JasperSparthing
ArboristSite Lurker
I was wondering if anyone has any accounts from their father or grandpa of felling 300 foot+ Douglas fir, redwood, or spruce trees way back? Or any of the older members here have tales of cutting 300+ footers?
There seem to be lots of wild frontier accounts of Douglas fir way past 300 and even over 400 feet cut down 80 to 150 years ago I'm just curious if anyone has personal knowledge of these giants, or any such. I know the redwoods are up to 380 ft. but there are even tales of 400 - 424 foot redwoods at, Elk river 1886, Lindsey creek, and Orick Flats.. giant firs in B.C., and Washington, up to 415' Lynn Vallley 1902, and 465' Nooksack river 1897. If tales of 400 footers were that abundant back then, there must have been a lot more 300+ foot trees??... Maybe when the tree hit the ground it split to pieces and they measured it on the ground so the height was exaggerated by 50 feet? Some of these old time accounts have precise details, board foot, ring counts etc. Hard to explain.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/09/04/2016112910.jpg
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/09/04/2016113110.gif
http://www.cardcow.com/images/set38/card00494_fr.jpg
http://www.minerallake.com/Iverson Photos/IversonMineralBigTree35.jpg
This news account below, from 1921 makes it sound like 400 feet was common in old fir stands:
Schenectady Gazette - Google News Archive Search
A caption in the article above shows a photo of a "spar" tree getting topped at "275 feet" and what appears to be 50 - 70 feet of the top falling off... I can't imagine the pain these men had to go through using old saws and axes.
A study in 2008 by Domec et al, and reported by Oregon State University estimated that Douglas fir trees have a theoretical height limit of 109 - 138 meters (358-453 ft), but could be as high as 145 m (476 ft). That makes for an awful lot of "tall." Another study, Koch et al, 2004 had concluded redwoods have a limit of 130 meters (430 ft).
Sitka Spruce has grown 315 feet tall, but there is at least one old account from the Oregon coast of a 400 foot spruce as well.
Maybe there are still a few of these ultra tall giants left in Washington, Oregon and B.C. awaiting discovery?
There seem to be lots of wild frontier accounts of Douglas fir way past 300 and even over 400 feet cut down 80 to 150 years ago I'm just curious if anyone has personal knowledge of these giants, or any such. I know the redwoods are up to 380 ft. but there are even tales of 400 - 424 foot redwoods at, Elk river 1886, Lindsey creek, and Orick Flats.. giant firs in B.C., and Washington, up to 415' Lynn Vallley 1902, and 465' Nooksack river 1897. If tales of 400 footers were that abundant back then, there must have been a lot more 300+ foot trees??... Maybe when the tree hit the ground it split to pieces and they measured it on the ground so the height was exaggerated by 50 feet? Some of these old time accounts have precise details, board foot, ring counts etc. Hard to explain.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/09/04/2016112910.jpg
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/09/04/2016113110.gif
http://www.cardcow.com/images/set38/card00494_fr.jpg
http://www.minerallake.com/Iverson Photos/IversonMineralBigTree35.jpg
This news account below, from 1921 makes it sound like 400 feet was common in old fir stands:
Schenectady Gazette - Google News Archive Search
A caption in the article above shows a photo of a "spar" tree getting topped at "275 feet" and what appears to be 50 - 70 feet of the top falling off... I can't imagine the pain these men had to go through using old saws and axes.
A study in 2008 by Domec et al, and reported by Oregon State University estimated that Douglas fir trees have a theoretical height limit of 109 - 138 meters (358-453 ft), but could be as high as 145 m (476 ft). That makes for an awful lot of "tall." Another study, Koch et al, 2004 had concluded redwoods have a limit of 130 meters (430 ft).
Sitka Spruce has grown 315 feet tall, but there is at least one old account from the Oregon coast of a 400 foot spruce as well.
Maybe there are still a few of these ultra tall giants left in Washington, Oregon and B.C. awaiting discovery?