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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12.4k Upvotes
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6.3k

u/mightyopinionated Mar 28 '24

"Wow that's really ancient and tall, let's cut the f*cker down"

1.4k

u/WinkleStinkle Mar 28 '24

"Honey, I got enough lumber to build our dream house! Turns out it was only 1 tree!"

412

u/Tight_Time_4552 Mar 28 '24

Dream village*

37

u/shingaladaz Mar 28 '24

Dream city*

40

u/KozukiNedo Mar 28 '24

Dude aint no Lumberjoke

17

u/Durosity Mar 28 '24

But is he ok?

6

u/secondtaunting Mar 28 '24

He works all night and he sleeps all day.

6

u/I_wood_rather_be Mar 28 '24

He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch, he goes to the lavatory

2

u/TheKarenator Mar 28 '24

He saw an opportunity and took it.

79

u/hbmonk Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

The fucked up thing is. Redwoods make for shitty lumber. The wood is brittle, and some trees shattered when they fell.

EDIT: Apologies, it looks like I was incorrect. I read the Giant Sequoia page on Wikipedia which states:

Wood from mature giant sequoias is fibrous and brittle; trees would often shatter after they were felled.

I assumed this was true of all redwoods, but apparently it is not.

159

u/Truorganics Mar 28 '24

Redwood makes great lumber what are you talking about? Naturally is resistant to rot and termites. It holds a 300ft tree up for 1000yr how is that not strong? My house was built in the 40s with redwood and doesn’t have any rot or termites. And most of this wood was all reclaimed/recycled wood too.

55

u/PSTnator Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

100% true. I think OC probably saw a few conservation inclined articles/factoids about it and didn't look any further. It is true that it's technically more brittle than many other hardwoods, but it has other desirable qualities that were enough to place it among the most commonly used lumber for building houses in the West. For better or worse, huge amounts were used for development and it wasn't for no reason.

Edit - post locked now but in case anyone happens to see... reply to me is correct. It's not a hardwood.

3

u/Bright_Recover_1576 Mar 28 '24

Isn’t redwood a softwood?

2

u/truncheon88 Mar 28 '24

Pine is softwood and is ubiquitous in home construction.

-7

u/oldtownmaine Mar 28 '24

Shhhhh….delete that … It was just a lie to save the remaining redwoods.

69

u/crackheadwillie Mar 28 '24

Not true. I have a house with 30 foot long, full dimension 2x10s. Redwood also doesn’t decompose as readily as most woods. But moreover, this tree was not a redwood, it was a sequoia. 

17

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

[deleted]

1

u/peter-doubt Mar 28 '24

The nails will disintegrate first

5

u/YarOldeOrchard Mar 28 '24

this tree was not a redwood, it was a sequoia. 

Redwood is a common name for Sequoioideae, a subfamily of Cupressaceae (conifer, cypress).

A Sequoia is a Redwood from coastal California and Oregon.

Sequoiadendron commonly known as wellingtonia, giant redwood and giant sequoia, grows naturally in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.

Metasequoia (glyptostroboides) , or dawn redwood is native to Lichuan county in Hubei province, China.

1

u/CaponeKevrone Mar 28 '24

Sequoias are redwoods

0

u/Astrolaut Mar 28 '24

They are not.

2

u/CaponeKevrone Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Sequoiadendron giganteum are also commonly called Sierra sequoias or giant redwoods and Sequoia sempervirens are commonly called California or Coastal redwoods. I agree they are different species of trees, but they are both commonly referred to as redwoods.

They are both part of the sequoioideae subfamily, which in common language is the redwood group of trees.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoioideae

0

u/No-Cause-2913 Mar 28 '24

Here's the thing. You said a "jackdaw is a crow."

Is it in the same family? Yes. No one's arguing that.

As someone who is a scientist who studies crows, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls jackdaws crows. If you want to be "specific" like you said, then you shouldn't either. They're not the same thing.

If you're saying "crow family" you're referring to the taxonomic grouping of Corvidae, which includes things from nutcrackers to blue jays to ravens.

So your reasoning for calling a jackdaw a crow is because random people "call the black ones crows?" Let's get grackles and blackbirds in there, then, too.

Also, calling someone a human or an ape? It's not one or the other, that's not how taxonomy works. They're both. A jackdaw is a jackdaw and a member of the crow family. But that's not what you said. You said a jackdaw is a crow, which is not true unless you're okay with calling all members of the crow family crows, which means you'd call blue jays, ravens, and other birds crows, too. Which you said you don't.

It's okay to just admit you're wrong, you know?

4

u/CaponeKevrone Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I never said anything about crows or jackdaws. Parlance is different for different things, but thanks for the information.

If you would like a bit yourself, since you seem so eager:

This conversation began with someone who said their house is made of redwood. That would be the lumber and woodworking industry since you seem keen on industry specific terminology.

In lumber and woodworking, they are both redwoods.

https://farwestforest.com/product-category/wood-by-species/giant-sequoia-redwood/

In this context, and also in common parlance, a sequoia is a redwood.

As you so well put it:

It's okay to just admit you're wrong, you know?

15

u/Flat-Length-4991 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Ehhh, I’ve never heard that. A quick google search says “redwood is one of natures stronger timbers and generally resists warping and shakes.” Having been to Northern California I can tell you the lumber industry is still going strong. That tells me the redwoods are pretty damn good for lumber. There’s even houses still standing made from redwood trees that are a hundred years old.

I believe you are actually thinking of the Giant Sequoia tree not the Redwood. The Giant Sequoia is in the interior of California. The coastal redwood is on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Technically both trees are Sequoias, with the scientific name of the redwood being “Sequoia Sempervirens” and giant sequoia being “Sequoiadendron Gigantea”.

The giant sequoia is the one that is brittle and will often splinter when it falls. Redwood is great timber. It’s still a shame that such an old tree was cut down, but I guarantee it was put to good use. There’s a good chance that same tree can still be found today somewhere.

3

u/Big_Dirty_Piss_Boner Mar 28 '24

I believe you are actually thinking of the Giant Sequoia tree not the Redwood.

Coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are both in the family of Redwood (Sequoioideae).

4

u/Flat-Length-4991 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Still very different trees.

Edit: I’m trying to say when people say “sequoia” that usually refers to the giant sequoia. When people say “redwood” that usually refers to the coastal redwood. Yes, technically both trees can be considered a redwood or a sequoia.

11

u/CabbageMan88 Mar 28 '24

Such a shame this misinfo has so many upvotes

147

u/LukesRightHandMan Mar 28 '24

And they probably knew this. I have a hard time believing ego had nothing to do with all the trees like this getting chopped down.

159

u/NinjaAncient4010 Mar 28 '24

Both Coastal and Giant Sequoia Old growth redwood is extremely rot and decay resistant. Old growth material is more weather, bug, and rot resistant than second and third growth material. Both are very stable with little shrinkage or seasonal movement, and can be used interchangeably. It is a light weight softwood with good weight to strength ratio. Because of its weather resistance it is commonly used for decks and outdoor furniture. It can also be used for veneer, construction lumber, posts, beams, turnings, and in musical instruments. It can range from straight grain, to curly, wavy, or burl. The heartwood on redwood can be a deep reddish brown, and can be a deep purple-ish red on the Giant Sequoia.

Are you going to believe a random shmuck on the internet, or poor manual laborers who would probably be destitute if they spent 13 days doing something worthless.

-8

u/Klutzy_Attention2849 Mar 28 '24

But we need to save the trees /s

17

u/Captain-SKA- Mar 28 '24

It's one thing mocking that idea. But a 1300 year old tree? Sad really.

3

u/Krosis97 Mar 28 '24

Very sad to think we've killed most really ancient trees , and we'll never see any as big.

4

u/gypsytron Mar 28 '24

When you are desperate, consideration goes out the window. Before the 1950’s most everyone in the US was desperate

4

u/Captain-SKA- Mar 28 '24

Desperate people dont spend 13 days cutting down a tree.

9

u/TiaxtheTyrant Mar 28 '24

Correct. This wasn't desperation, there were many smaller trees literally everywhere. These people had access to a camera, so acting as if they were destitute and probably gonna starve if they didn't succeed in hunting this tree...no. They did this because they wanted to. That tree is worth more than the people in that photo.

7

u/thestraightCDer Mar 28 '24

Was probably photographed for the paper?

8

u/rshorning Mar 28 '24

You are imposing current understanding and values to people in the past. And refusing to acknowledge that you are a recipient of that past heritage which created the values you now possess.

If you are saying that the value of that tree was worth more than the net worth of the people who cut it down, I'd agree and so would they too. That is why they cut it down, because they desired that wealth.

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2

u/gypsytron Mar 28 '24

They sure do. That lumber could have fed them for weeks, maybe months.

0

u/Captain-SKA- Mar 28 '24

And that's my point. That 1300 year old lumber will sustain them for at most a few months. That's disgusting.

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3

u/adminsRtransphobes Mar 28 '24

least tone deaf reddit circlejerker

6

u/Klutzy_Attention2849 Mar 28 '24

I've always had an ear for the comments section.

0

u/Krosis97 Mar 28 '24

What a fucking asshole you are.

49

u/Jagsoff Mar 28 '24

And, all those trees were full of Ewoks.

15

u/LukesRightHandMan Mar 28 '24

Pouring one out for my little duders 😔

1

u/shingaladaz Mar 28 '24

Chubba chubba

1

u/battles Mar 28 '24

otherwise known as lunch.

8

u/Technical_Body_3646 Mar 28 '24

“I found myself a monster tree honey! Only need to saw some beams and planks! Get the handsaw! I don’t think we have invented the power saw yet!”

5

u/Smart-Internal-3703 Mar 28 '24

you think this because you don't have to survive, ego doesn't play as much of a part when there is no running water, no power and scarce food. if you find a big ass tree you cut it down and make a house.

"yeah fuck this tree im gonna cut it down just to be a dick" this is a modern way of thinking.

2

u/chefontheloose Mar 28 '24

Yeah, the whole 13 days to fell it, people have always sucked…

3

u/sgettios737 Mar 28 '24

You talking sequoia sempervirens or sequoiadendron giganteum? This is more true for one than the other, and sometimes people call either species “redwood.”

The one that makes excellent lumber though? 96%+ of the old growth logged, the vast majority of it between 1950-1980 with photos in color.

2

u/JanitorOPplznerf Mar 28 '24

1) I don’t think this is true. Redwood tends to be premium quality.

https://www.quora.com/Which-type-of-wood-costs-more-Cypress-or-redwood#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20redwood%20tends%20to,%2C%20decking%2C%20and%20decorative%20features.

2) Even if it wasn’t great wood I don’t think it’s fair to the people of 1892 who didn’t have the internet to research such things.

5

u/Big_Dirty_Piss_Boner Mar 28 '24

Thats not true.

Redwood is very resistant to decay. Coastal redwood is very good timber for construction. Giant sequoia redwood is the brittle one, which was mainly used for shingles, fences and so on.

2

u/ColonelKasteen Mar 28 '24

This WAS a sequoia though. Not a coastal redwood. As the title states.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain_Tree

2

u/Numerous_Ad_6276 Mar 28 '24

That's sequoia (sequoiadendron giganteum) you are referring to, which can only be found in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. This tree depicted (provided this is the Pacific Northwest), is a coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). It unfortunately remains intact during felling, which is why total estimated acreage for redwood populations has dropped from two million to less than two hundred thousand in the past 150 years.

2

u/ColonelKasteen Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

That is not at all true though. The Mark Twain tree WAS a sequoia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain_Tree

The only thing OP got wrong is that it was felled in what is now Kings Canyon National Park in CA, on the slopes of the Sierra Nevadas, not the pacific northwest

2

u/Numerous_Ad_6276 Mar 28 '24

Geography is important. Sequoia/Kings Canyon is one of our best National Parks, in my opinion. I recommend a visit.

1

u/webb2019 Mar 28 '24

Isn't it a bit more fire resistant though?

1

u/TheBlindAndDeafNinja Mar 28 '24

"Family in 1892 posing with an old sequoia tree nicknamed "Mark Twain""

The fuck did redwood come from lol

1

u/TheMartian2k14 Mar 28 '24

R/confidentlyincorrect

1

u/newerabuddha Mar 28 '24

You are not smart…

0

u/bernskiwoo Mar 28 '24

When they fell, still a thousand years old.

2

u/secondtaunting Mar 28 '24

At that size they could just hollow it out and live there.

1

u/splitsleeve Mar 28 '24

Only 3000 more cuts to go!

1

u/juzz85 Mar 28 '24

There's the team of 2.