MercuryNews: For 2,000 years, the “Pioneer Cabin Tree” grew in peaceful grandeur in a land not yet California — reaching ever taller as the Miwoks hunted, the Aztec mined gold, Chinese perfected silk, Romans expanded their empire and waves of new immigrants arrived in America.
#CAStorm: Historic Pioneer Cabin Tree @ Calavares Big Trees State Park BEFORE & AFTER due to storm. Pic: The American Southwest & Jim Allday pic.twitter.com/ZYivMx9ZXr
— Veronica Miracle (@VeronicaABC30) January 9, 2017
Yesterday, with stunning finality of a beheading, it fell.
The aging giant was pronounced dead at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, toppled by fierce winds and eight inches of rain in its home in the North Grove of Calaveras Big Trees State Park in Arnold, northeast of Stockton.
No one saw it fall, but a stunned park docent discovered the shattered tree on an afternoon walk, then called authorities.
This week, the grove is cordoned off as tree pathologists arrive to conduct a detailed post-mortem. There are no immediate plans for its fate. MORE
this made me a lot sadder than the loss of david bowie or george michael
Maybe they shouldn’t have cut a big ass hole in it that a car can drive through and it would still be standing.
If no one heard it fall,
Aaahhh you know the rest.
Is it possible that it finally starved to death since its midsection has been removed for decades? The storm simply finished the job.
No worries. There are TONS of Giant Redwoods left.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
When death gives you timber, make furniture.
@Gunny
I’d love to get a big hunk of that beauty. I could make some nice furniture from it.
@Yakima Al
@The Gunny
@PHenry
Three Cheers
Conserve
Conceive
Create
what a difference
a liberal would cry over the tree and make sure the death of the tree doesn’t go to waste by enacting some insane legislation.
a conservative will figure how to make sure the tree its self doesn’t go to waste.
I know it will be missed.
The wood should make for a lot of interesting projects. Maybe sell it to the public or build a cabin with it to sell more stuff from inside. lol.
Kinda sad. That tree was only a few miles from my property. Did take some houseguest to see it last August. At 2000 years old and that yuge hole bored through it, no wonder it fell.
Damn. I’ve driven through that tree twice, once in 1964 with my parents and once in 1970 while on a trip with a friend.
In the article it stated that the tree had only ONE limb left alive. How can you call that a living tree? I see it as this gigantic dead tree finally fell. Anyone with a heart would have cut it down long ago and put it out of its misery. The wood is probably termite infested too.
I think redwood is termite resistant.
What the hell did that tree know about Hillary?
Have they blamed gullible warming yet?
Too bad the storm didn’t take out the dead wood at the Golden Globes, instead…
@Menderman: “Maybe they shouldn’t have cut a big ass hole in it that a car can drive through and it would still be standing.”
Those were my almost exact words today when I heard the news at work! I left out the “big ass” part!
Was it the RUSSIANS !!! who cut the hole thru the middle of it?? But that’s still a lot of useful board-feet waiting to be bucked up !!
Would the tree still stand if it didn’t get hollowed out?
I used to call that giant crotch “Eleanor”…
she hated that and always asked me, “How wood you know?” 👿
A better nickname would have been “Pam Anderson.”
You could ride a mule to the bottom.
CoverMyMeds, That tree was severely scarred at some point in time. If you google it most sites will show it. Cutting a hole thru the center probably did it no good.
I think it’s been hollowed out since the 1880s.
God DAMNIT! Were any Ewoks injured in the fall?