THE BIGGEST THING ALIVE

F the 1,156,000 sequoias, young and old, which form these groves, twelve thousand exceed ten feet in diameter. Muir states that a diameter of twenty feet and a height of two hundred and seventy-five is perhaps the average for mature and favorably situated trees, while trees twenty-five feet in diameter and approaching three hundred in height are not rare.

But the greatest trees have astonishing dimensions:

General Sherman: diameter, 36.5 feet; height, 279.9 feet.

General Grant: diameter, 35 feet; height, 264 feet.

Abraham Lincoln: diameter, 31 feet; height, 270 feet.

California: diameter, 30 feet; height, 260 feet.

George Washington: diameter, 29 feet; height, 255 feet.

A little effort will help you realize these dimensions. Measure and stake in front of a church the diameter of the General Sherman Tree. Then stand back a distance equal to the tree's height. Raise your eyes slowly and imagine this huge trunk rising in front of the church. When you reach a point in the sky forty-five degrees up from the spot on which you stand you will have the tree's height were it growing in front of your church.

THE GENERAL SHERMAN TREE The largest and oldest living thing in all the world Photograph by Lindley Eddy