The Mark Twain Tree was a

giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

tree located in the

Giant Forest The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within the United States' Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of . The Giant Forest ...

Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed to Kings ...

. It was named after the American writer and humorist

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

. It had a diameter of when it was felled in 1891. The process of felling the tree took 13 days and was carried out by lumbermen Bill Mills and S.D. Phips, with assistance from Barney and John Lukey. The tree was later shipped to the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

in New York and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London at the expense of

Collis P. Huntington Collis Potter Huntington (October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) was an American industrialist and railway magnate. He was one of the Big Four of western railroading (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who invested ...

, the president of The Southern Pacific. Despite the establishment of the

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and today protects of forested mountainous terrain. Encompassing ...

, access to the sequoia groves was difficult and the existence of such large trees was not widely believed at the time. Mark-twain-tree-4.jpg, The Mark Twain Tree falling in what is now Kings Canyon National Park. Mark-twain-tree-1.jpg, The end view of the Mark Twain Tree when it was felled in 1891. Mark-twain-tree-2.jpg, Fifty men stand on the massive stump of the Mark Twain Tree. Mark-twain-tree-3.jpg, Assembling the trunk section of the Mark Twain Tree for display at the New York Museum in 1892. Section of California big tree, The American Museum of Natural History, New York (NBY 24463).jpg, Vintage postcard. Giant Sequoia at the American Museum of Natural History.jpg, The Mark Twain Tree display at the

in 2012.

Big Stump

The Mark Twain stump, the remains of the tree, are preserved as part of the Big Stump Picnic Area in

. The stump is near the entrance to

Grant Grove General Grant Grove, a section of the greater Kings Canyon National Park, was established by the U.S. Congress in 1890 and is located in Fresno County, California. The primary attraction of General Grant Grove is the Sequoiadendron giganteum, gia ...

References

{{Sequoia National Park, state=collapsed History of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Individual giant sequoia trees

Big Stump

See also

References