The Largest Trees on Earth - California’s Disappearing Redwoods
When gold was discovered in north-western California in 1850,
thousands crowded the remote redwood region in search of riches
and new lives. Failing in efforts to strike it rich in gold,
these men turned toward harvesting the giant trees for booming
development in San Francisco and other places on the West Coast.
These trees are the tallest and one of the most massive tree
species on Earth. The size of the huge trees made them prized
timber, as redwood became known for its durability and
workability. By 1853, nine sawmills were at work in Eureka, a
gold boom town established three years prior due to the gold
boom. At that period of time, redwood forest covered more than
2,000,000 acres of the California coast. After many decades of
unobstructed clear-cut logging, serious efforts toward
conservation began. In 1918, the Save-the-Redwoods League was
founded to preserve remaining old-growth redwoods. By the time
Redwood National Park was created in 1