The Pittsburgh Press (January 17, 1942)
Rambling Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
SCOTIA, Cal. – People from the east who drive up the Redwood Highway for the first time almost invariably wax enthusiastic over the monstrous trees.
I’ve heard scores of people speak of their sensations at driving among the giant redwoods, and invariably they say the same thing – how insignificant they feel before the majesty of nature.
Well, I’ve driven through the redwoods many times. I don’t remember what I thought the first time, but my main feeling now is a desire to get out of them, because it’s like driving in a tunnel. You are surrounded, enveloped, closed down upon, and I get a form of claustrophobia from being among them.
So, like all people who eat too much cake, my day of sensitive appreciation of the redwood forests is gone. When I come into them now I don’t say, “Ernest, you are insignificant.” No, I just say, “Ernest, here are those damn big trees again.”
I do, however, enjoy looking at redwood lumber. I’m sort of crazy about wood anyway, I’ve always wanted to be a cabinetmaker. And wooden sculpture is about the only form of art I appreciate. I love to feel of wood, love to look at it. Even finished lumber gives me a warm sensation.
If I ever get rich, I think I’ll build a shed about the size of a barn, fill it full of lumber, and just go around each day admiring it, as other people might stroll through their private art galleries.
Redwood lumber is beautiful. It seems to come in all shades of red – some so pale you can hardly tell it is redwood; some so violently red that it resembles the “purple heart” wood of Guiana jungles in South America.
Largest trees preserved
For years I have been laboring under two delusions about redwood – (1) that it was a crime to be cutting down those big trees, and (2) that the lumber wasn’t much good anyhow.
As usual, I was wrong. There is no danger of the redwood becoming extinct. The most spectacular of the big trees have been safely preserved in parks and groves, the better for posterity to see.
Nor are the lumber forests on the verge of demolition. There is right now enough redwood standing to last for 80 or 100 years, and new growths are coming in all the time.
As for the lumber, it’s fine. We don’t see it used so much in houses, because it is expensive. But when you do build a house of redwood, it is there practically forever. That is its chief virtue – it just doesn’t wear out.
At the lumber mill here they showed me some eave-troughs made of redwood, to use instead of metal gutters. “How long would those last?” I asked. “Four or five years?”
The man looked at me as though I were a moron. “Fifty or 60 years,” he said.
Redwood will burn, but it’s about the most fire-resistant of woods. You don’t see many stark and ghostly fire-paths in the redwood forests. They protect themselves well.
And when a redwood tree goes down, it will lie there for ages without rotting. They recently hauled in and sawed up a log that had been on the ground 500 years – and it made good lumber. They could tell how long it had been down, because a new tree had grown on top of it, and that tree was 500 years old by ring count.
One specimen 2300 years old
We’re always hearing about the great age of these redwood trees. The Pacific Lumber Co. has cut one tree that was 2300 years old. But that is practically freakish. They say the ideal cutting age is about 75 years. So you see the forest can renew itself in one person’s lifetime.
Since this country at war will have to have lots of wood, I assumed that outfits like the Pacific Lumber Co. would be swamped for the duration with government orders, and would get high priorities for new milling machinery and what not, I mentioned this.
They said, “No, not at all. It’s true the government will have to have lots of lumber, but it doesn’t have to have redwood. It’s too expensive. We won’t be getting much priority.”
Redwood costs about twice as much as ordinary lumber. Not because there isn’t plenty of it, but because there’s so much waste in getting it into lumber.
For one thing, the trees are so big they go down with an awful smash, and there’s often considerable damage. For another, the older trees are “overripe,” and there is wastage in the center. For another the bark is so thick, and it’s expensive to get off.
As a result of this high cost, a good portion of the redwood produced goes into specialty uses, rather than for straight building construction. It is used for cigar boxes, and oil tanks in Texas, and for caskets, and grave vaults, and for foundations in termite country. I want a redwood oil tank for Christmas next year.