2 to Fort Bragg. There I saw a good deal was particularly advised to see some of the finer stands on the Eel River. This
expedition cost far more time than I had expected after all I did not get to the largest trees. Difficulties delays in getting
about the country was the cause I did not think it worth while staying longer - I was very much interested in what I saw the
stately magnificence of the standing trees up to 10 12 ft in diameter the great value of the timber If the woods I saw are
a fair sample of the rest I fancy I must be right in regarding the forest as a decadent one. Almost all the larger mature
trees are dead at the top even of the next younger growth a very large proportion seemed withered at the head seemed not to
be increasing in height though all were vigorous in growth lower down may increase in growth yet a good while I saw no seedlings
of S. sempervirens that I could be sure of. There were plenty 3. of young plants of the Douglas fir, a tree that seems
less fastidious as to condition of growth. Why the Redwood should stop abruptly sometimes at a distance recur again in the
valley; I could find no sufficient reason - I suppose it has something to do with rainfall. This decadence of the Redwood
looks not to be of very old date. Possibly within the last 100 years. Anyhow I could not see any evidence to show that it
was now holding its own against an invasion of the Douglas Fir. from the higher slopes. The cutover stocks sprout freely but
none that I saw were high enough or were thick enough or the ground to justify the expectation that they would become forest
trees for in many cases the leading shoot was very liable to wither break off. The Union lumber Co people told me of an interesting
experiment they are carrying out in planting up the intervals among the cutover stock with Eucalyptus both as an additional
source of lumber because they hope that the side shade 04769