My cousin-in-law, Arvi, sent a picture reminding me of the sequoia trees’ immensity, so I went here plus some other sites to be reminded of their history.
Europeans officially discovered the giant sequoia in the mid-1800s and logging began. According to estimates, what we can see is only about a third of the original forests.
The giant sequoia was so named by Joseph Decaisne, a French botanist who named them after Native American Sequoyah, who invented the Cherokee alphabet.
107 elephants equal to weight of General Sherman sequoia tree
Due to the extensive logging, President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation on September 25, 1890, establishing America’s second national park: Sequoia National Park, the first national park formed to protect a living organism.
The oldest known giant sequoia is over 3,200 years old, located in Giant Sequoia National Monument. The largest sequoia by volume is the General Sherman, 642 tons, equivalent to 107 elephants. It is located within the same park.
