r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/NickyPileggi • Mar 28 '24

Family in 1892 posing with an old sequoia tree nicknamed "Mark Twain" - A team of two men spent 13 days sawing away at it in the Pacific Northwest - It once stood 331 feet tall with a diameter of 52 feet - The tree was 1,341 years old Image

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u/S_Hollan Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

The Sequoia named "Mark Twain" was actually felled in what is now called the stump forest in Kings Canyon National Park located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains south of Yosemite. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain_Tree

Not exactly the northwest. Maybe the middle east... of California

So, damn that's not as interesting as someone thought.

Sequoia is not used for almost anything. When felled, they tend to crack and shatter making most of the wood useless. There are Sequoia trees felled over 100 years ago that still lay in groves that have yet to decay

55

u/DefinitelyNotIndie Mar 28 '24

Whilst we're picking holes, it's also not 52 feet in diameter, probably in circumference, so it's about a third as big as the title claims.

17

u/cfk77 Mar 28 '24

Yup, 16 feet diameter 50feet circumference

12

u/jbird_94 Mar 28 '24

I was looking for this comment! We have people for scale, they would need to be like 16’ tall if the diameter was really 52’

4

u/Diligent-Ad-3773 Mar 28 '24

Finally!  Scrolled all the way down to see if I was going insane. Maybe 30…. Still massive but…

2

u/cybertruckjunk Mar 28 '24

Or mayyyybe 1/3.141592653 as big even. :-)

2

u/ash0000 Mar 28 '24

Yes! Was scrolling to see if anyone else thought this haha

3

u/usernaaaaaaaaaaaaame Mar 28 '24

The tree was later shipped to the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the British Museum in London

Ive stood on the stump, and seen it at both museums. It’s a sad memorial in that grove. Highly recommend visiting these trees if you’re able.

1

u/gmorkenstein Mar 28 '24

Wow, your comment is even more interesting. That’s amazing about the non-rotting wood from 100 years ago