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The
Men of Mammoth Forest
A Hundred-year History of a Sequoia Forest and its People in Tulare
County, California
By Floyd L. Otter
New, Hardbound, 6th
printing, 169 pages $
28 plus
tax and shipping
($ 34.20)
Used, Hardbound, 5th
printing, 169 pages $
20 plus
tax and shipping ($25.50 )
The story begins with
the old tragedy of the Indians who made their last stand at Battle
Mountain with bows and arrows against Army guns. Then came the trail
blazers, rarely finding passes as low as 10,000 feet through the
two major divides between San Joaquin Valley and Owens Lake, and
soon thereafter the hopeful toll road builders. Then there came
the hogs and cattle, and alas, there came, and passed, the era of
indefatigable shepherds.
Unless the reader knows
the meaning of a true mountain escarpment rising at the rate of
a thousand feet each horizontal mile from the San Joaquin Valley
to where the mammoth forest lies, he would not easily appreciate
the struggle of the iron-shod bulls and the jangling jerk line freight
teams which are so important a part of this story. One of the fantastic
tales that are a part of this big tree legend is the falling of
one Giant Sequoia by chopping outward from the inside of the tree.
Also included are valuable descriptions of unusual logging methods
needed to harvest the mighty Giant Sequoias.
The book is arranged
in three chronological parts respectively embracing the wilderness,
the logging and, finally, the public acceptance of its responsibility
for guardianship over this great Sequoia forest. There is a solid
reference to source material, some place name origins and a list
of memorable dates of droughts, fires, and floods.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
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Chapter
A Word
to the Reader
I.
The Forest---An Introduction
PART ONE.
FIRST ATTACKS ON THE WILDERNESS
II.
Far Back on the Trail
III.
The Yaudanchi Lose Their Homeland
IV.
First Discoveries, Trapping, Mining, and Hunting
V.
Trails Across the Sierra
VI.
Shepherd's Empire
VII.
First Settlers, Sawmills, Roads
VIII. An Old Stump and Two Caves
PART TWO.
NOW WE'RE LOGGIN'
IX.
A Word to the Wise
X.
The Trees Come Down
XI.
The Sawmills
XII.
Mountain Retreats for the San Joaquin
XIII.
Moves Toward Forest Conservation
PART THREE.
THE PUBLIC ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY
XIV.
Uncle Sam's Foresters
XV.
Balch Park
XVI.
The State Joins In
XVII.
To Sit .... To Muse .... To Slowly
Trace
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
A. ORIGIN OF PLACE NAMES
APPENDIX
B. MEMORABLE DATES
INDEX
OF PEOPLE AND PLACES
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