Tales of the San Francisco Peninsula
by
Theron G. Cady
A series of articles first published in 'Peninsula Life Magazine'
Published by C-T Publishers, San Carlos, California, 1948
Long before Portola and
his party explored the Peninsula, the area in and around Woodside was a
vast forest of giant redwoods. These great red trees, named in honor
of the Cherokee Indian, Sequoyah, stretched down from the slopes of King's
Mountain and fanned out into the valley below.
When the first white
man, Bill "The Sawyer" Smith, came to Woodside he was greatly impressed
with the enourmous stand of timber and immediately began teaching the mission
Indians how to cut lumber.
Later, other men joined
"The Sawyer" and in 1947 [sic.] Charles Brown built perhaps the first sawmill
in the valley. Then in 1849 lumbering began in earnest and it wasn't
long before the giant redwoods began to disappear into shingles and lumber
for the San Francisco trade.
With the passing of time
the redwoods around Woodside gradually vanished--except one lone giant
which was left standing as a living monument to all its neighbors who felt
the bite of the lumberman's saw.
The Skyline Methuselah
Redwood, perhaps the largest standing redwood on the Peninsula, still remains
where it has stood for over 1,500 years. It is located on the bay
side of the Skyline Boulevard about twenty-six miles south of San Francisco.
More than fifty-five feet in circumference, this remaining giant with its
roots firmly embedded in the soil clings to the side of the mountain in
defiance of man and the elements.
This old tree, if it
were gifted with speech, could no doubt explain the mystery which has surrounded
it for the past century. Why was it left standing when all of its
neighbors fell to the axe of the lumberjack? Why was it singled out
to be left untouched? Why wasn't it cut into shingles or lumber as
its many neighbors were, for, comparing this tree with its big brother,
the Maple Creek Tree, it would produce thousands of feet of marketable
timber. The Maple Creek Tree is 308 feet high and has a diameter
of twenty feet, five feet above the ground. This tree, according
to logging engineers, would produce 361,366 board feet of lumber.
Just how much the Skyline Methuselah would produce has never been estimated
but it would certainly contain sufficient board feet to build several of
our modern GI homes.