Title:
Letter from Eugene F. Weigel to John W. Noble, 1892 Oct 17.
Creator:
Eugene F. Weigel
Publisher:
University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies
of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Contributor:
John W. Noble
Date:
1892 Oct 17
2008
Type:
Text
Format:
Image/jpeg2000
Identifier:
muir07_0695-md-1
Source:
Original letter dimensions unknown.
Language:
eng
Coverage:
San Francisco
Rights:
Copyright status unknown
Some letters written to John Muir may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Transmission or reproduction
of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners.
Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Transcription:
COPT Placer County Sequoias. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR San Francisco, Cal., October 17, 1892. Genl. John W. Noble,
Secretary of the Interior. Dear Sir: I have the honor to report that I have just returned from an inspection of the group
of Sequoias recently discovered in Placer County,my stay there having been cut rather short by the setting in of a snow storm.
These trees, the most northerly of their kind found as yet, are located in a sheltered canon in township 14 North, Range 13
East. The surrounding country is very mild and much broken, and only frequented by scattered prospectors or perhaps now and
then a cattle herder. TO get there I went from here to Colfax by rail, then by team to Michigan Bluff, twenty miles east,
and the next day, with a guide, on horseback over very steep mountain trails, about twenty miles further to the trees. There
are two trees in good preservation (one is somewhat burnt) measuring about 50 feet in circumference, and several more growing
of smaller size. The two largest have been blown over many years ago, one of which measures nearly 70 feet at the base. I
have made a sketch of the largest standing and one of the fallow trees, which will probably be published with the paper of
Mr. Price read to the Sierra Club. I shall probably be able to get the proof sheets for you next week. There is other fine
timber in the vicinity, sane pitch pines and sugar pines measuring seven feet in diameter. On Big Oak Flat, three miles from
there, a plateau nearly a mile wide by several miles in length,oak trees from 5 to 6 feet thick are found. It is, however,
essentially a mining district, hydraulic mining having been formerly extensively carried on at Michigan Bluff. Last Chance
and other places, until prohibited by Legislative enactment. The continuous stee climbs up and down the mountain sides had
been so fatiguing that the guide and I were glad to accept the hospitality of a party of hunters, who regaled us with choice
cuts from a bear which they had just killed. It turned freezing cold over night in the camp,and as it began to snow in the
morning, I hurried back to Michigan bluff,taking another route via Last Chance and El Dorado Canon. In my opinion the whole
of Township 14 N., Range 13 E., should be reserved. very respectfully yours, (Signed) Eugene F. Weigel Special Land
Inspector.