. not been dest~oyed. Probably the
tree could grow so big. They The tradition tree is very strong
"Philadelphia, Hubbard Bros 18 bark was fallmg from the trunk
pointed to the places the log was "Centennial" ., after. 38 years
in the open in split as proof that many small and goes back at
least to the 76, page's 316-362. 1890's. "AI as, the bIg . tree of
Cahfornia . Washmgton. seems to ; d' t ,The picture trees had been
fitted together. A typical California hoax. At the request of the
Society, is a side show, and one must pa to:e Ica e Wrr6 ar~und the
tree There is allso a "Centennial" eY the Free L~brary of
Philadelphia 25-cents admittance if h . could ep loose bark m at
place. But s thIS be replaced relative . e s~ th stump at Mountain
Home. This searched the material in its files it at all! It stands
i~ a I me wIly small expense nd a some mu tree was cut by John
McKiear g c ttl an d h as sent the following quota other
monstrosities-bi tions: . . we Imagme " a that e, seum a marvelous
nan, J. R. Hubbs, and Ed Manley . .e t c. LIttle dId Tre' e could
h'b" have to> ex 1 It. IncIdently the "B:a' pic . t b as a
commercial venture, admis "Agricultural Building-In this anything
so venerabl e as . . . Ig ure of the. tree in W as h'mg t on ' a
tree could be gUI lty of f d sion being charged when it exhi b
uIldmg there wIll also be a dis- California I es 0 .h e was f t T I
ounC m some old f'l p Iay of ai I. the products of the so
disreputable a prank'" Th e Re bited. This tree was cut off high .
pnmary . u are in ounty above the ground, hollowed out, F orest,
both m and sec- pubLcan, Springfield: . (Mass), - !Stored th bas
Board of T ra d ~, . 0: the VI sali a M ulllcipa the rim sawed into
sections and ondary form; and :t is proposed July 24, 1876.
(clippings) l eme~t A uditonum.
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October, 1950
TULARE
COUNTY
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
Page 3
Hud. Barton PioneerMy father, Hudson D. Barton, was one of
Tulare Cou~ty's his torians but he sent his diary, let ters,
newspapers articles, etc., to the State Historical Libr~UE-,,;
po:srr,oN1893
CHI.,.Gt-o)
7
2
3
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h The .General Noble" and the men who prepared the exhibit. Left
to riglit: Sam Turk, Will Gw1n, Dayton Dickey, Jesse Pattee, Capt.
Jamison, Burr Mitchell, John Bodkins, "TOmGibson, Creed Archer.. 2.
MakingUhd.eraut5{)feet above ground. 3. The falling tree. 4.
RelDDving the .upstairs". 5. Preparing the lower set of staves. 6.
On the way to Chicago. 7. After the fair the exhibit was 8et up on
the Mall at Washington, D. C. and remained there until 1932-33. The
building in the left background is the Smithsonian Institution. All
pictures except' by C. C. Curtis.
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1
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3
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6
7
B1. A big sawlog -- exaot looation not known. 2. Largest load of
lumber 3.- 4. Views of "Mark Twain- exhibit. Note two saws brazed
together. Home in 1886. 6. Neal Van Doorman with part of his
exhibit - Mountain flume, probably from Coburn~ Mill. 8. Logging on
Redwood Mountain for ohute. Completed ohute in baokground. J, C.
Stansfield was foreman.
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haulled from Mountain Home. 5. Frazier Mill at Mountain Home. 7.
A blooked lumber Hayes Mill. 9. Building log of orew.
Pioture l"byA". R. Moore,3 & 4 by C. C. Curtis, 6 by
Taber
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Comstook Mill at -Big Stump". 3. "Advertisement" ot Mountain
Homeresort in Thompson's "HisD orioal Atlas of Tulare County" 1892.
4. Dillonwood, 1904. 5. SUmmer Home, 1892. Now Baloh Park. 6.
"Splitter., a long saw to out big logs len~wise so that they would
go thru sawmill - Dillon wood. 7. Oxen haulling pine log 0Jl ohute
to Hart Mill. 8. "Centennial" (1) stump at Mountai:: Home. Pioture
1 by C. C. Curtis, 8 by E. M. Hammond.
1, Millwood lumber staoked
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7awaiting oompletion ot flume to Sanger. Note tlume.
82 The Smith