National Park After Dark - The California Hoax: Giant Sequoia National Monument

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

Today we visit the Giant Sequoias of California and tell the tales of their exploitation to gain recognition at the World's Fair in the United States. The length people went through to cut down some of the largest trees in the world to ship them across the country was extensive, but many questioned whether the trees were real. People laughed at the idea of these enormous trees and when they tried to show them off in hopes of profits, many deemed it all as an unbelievable “hoax.”Come see us live! Laugh Boston Live Show Stanley Live ShowYosemite Lakes RV Resort: https://thousandtrails.com/california/yosemite-lakes-rv-resort/For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Liquid IV: Use code NPAD to get 20% off your order. Apostrophe: Use our link and code NPAD to get your  first visit for only $5.Athena Club: Get started with Athena Club today by shopping in-store at Target nationwide.Miracle Made: Use our link and code NPAD to save over 40% and get 3 free towels.For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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More than one million people flock to Sequoia National Park every year. Why, you might ask? It is purely to marvel at the trees. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are home to the magnificent giant sequoias that have towered over the landscapes of California for thousands of years. They have become a marvel to the world as they are the tallest and widest members of the plant kingdom. As you can imagine, when settlers first arrived and, quote unquote, discovered these special trees, they were awe-inspired by their beauty, but much like everything else,

people saw an opportunity to profit from them. And as history has shown, when humans discover something magnificent, like the woolly mammoth or the Tasmanian tiger, they're willing to hunt them to extinction for their own personal gain. And these giant sequoias were no different. Welcome to National Park After Dark. So you got some inspiration from our trip. I sure did. We just got back from our national park. trip in California. We went to Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park. We headed over to Yosemite, Sequoia National Forest. I mean, we were kind of beep-bopping around. It was a journey.

So we rented a car and it zeroed out. Like when we picked it up, it was at zero miles. And when we returned it, it was at like 1350. I thought it was at 3,000 for some reason. No. I'm remembering that wrong. I'm like 3,000 miles. Yeah, that makes more sense. Yeah, we were hopping around and I will say Sequoia and Kings Canyon are such windy roads too. It was like, by the time we were leaving Sequoia and Kings Canyon, I was like, get me out of here. I cannot drive on these roads anymore. And I have the fear of heights and the lack of guardrails and people flying around. I was like, for my own personal safety, I need to get out of fear. Yeah, everyone, you could tell people lived there because I'm driving so slow. And I'm like,

why is everyone riding my bumper? And like, it's not me. It's not me. But every single car was like, maybe it's, maybe it's you're driving really slow. But I mean, the park, the parks themselves were amazing and they were beautiful. And we got to see these sequoias in real life in person. We got to see the General Sherman. We saw General Grant. We did some hiking trails. We walked around. We saw Kings Canyon. We did, what was that hike, Buena Vista in Kings Canyon, which was I think it was like two miles round trip where we got to sit like up on the cliff side and overlook Kings Canyon, which was really pretty. And we saw one other group of people on that hike, which was surprising to me because for such a short and accessible hike, I thought that there would be more people.

The weather wasn't great though. Yeah, that's true. We were, we were there in not ideal conditions. Yeah, there was a lot of thunder and some lightning. And yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't ideal. But we made the best of it and we got to see a lot of things. And I will say if you haven't been, if you haven't seen the massive sequoias, they are just, if you're thinking, why would I go to a park to see a tree? They're amazing and they're spectacular to look at and pictures don't do it justice. I mean, General Sherman, you can't even get a photo of it. It's so big. Yeah, I know. I have a picture. So I take a picture of, I have a physical photo of Ian that I take with me everywhere in my wallet and anywhere I'm somewhere like beautiful or unique or new. I take a picture

of that picture in front of whatever. And I just remember trying to get a picture of him in front of, I forget, Sherman or Grant. And it just looks like he's in front of a tree stump. It can't happen. It's just like, oh, there's a tree. I get it. So, well, before we get into talking more trees and our trip, because it was so recent like, Cassie. He said we just got back and we're excited to share a few of the details. We have the most fun news and exciting news. The most fun, exciting news. We have two news.

Two news is? Two announcements? Words. Two pieces of news, I guess, yeah. Yes, there we go. And that is we are doing two more live shows. And they're in the most special near and dear places to our hearts. I think that we could have hoped for.

So it's not going to be until September, so you're going to have to wait a little bit. But we are doing, okay, you announce one, I'll announce the other. Okay, I'm going to announce this one because I think you want to announce the other one. Okay, our second show that we're doing, Daniel, he announced the first.

We're going to be going to our hometown, our home area of New England. We are going to be performing at the Laugh, Boston, on September 25th. So we're going back to our home roots. We get to talk about the fun New England stories. And we already have some plans that are near and dear to our hearts for that show, for sure. And if you are a New Englander and you want tickets, I'm going to just tell you right now,

not to like peer pressure you, but you better get them like now because every single one of our friends and family pretty much lives in New England and is probably going to try and beat you to it. So you should just get on that. They're already buying tickets. Yeah. So, you know, it's, yeah, it's going to be like a fun. I mean, they're always going to be fun. You're going to meet our entire family, basically, if you go to the Boston show.

Yep. So get prepared for that. We're really excited for that one just because of the city. But the first show we're doing will be on September 16th. It's going to be in Colorado. And not only is it going to be in Colorado. It's going to be at the Stanley Hotel. Sure is.

Stanley Hotel. I just like can't even vote. The fact that we are doing a show at the Stanley just blows my mind. Same. I mean, so I think the idea was planted when we were there in December of when we did our live show in Denver. And we stopped at the Stanley, obviously, did the tour and had some drinks and whatever. And we were in the music hall and part of the tour.

And you could see posters of different performances that have been there over the years. And I think we just kind of looked at each other. we're like, huh, wouldn't that be nice? We can dare to dream. Yeah, we like looked at it. We're looking at the stage walking around and we're like, wow, if only one day we could perform here. And little did we know, six months later, we were going to get offered the opportunity

and here we are. We could not pass that up. So we're so excited. We will be at the Stanley on September 16th. And we're going to link both of those tickets, whether you're going to be in Boston or you're going to be in Colorado. We'll have both of the links in our show notes. So you can go there right now.

You can click it. The link is live, right? Yeah, the link is live. Both lives will be live. Yep. Yeah. So we'll see you there. Our comedy show in Denver sold out.

So I definitely say, get on it now. Get on it. Yeah. Like, not to bully you, but if you're not there. Come hang out with us. Yeah, please. Okay. So that's the big announcements that are really, really exciting that we've been waiting to share.

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Watch only on Prime. I guess I have another kind of announcement that's, I mean, it is exciting, but it's not. It's not related to the podcast at all, but it's also exciting. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And I was like waiting. I was like kind of looking at you like, are you going to say something? Or tell people or? So I got engaged over the past week. It was very surprised. I mean, I knew it was going to happen, but I was like shocked and surprised and excited. So Al and I, you all met him on a recent episode on the Smoky Bear episode. We are now engaged and we're planning a wedding. And if anyone knows any venues in,

New Hampshire or Vermont and or photographers and or live musicians and or vendors and or anything else. Please shoot me a DM on Instagram because I need a lot of help planning. I know. I was like so excited. And then like on the flip side, I was like, when are we doing this? Because like when are we even going to plan this? There's so much to do. And I'm just so excited because it happened like, what, a day or two after we got back from Yosemite? Oh, yeah. We were on vacation. I'm like, all right, I'm going to get back into work.

We're going to like get back into doing things. And then we get back a day later. Al was so sweet. He proposed. And then I had been really wanting to stay at the Mount Washington Hotel up in northern New Hampshire and I had never been there. So then he got us to stay up there. And I was like, well, I'm still on vacation.

And then we went up there. And it was a lot of fun. And her ring is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I'm so happy for you. I know everyone is flipping their shit for you. So, and Al.

And he's like part of it too. I talked to someone. I also hiked Mount Washington and I was on the cog down and I was talking to this guy who had been married to his wife for a while and he was talking about their wedding. And he was like, he's like, it was her wedding. I was just like the guest, the guest star. I just showed up. Yeah.

Pretty much. Well, it's going to be awesome. It's going to be an amazing time. I can't wait to have another excuse to come home. And it's just going to be a great time. And I'm really happy for you. Thank you. Just you kids.

You kids. We do have one more thing. We have some people to thank real quick. We sure do. The whole reason Cassie and I went to Yosemite is thanks to one of our listeners actually. Her name is Maddie. And she reached out to me last year sometime in the wake of Ian's passing. And she offered very kindly a stay as kind of like a grief treat, kind of somewhere to just go and unplug and unwind. And I couldn't fit it into our schedule or anything like that until literally

right now. Like a year later, still very appreciated. So that was kind of the inspiration behind the trip and Maddie works at a campground that is right outside of Yosemite National Park and Cassie and I went and stayed. Yeah, it was awesome. So we got there and we were at the Yosemite R.V. Resort. If you are looking for a stay outside of Yosemite or very close to Yosemite, we highly recommend this. Maddie and Dale, the property manager there, they were so welcoming and wonderful to us. They put us up in this beautiful yurt that they had. It had mountain views over there. We had full showers, full bath, comfortable beds, a fire pit.

Like, it was just beautiful. You think of your and you think, like, camping, this was not. This was like, we were glamping. We were straight up. We were glamping slash it was almost a hotel. It was, it was beautiful. It was wonderful. They were so kind.

There were hiking trails that were right there that you could do. They had swimming holes right there. It was right outside of the Hetch-hetchy National Park entrance, the Yosemite National park entrance and it was wonderful. They were just so kind, beautiful facility. Totally recommend it. We'll add a link just so you can check it out yourself. It's also part of the Thousand Islands campgrounds. So if you are a member of that, then you get like these stays where you can go there, which is pretty cool, but we'll post photos. Yeah, Cassie took some pictures inside of our yurt, but yeah, they have yurts. Obviously, they have like areas for RVs and trailers and campers and

stuff, but what did they say? Their property is like over 400 acres. It's huge. There's campsites. There's yurt areas. There's cabins. There's like, it's just there's something for everyone. And the proximity to Yosemite is ideal. So yeah, thanks, Maddie and Dale. Just a shout out to you guys. You guys were awesome. And if you're in the area, totally recommend looking into their, their spot. Yeah. Go tell them we say hi because they're both great. Yeah. Okay, well, I guess should we talk about some trees? Yeah. Yeah.

So I'm doing a whole episode on trees because I actually really have figured out and discovered over the past few years that I love plants. And I really loved visiting Sequoia and I thought that it was really exciting to be there. So today we are going to be going to Giant Sequoia National Monument. And we're also going to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. And if you've been to this area or if you've researched this area, it's kind of confusing. where the lines meet and Danielle and I really saw that when we were there because it was like welcome to Sequoia National Park, welcome to Sequoia National Forest, welcome to Sequoia National Monument, welcome to Kings Canyon. And they're all like interlaced and intertwined of like this

massive conservation area. So we're kind of going to be beep-bopping around to all of these places for this episode. But before we can really get into that story, we actually need to learn a different story and this one goes back further in time to London to the very first World's Fair in 1851. The concept of the World Fair was created so that countries would have a place to showcase their newest innovations. The first World Fair coincided with the Industrial Revolution that spread from England to the United States and was known as the great exhibition of the world of industry and of all nations, also known as the great exhibition. It was held in Hyde Park London, and it became the very first national festival celebrating major

company's industrial progress. And this First World's Fair, it was meant to impress the public by their massive machinery. And it was also to kind of be like, hey, people, like, I know you've been hand crafting this your whole life. But what if we take those jobs off your plate and let this machine do it to make people feel comfortable? So the First World's Fair in London took place inside of a newly built structure known as the Crystal Palace, which was also supposed to be this innovative, like massive, exciting design. And it was basically a giant glass and cast iron building that was created by an architect and

gardener and resembled a massive greenhouse. After the first World's Fair, countries around the world started following suit. The 10th exposition was held in Paris. And just to give you an example of like what these massive fairs were showcasing and the really important, crazy innovations they were showing. was this one was showcasing the newly built Eiffel Tower, which at the time was the tallest tower in the world and is still considered an architectural masterpiece. So these world's fairs were being held to showcase like the best of the best of whatever's happening across the world.

And they did split into three eras over time. They just changed. The industrialization was from 1851 to 1938. Cultural exchange lasted from 1933. to 1987 and nation branding began in 1988 and it continues today but world fairs are much less common than they used to be but it did become a place for all people to showcase their innovations creative and cultural works and even new world discoveries which is going to bring us into our story of the sequoia but first i want to go a little bit more into the world's fair just so you can get like a really good idea of them because the world's fair because the world's fair first came to the United States in 1897. And it happened from May 10th to November 10th, 1876 to celebrate the

100th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence. And this one was officially called the international exhibition of arts and manufacturers and products of soil and mine. With this World's Fair, 37 countries from around the world participated in it and nearly 10 million people were in attendance. Chicago also had a World Fair. And, theirs was different because they were the first World Fair that not only did they showcase their work, but they also showed in real time how inventions were created. Both of these World Fair's, the first one and the Chicago one, become imperative for today's story. The only thing I know about the World's Fair is I have a book obviously on my shelf that I have yet to read, but it's

staring at me waiting, The Devil in the White City. And it's about how H.H. Holmes used The serial killer? Yeah, use the Chicago Worlds Fair as a pivotal point in his serial killing career. But yeah, he's also from New Hampshire. Is he? I love that you mention him because I put a little tidbit about him in this episode. Really? Yeah, because I was like, I can't just braze over a serial killer that pops up in a tree episode.

I mean, it's not about a serial killer. I'm sorry, you guys, but it is about trees. But I had to add them in here. Okay, well, I would love to learn more because obviously I don't know much. For people who don't know what the Chicago World's Fair was, it was held in 1883, and it was also held in celebration of the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1492. So it was known as the Chicago World Fair, but it was also known as World Columbian Exposition. The exposition covered 690 acres of land and had nearly over 200 new but temporary buildings, including the newly invented giant Ferris wheel at the time.

There were over 27 million people who came from around the world and many brought exhibitions relating to practices of their own culture as well. So there were people from all over the world showcasing all different kinds of things. And I wrote in here because I wanted to talk about a serial killer. I was like, it is in a national park related. and it's not related to my story at all. But this fair, surprisingly, it had a lot of death in it. There was the serial killer who was operating and owned the World's Fair Hotel in Chicago,

which was later called and nicknamed Murder Castle. And the article I read, it said that exaggerations and publications had the owner, Henry Howard Holmes, a man who participated in fraud and swindling crimes, was said to have murdered around 200 people in this hotel. There were rumors that flew that he had torture chambers and secret rooms and a crematorium that were in the hotel. And he actually lured guests from the Chicago World Fair into the hotel to kill them. But from the article that I read, it said that these rumors were spread through kind of loose journalism that were trying to gain headlines. And later actually researching in depth of what happened, he can only be linked, like concretely linked with nine murders.

And this includes men, women, and children, all of whom had ties to him in some type of business capacity. So they were children of people who had a business relationship with him or something along those. And then the parents had relationships with them that went sour in some kind of way. And he murdered people. He did end up being caught and he was, I think he was hanged eventually. Yeah. So it's funny that we're talking about this right now. I mean, obviously this is, I mean, God, maybe we're.

was like a month ago now. I don't know. Time melts. But Elena over at Morbid did a really awesome, I think it was four, maybe five parts. I can't remember. But she did an awesome job on a deep dive on H.H. Holmes story. And it is like, I mean, each episode is like an hour, hour and a half long and there's four to five of them. So if you want to know more, I mean, he is like wild. And we grew up learning about him, I think, just because he was like our hometown, like, little. area notorious killer just because he was from New England area. But yeah, he was fucking insane. To put it lightly, he was fucking insane. That's all I'm going to say. But yeah, because it's not my area, forte. But yeah, if you want

to learn more because he definitely did operate in that area and she went deep into the murder castle and all of the different, he was just such a piece of crap. But yeah, anyway, I'd rather learn about trees. Yeah, this is not a morbid episode. I know you have, you've had some morbid episodes and I're researching some and I was like, I'm going to throw in an episode about trees. So welcome everyone. But I will say I did add one more thing because this the Chicago World's Fair was not only filled with death because of the serial killer that was operating there, but two days before the end of the exposition, the mayor of the city, Carter Harrison Sr. was actually assassinated in his home by a fellow politician. So there was a lot going on in this era.

And I think they're so interesting the world's fair because it's at a time that, I mean, you said one of them had like 10 million people in attendance. And I just think, obviously, I don't think that's an event we'll ever see the likes of again just because you don't have to go somewhere to see something for yourself and to like verify that's real because we have social media and the news and the television. The television, you know, but back then it's like if you want to see this in real life, like if you need to. see it for yourself and to have the word like spread, like you go physically somewhere, gather and see this instead of being like, oh, it's in a traveling museum exhibit, or it's, I saw it on the news today, or Apple unveiled their newest gadget and had like just kind of a small gathering and now everyone knows about it and it's in stores everywhere. It's just so cool to be like, hey, this is what's going on in the world. And if you want to see it, you have to come here. Well, it's also really interesting too because, I mean, at this point in time, you think about it. And there wasn't a lot of news outlets. They had newspapers and people had access to those. But it had limited photographs. It had just whoever was writing it. And at these world fairs, there were people coming from all over the world to be there. So if you were visiting these places, you were not only seeing these inventions and new world things that were being created, but you were also meeting people that outside.

of this you would never know existed. You wouldn't know of these different languages, these different cultures and people. And it's an interesting era to be a part of because right now, like you said, we have social media. If you want to know about something, just Google it. Right. Exactly. And kind of switching gears, talking about the World Fair and actually going into my story now, the World Fair, it did inspire a lot of people and it inspired all types of people to bring their own innovations, including a man named Martin Vivian, who was just living outside of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. He believed that he had something he could bring to the fair that would shock the world, because in his backyard, he had some of the largest trees in the world.

Trees that he knew would astound anyone who laid their eyes upon them, trees that had stood for thousands of years and many of these trees were recently designated inside of national parks because they were so special. So he thought that if he could bring one of these trees to a world fair, he could awe the world. Is it world fair or worlds fair? I'm just, it's world fair, but like if you're like saying it like their fair, it's like the worlds. Got it. Right. It reminds me, remember stepbrothers, it's like, are you paying? Are you saying? No, it's worlds. Sorry. It's World's Fair, like with an apostrophe, yes. Okay.

I just wanted, I didn't know because. Are you saying Pam or is it saying Pan? It's Pan. It's Pan. Okay, Pan. Pam. So be silent. These trees, a lot of these trees had just been recently established as a national park

because Sequoia National Park was established in California in the year 1890. And it was the very first National Park established in order to protect a living organism, which were these massive sequoias that resided here. The park is contiguous with Kings Canyon National Park and jointly managed by the National Park Service and often referred to as Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The park contains a significant portion of the Sierra Nevada Range, including the highest mountain in the lower 48, which is Mount Whitney, and a portion of the famous Pacific Crest. trail. This park is also comprised of 202,430 acres, which is 819 square kilometers of old growth forests that are shared between Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. Sequoia National Park was

established to protect some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world, and here you can actually visit the largest tree in the world by volume, which we did, which is General Sherman, who is thought to be between 2,300 years old to 2,700. years old. When settlers first arrived to the area, they immediately envisioned the money that they could make off of logging the giant sequoia trees. And logging did begin in the area in 1862, and they destroyed many of these trees. And it was interesting because they've realized pretty quickly that sequoias don't actually make great logging trees. They break apart really easily and they're dry and they don't hold together like a maple. They just discovered very quickly that they weren't great trees, but they thought because of how massive they

were they would be. And even though it wasn't great wood that they were cutting down for what they needed, they continued to do it. Specifically in an area known as Converse Basin Grove, which is an area today known as Giant Sequoia National Monument, which was actually recently established in the year 2000, this area was once the second largest grove of giant Redwoods in the entire world. However, between 1892 and 1918, up to 8,000 of these giant sequoias were logged. And today, only about 60 of them remain. God, that's such a little. Is this the, wait, what did you just say this was? Giant Sequoia National Monument? Yeah. So that's where the dome was. Yeah. Right? That was in that area. And there's a grove of the sequoias that are there. Okay. Eventually, because of the mass destruction of these trees, it did gain

conservationist attention and they were slowly protected. However, the laws did not fully protect them for many years and there were actually loopholes around cutting them down. And this was where Martin Vivian was able to hatch his own little plan to cut down his sequoias to show them to the World's Fair. His plan was he wanted to display one of these large Sequoia trees at the very first World's Fair in the United States, which was the Philadelphia's Centennial Exposition. In 1875, the laws had just begun to protect Sequoias, and the laws at the time stated that for these trees, they could not be cut down if they were over 16 feet in circumference. However, there was a loophole to this law because you could only be convicted once for the crime of cutting trees down,

which once you were convicted, you were arrested and you were forced to pay a fine. But Martin had already cut down a tree the year before. He was arrested and he was fined, which meant that if he did the same thing again, he could not. be arrested twice for it and he could not be charged twice for it. What kind of law is that? A stupid one that eventually was amended. He's like, oh, if you do it once, you'll get caught, but if you do it more than that, it's fine. So weird. It's so weird. So bizarre. But he found this loophole in the line. He's like, this is perfect because now I can legally, not legally, but I can cut down this tree and no one's going to do anything. So he hires people to cut it down because, of course,

with these giant sequoias. He can't cut it down himself. He got some people to help him. So they start scouring the area for what he wants to find for the biggest tree. And they ended up in General Grant Grove, which is now Kings Canyon National Park. And when they find the largest one, they find it is 24 feet or seven meters in circumference. And they begin cutting it down. Because of how large it was, it took them nine full days of cutting before the tree fell. And of course, once it did, they found themselves to have another big problem. There was no way to ship a tree of that caliber across the country. So Martin decided to instead cut the tree into 16 foot increments and just use mostly bark and then ship it across the country and put it back together in Pennsylvania. But his plan did not go the

he wanted. The tree did arrive in Pennsylvania and he was able to put it back together, but it was severely damaged when it fell and through the actual transportation process to get it from California to Pennsylvania. And when he put it on display and the public got to see it, and again, there's 10 million people who show up at this World's Fair, the public actually laughed at the reconstruction. And they didn't believe the tree was real. Instead, they accused him of actually cutting down a bunch of trees and then putting them all together in a hoax to fool the public. He became a laughing stock of the entire crowd of people and this whole adventure actually turned into the infamous California hoax where people for a long time joked and laughed about this so-called

giant forest in the West. And just remember at this time there's there's a lack of communication ability here. There's not telephones. There's not people who are traveling as much back and forth. A lot of people haven't seen this. So the people on the East Coast were like, this is ridiculous, a giant, you just glued a tree, you just glued a bunch of trees together. You want us to think this is one tree? Like, who are you? Okay, hold on. Because people live in California. People, you know what I mean? It's not like this far off place that no one can verify this. But these are people all on the East Coast. No one here lives there. No one here has been there. because at this time, like, you have to travel by train for days and days and days to get across.

People aren't. People just come. And maybe if you've been to California, California's huge. It doesn't mean you've ever seen sequoias. That's so funny. They're like, you idiot, we're not falling for this. This isn't a real tree. Yeah, right. What do you think I'm stupid or something? Like, this is clearly the shittiest glued together tree I've ever seen. This is not. Which is also disappointing because he cut down a tree, a living tree that was living there, and for no reason, it didn't even do anything that he wanted to do. But this wasn't the end of people trying to gain national recognition of the forest. Before the converse basin grove was mostly destroyed and not protected well as it is today, men came to the grove for yet another mission to display the massive sequoias. And this time, it was at the Chicago World's Fair.

They chose the general noble tree. which was a giant sequoia that stood 285 feet tall, which is 86.9 meters, and had a diameter of 26 feet, just 7.9 meters, and at the time was over 3,000 years old. Five people carried out the felling of the tree, Captain Jameson Burr Mitchell, Will Irwin, Dayton Dickie, and Jesse Paddy. In order to be able to cut this tree down, they built a scaffolding that extended around 50 feet high because they made their first cut into the tree at 52 feet or 15.8 meters off of the ground. Because they were cutting higher into the tree,

the diameter here was only about 19 feet and 6 inches, which is 5.3 meters, and they began cutting it on August 12, 1892. However, during the first cut, the loggers almost died. Unexpectedly, as they made the first cut into this giant sequela, a large portion of the top came crashing down, striking the scaffolding that they were standing on. In a very quick moment of thinking, they jumped off the platform onto a nearby stump where they lay face down with their arms and legs spread for almost 20 minutes.

The vibrations from the sheer weight and strength of the tree lasted for that period of time and prevented them from being able to stand. That's how heavy and massive these trees are. Shockingly in this incident, no one was hurt, but their platform was destroyed. All in all, the felling and cutting operation of this tree took them in 13 full days to complete. Because of the California hoax and people questioning the legitimacy of Sequoia trees, they had very different plans to display it than had been done before. Instead of cutting sections of bark to reconstruct, they cut the tree into the size of a two-story building.

Then they hollowed out the inside, but created cross-second. and even a staircase inside for the public to walk on to help show that it was the same tree. It was subdivided into 46 smaller sections, and this time they made sure that the workmanship and cutting was perfect, so no one could question that this wasn't the same tree. The section of the tree was then transported by teams of 16 mules who pulled specialized wagons over mountainous roads. Some of the sections they carried weighed as much as four tons.

We drove those roads. We know how... I mean, I'm sure they're different, but I imagine they're way worse, and I cannot imagine carrying something like that through these areas. They had something to proof. They were on a mission. Clearly. They're like, this is not going to be California hoax number two. We got this this time. They then brought them to the train station where it required 11 railroad cars to carry parts of the General Noble from California to Chicago. All in all, the felling of this tree cost 10. $10,475, which would equal closer to $300,000 today.

The Chicago World's Fair was the most visited public event of its time, and this time, the public finally believed that the tree was real. People were amazed by the size of the tree, and thousands of people walked inside of it. The men were proud to show off the tree that they had cut down, and they were excited to boast of the location, because it was their home, and they were just so excited to be like, I live here. They come from this destination and these majestic trees are here. However, in the official history of Chicago World's Fair, they announced that the tree was from the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park. And where they were from was never even mentioned. Was that a

miscommunity, like publishing or like someone just assumed or mispublished or whatever, but they were from Tulare County, California, which is just outside of the park. and they were never mentioned at all. So people assume these trees were in Yosemite and not still unaware that these are down in Sequoia and Kings Canyon. I just imagine it's like, oh my God, what do we have to do to set this straight? It's like, God, at least you believe me, but you don't even get the location where it's at. Like, what is? Yeah, that's frustrating.

So they didn't receive the recognition that they were looking for. And what happened to this tree afterwards was really odd as well. So the decision was made. Well, first, it was renamed the Chicago stump because it was brought to Chicago and it looked like a giant stump. But it was shipped to Washington, D.C. And when it got to Washington, D.C., they decided that it wasn't good enough as just like a stump. They actually built a dome roof and used it as a tourist attraction at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the next 40 years. eventually it decayed to the point where it wasn't safe for tourists to use and was given to the

Department of Agriculture and it was turned into a storage shed. Okay. This giant magical Sequoia that there's not many in the world, only found in California, they just have us a shed in D.C. somewhere. It's like, okay. That is so disappointing. It really is. It's like, come on, people.

They're like, what is this? Well, after that, historical records of the tree are pretty hard to find. But it is known that the remains of the tree ended up at Arlington Farm in Virginia by the 1930s. In the same spot where it was, the government took over and built the Pentagon on that land in 1941. So I'm guessing that the tree decayed enough where they just got rid of it. RIP to the Chicago stump because I will say that would have been a cool, a pretty cool fucking shed. Yeah, pretty cool fucking shed for sure. You know how many things you could put in that shed?

Have you ever seen those houses, or houses, the show of like odd and unique houses? This was a grain silo and now it's my home and like, you know, like things like that. Like I could, I pretty much do live in the Chicago stump. Like it's probably smaller than the Chicago stump. The Chicago stump was huge. Right. And this is small. So I feel like.

I mean, it was only 26 feet in circumference. So I'm for a house. I say only. Yeah. You could have a living room bathroom and. People, tiny homes are popping right now. They are popping. And I see why because houses are so expensive.

But that's a different story. I just touched a nerve. Cassie's in the midst of house hunting and it's not going well. If anyone has a house that they want to sell to me for a normal price, that isn't a piece of shit. Please let me know. There is good news because there are remaining. of both of these stumps still in these areas in California. Today, the stump still remains in Converse Basin and can be visited.

Wait a second. Wait a second. What? You just scared me also. Hold on. Just jumped. Sorry. Which I've been doing, I feel like, a lot recently. I don't know.

You get scared. My heart rate is elevated. You got scared like several times by me on the trail when I was doing absolutely nothing. So I feel like you're just. I'm jumpy. recently. Okay. Well, remember when we stopped with Avery and we were, we were walking on that log, we're like, it's just a logging road. Yeah. That marker was in front of it. Was that the Chicago stump? Was the Chicago stump? I swear to God. Oh, no. Really? There was a marker at the front of that. It was like a granite-looking

marker. And it literally on the map said Chicago stump. So we were walking towards the Chicago stump and then we never visit. Well, I don't know if we passed it and just like went continued on just like a logging road. No, if you look at pictures, it's massive. But I'm telling you look up the the like monument or the designation for it because I swear to God that's where we were. I don't know. It's certainly possible. Avery's going to have to be the tiebreaker on this. If we missed it, it's so cool. But you can go visit. You can go visit the Chicago Stump. It is in this area. And there's a marker for it. And to this day, it is the largest known tree to ever be cut down.

I am so upset right now, Cassie, because I swear to God. It's because now you know the history behind it. Before we were like, we didn't know. But we didn't know is what I'm saying. That's why we tell these stories. So all of you can know and not make mistakes like we do. Walked right by it. Not the actual stump.

Didn't even see it. like the sign for it. That's so just, we'll have to go back. That's it. Book the flight. The good news is, is we did actually see the centennial stump. I took a photo of it when we were walking by, which is why I ended up researching this episode. So there is a marker for the centennial stump and it's located in Kings Canyon National Park

at the General Grant Grove in Hume, California. And you can still see its remains today. I took a photo of the sign and it has information about taking nine days to be cut down and a briefer version of the story I just told of the centennial stump that ended up in Pennsylvania that everyone laughed at for not being real. Sequoias aren't real. Sequoias aren't real. We won't be turning that into merch.

We have to draw the line somewhere, people. And sequoias are very real. And they're important. Not that moose aren't important either, but we just question their legitimacy. Anyway. If the stories that are. told today there are only two stories of two sequoias that were cut down purely for the purpose of displaying them as expositions, but there are many others as well. And it's important to remember that

the preservation of these trees are really important. Only 37,000 of giant sequoias exist in the world and all of them are in California. Their massive sizes make them extremely important for California's clean air, water, wildlife habitat, and natural carbon storage. Sequoia, trees are also trees that thrive off of wildfires and actually need them to remain healthy. They are able to adapt under extreme fire conditions. And without fire, sequoias actually are not able to reproduce, which I thought was really interesting because we hear of wildfires. And I think a lot of our immediate reaction is, oh no, a wildfire. You know, like they can cause extreme devastation. But they're also really important. And they're really important for sequoias. Because the fire actually

allows sequoias to release their seeds from their cones, and the newly exposed soil from burning other plants allows them to take root and recycle nutrients back into the soil. And when sequoias take up root, they also take up space that otherwise small brush would grow, and too much small brush in an area creates an extremely dangerous and flammable environment for forests. And a large reason actually of why we have been seeing more and more catastrophic fires is because of misinformed policies that have restricted fires and controlled burns that are actually needed and are important. So we're seeing today all these forest floors are filled with all of this lush greenery that is very flammable because if you go back and research and you look, I mean,

all of the native peoples before settlers ever arrived here, they all burned. They all did prescribed burns and we kind of got here and we're like, what? Why are you burning your forests? We would never do that to our land. And it's like, oh, we're actually doing it to take care of it. So now we're really seeing their repercussions today for it. And giant sequoias are super interesting because they thrive with fires and they really need them. So I thought that that was really interesting. Now because the brush that has been allowed to grow around the sequoias, we've lost nearly one-fifth of our population of giant sequoias because of the uncontrollable large fires that they can't survive. So we are seeing repercussions for that as well.

And if you all remember just last year, I think it was, right? General Sherman, which we've said is the largest tree by volume, made national news because firefighters had been wrapping it and trying to prevent it from burning. Was it last year or two years ago? I feel like Ian was still around. Maybe it was two years ago. Yeah. It was recent. It was very recent.

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. And there is actually going on right now currently. the Save Our Sequoias Act has been introduced, and it's a decision that is awaiting to be passed. And according to natural resources.house.gov, the act will provide land managers with the emergency tools and resources needed to save these remaining ancient wonders from unprecedented peril threatening of their long-term survival. And the bill would enhance coordination between federal,

state, tribal, and local land managers through shared stewardship agreement. and codification of the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition, a partnership between the current Giant Sequoia managers. It would create a Giant Sequoia Health and Resiliency Assessment to prioritize wildfire risk reduction treatments in highest risk groves and track the progress of scientific forest management activities. It would declare an emergency to streamline and expedite environmental reviews and consultations while maintaining robust scientific analysis. It would provide new authority to the National Park Foundation and National Forest Foundation to accept private donations to facilitate Giant Sequoia Restoration and Resiliency. It would also establish a comprehensive

reforestation strategy to regenerate giant sequoias in areas destroyed by recent catastrophic wildfires. So there is a bill that is like very much going into trying to protect these trees. But there are arguments on sides of the bill and a lot of of it isn't that people don't want it because it seems across the board that everyone wants it, but everyone doesn't agree on everything that the bill is offering. And there are some environmental groups that argue that the bill has not undergone proper environmental reviews and the plans to protect the forest could actually lead to unintended harm. And they are fighting that it needs to be further evaluated. So things haven't been pushed through. But with this bill, they would provide

over $300 million in funding over the next 10 years for giant sequoia protection and reforestation projects. Well, there's continued effort, obviously, like, beginning in the 1800s of recognizing the need to preserve and protect. And obviously, that's changed form over the years. But it's good to see that, you know, because obviously there are national parks designated for their protection, but that's an effort that needs to continue and it's cool to see. because I feel like a lot of people, like, they're trees.

You know, like, we have tons of trees. But until you see them, they're just so, they're a wonder, for real. They really are. And just having so few of them and just doing what we can to preserve what little remains, it's awesome to see. And hopefully it continues to move forward. Yeah, whatever's decided. I mean, the fact that there are people that are actively fighting for them,

they are. They're magical. It's amazing. You stand in front of them and it's definitely one of those moments where as a person, you feel really small. And they say you're among the giants when you're there and you are. You are so small when you're standing next to these massive trees that were here long before you. They have seen history that for thousands of years. And if we protect them, they'll be here long after we're gone too.

So they're definitely important. So the fight to save the sequoias is an ongoing process. there's a long ways to go but hopefully we'll see we'll see some good things that are coming in the next few years and hopefully this fire season is a little kinder to them this year yeah we'll see well cool I'm glad you covered that because it's so fresh in our minds at least or at least in my mind yeah we were just there okay cool so that's it I guess for this week yeah that's it that's my story on trees and national parks go to California have fun in the meantime enjoy the view but watch you're back bye everyone see yeah

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