Page:Climatic Cycles and Tree-Growth - 1919.djvu/71

 numbered 116 in his lists. This stump had no number on it, but from the date of its cutting and its age of nearly 3,100 years, it is without doubt the one he refers to. The tree was cut in the winter of 1874-75 for exhibition at the Centennial. The trunk was hollowed out and prepared for transportation in pieces to Philadelphia, where it was said to have been erected, making a sort of hut. In consequence of the uneven surface left, it was very difficult to cut a sample from this stump. However, one was at last secured, which is 12 feet long as it lies on the table in the laboratory.

No. 22 was Huntington's No. 195 and grew near the center of the millsite. Its cutting was extremely easy and its cross-identification with No. 23 and the other trees farther north proved entirely reliable.

The location from which these two interesting trees were obtained is at the very top of a ridge with a steep descent on the east to the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Tule River and a similar descent on the west to the Tule Valley. The top of the ridge is several hundred yards wide, with opportunity for considerable snow to collect there in winter. It receives little drainage from any source. Just north of it is Mount Moses, high and rugged, and to the south are high ridges extending toward Bear Valley. All the sections obtained in these various trips were shipped to Tucson, and four weeks of continuous work were spent in cross-identification. All the identifications were satisfactory except the year 1580, which was finally determined by the special trip in 1919. The general method of measuring and marking these sections will be found in the next chapter and the tabulation of averages at the back of the book. Owing to the interest in these trees of remarkable size and age, a list of the 23 collected in these two trips is given in table 5.