My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

282 MY LIFEthat he had got the finest and fattest bear he hadever killed, and as next day was Sunday he thoughtthat six or eight of them would come with him andbring the meat home.The next morning a large party started early, andafter a long walk the hunter brought them suddenlyup to the big tree, and, clapping his hand on it, said," Here's my fat bear. When I called it a tree, youwouldn't believe me. Who's the fool now ? " Thiswas the great pavilion tree of the Calaveras Grove,twenty-six feet in diameter at five feet from theground—over eighty feet in circumference, so that itwould require fourteen tall men with arms outstretchedto go round it. This tree was afterwardscut down by boring into the trunk at six feet from theground with long pump-augers from each side, so asto meet in the centre. The first fourteen feet wasthen cut into sections, and one supplied to each ofthe older States. The rest remains as it fell, and canbe walked on to a distance of about two hundred andten feet from the stump, and here it is still six feet indiameter. To examine this wonderful wreck of thegrandest tree then living on our globe is mostimpressive. The rings on the stump of this tree havebeen very carefully counted by Professor Bradley, ofthe University of California, and were found to be1240, which no doubt gives the age of the tree veryaccurately, as the winters are here severe, and theseason of growth very well marked.On my return journey I crossed the RockyMountains by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway,passing- through some of the wildest and mostmagnificent country. In places there were precipicesabout a thousand feet high, side canons like narrowslits or winding majestic ravines, often with vertical