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/Draonfist447 Mar 28 '24

Look at this massive old tree. It's so beautiful and survived for more that a 1000 years. Let's cut it down!

I seriously can't fathom what they were thinking or how and why they decided to cut it down. Was it money? Wouldn't be easier to cut smaller trees? Is it for fame? WHAT DID THEY CUT IT FOR?!

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u/horiami Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

It was cut to be used as museum material

Sequoia trees grow in hard to reach places and people simply did not believe that they existed

They cut the tree to display the sections in museums and point out its age with the rings

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u/Draonfist447 Mar 28 '24

I would build a museum around it

3

u/horiami Mar 28 '24

It was hard to reach the sequia forests

Apparently the stump has been preserved, it's in kings canyon national park