Photograph by George J. Reichel THE DRIVEWAY PASSES THROUGH THE BIG TREE "WAWONA" Big trees of Mariposa Grove, "Wawona" probably 3000 or 4000 years old, height 227 fect. stands, there is impressiveness which to me makes them unique among all the forests that I have ever seen. "This splendid undertaking is going to be possible only through combined action of the Government, the state, and the public at large. As to the contribution of the Federal Government, it is very likely to be delayed and to come as aid to a project in which the state and the citizens of the nation are already liberally contributing." What will appeal to the country as the thing to do in the necessity of the case is that we, each and all, shall purchase these forests as fast as we can, for our own, with money subscribed in small or large amounts; then, that we shall present them to Uncle Sam so that they may remain forever under his protection. This will be a definite recognition of the unitedness of government and people in America, and of the interest and generosity Uncle Sam has always accorded the people in the matter of the country's natural re sources. I am including in this article only photographs of the northern redwoods unmolested by lumbering (with the one exception, page 599). The frightful destruction continues.1 It is not to be wondered at that the people of the northern coast area who see it going on about them and realize that their prosperity, their very existence commercially, depends on the maintenance of these forests, have awakened to the waste. But the point is, the country is now awakened, after the many hundreds of thousands of acres are gone, and it is still not too late to save the tens of thousands of acres left. There is now, besides, a definite organization in the Save the Redwoods League to represent the people of the country and to 1 See many full page illustrations in Mr. Grant's article, Zoological Society Bulletin, September, 1919. handle money or gifts of land to the best advantage. I would put emphasis, therefore, not so much on what is lost, as on what can be saved. There are parts of the northwestern highways where for miles the road is narrowed and blocked with piled grape stakes and shingles, and on either hand the ground is covered with a jumble of treetops, branches, slabs, and bark, which should have gone to the manufacture of some by-product. But also there are stretches where the roadway leads from open sunshine and distant views of green, wooded mountain slopes into the giant forest and on through colonnades of trees where the air is cool and fragrant and long beams of sunlight slant down through the green of redwood foliage. Nor would I direct the gaze to the miles of desolate country where everything has been leveled and only charred stumps of giant trees mark the site of the forests destroyed. Instead I would bring to the imagination the acres of forests still uncut and the potential joy for Americans of today and tomorrow in their possession. The war has made the surface of the earth seem smaller and all the lands nearer and the peoples nearer. If France and England and Belgium and Italy seem not far away from America today, how very close to all other parts of the United States is California! To go to the western coast, to tour through these northern forests is no longer the impossible dream for the many. It will be realized by tens of thousands of people in 1920. The redwoods are not only the "glory of the Coast Range" and the pride of Californians, they are the pride and satisfaction of all Americans. Good luck will surely attend us if we save our Sequoia woodlands. The sunshine penetrates the roof of green far above and illumines the aisles between the giant pillars, imparting an effect of architectural grandeur. Redwood forests are the planet's vast cathedrals for the spirit of worship of its people. Somehow-American money will dedicate these forest cathedrals to the American people PHOTOGRAPHS OF LLEWELLYN GLACIER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WITH FIELD NOTES BY L. C. READ PANORAMIC VIEW OF LLEWELLYN GLACIER, SOUTH END OF ATLIN LAKE, BRITISH COLUMBIA Photographed August 10, 1918, from a point high up on Mussen Mountain, by Mr. L. C. Read, of Atlin. Mr. Read's descriptive notes, made on the occasions of his annual visits to the glacier, are presented under the photographs Llewellyn is one of the largest glaciers outside the Arctic regions but so remote from In the central region can be seen part of the firn or fountain-head of the ice region. At the right is seen a giant nunatak or rock mass, protruding through the glacier, with a fine cirque above two cascading glaciers which assist in bringing rock fragments and heaps of bowlder clay to the medial moraines. 614 It is supposed that the peaks of the firn are at least two thousand feet above the ice. I made the trip to Llewellyn Glacier and up on the south peak of Mussen Mountain We made camp at timber line after leaving the ice, and spent the night on the LLEWELLYN MOUNTAIN COVERED WITH CASCADING GLACIERS AND COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY LLEWELLYN GLACIER The cascading glaciers on Llewellyn Mountain are very beautiful in the late summer when the snow has melted from their surfaces; this being the north side, the snow and ice melt slowly, while the south side is bare early in the season. In 1916 the whole ground moraine was converted into a quicksand. About the tenth of July there was a river fully a hundred and fifty yards wide where usually there is solid gravel that may be easily traversed. This photograph was taken in June before the waters flooded the moraine to any great extent. The ice front (seen along the middle of the photograph) is about three miles wide at this place. Llewellyn Mountain in the distance is twelve or fifteen miles away. The exceptionally clear atmosphere enabled me to obtain from a distance of several miles detailed views of the cirques, where accumulating snows had constructed "armchairs for the gods" 615 |