Lindsey Creek tree

The Lindsey Creek tree was the largest single-stem organism (tree) known to have existed historically. It was a coast redwood (also known as California redwood), a member of the species Sequoia sempervirens. It grew in Fieldbrook, California, along the Lindsey Creek, which feeds into the Mad River.[1] There are no known photographs of the tree.

Lindsey Creek Tree
SpeciesCoast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
LocationFieldbrook, California
Height118.87 m (390.0 ft)
Volume of trunk2,548.5 m3 (90,000 cu ft)
Date felled1905

When it was uprooted and felled by a storm in 1905, its mass and dimensions were estimated, with a weight of at least 3,630 short tons, 3.3 million kilograms, or 7.26 million pounds and trunk volume of at least 2,550 cubic meters (90,000 cubic feet).[2]

If these estimates were correct, this would have made it close to twice the size (in volume) of the largest living single-stem tree, the giant sequoia known as General Sherman; nearly triple that of the largest living coast redwood, Grogan's Fault, and having a trunk volume five times larger than the tallest of its species existing today, the Hyperion, only ten feet shorter at 380.1 feet.

The only tree in the historical record which (may have been) as large or larger is the "Father of the Forest" from Calaveras Big Trees State Park, a colossal giant sequoia which reportedly was once 435 feet (133 m) high and 110 feet (34 m) in circumference.[3][4] This tree collapsed centuries ago, and its remains are still present in the park's territory. Nothing remains of the Lindsey tree, however.

Johnson claims

Skip Johnson, a Fieldbrook logger interviewed in 1971, testified that he witnessed the Lindsey Creek Tree after it had fallen. He reported it as the tallest tree in Fieldbrook. He stated that a family member measured its diameter at 19 ft (5.8 m) at 130 ft (40 m) off the ground, and 9+1⁄2 ft (2.9 m) at 260 ft (79 m) off the ground, and its total height slightly exceeded 390 ft (120 m). Fairly solid evidence indicates that coast redwoods were the world's largest trees before logging, with numerous historical specimens reportedly over 400 ft (122 m).[5] Hyperion, another coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), currently the tallest, is 115.85 m (380.1 ft), which also makes it the world's tallest known living tree.[6]

See also

References
  1. Latest Tree News, Michael Taylor
  2. The Most Massive Tree, Zilkha Biomass Energy
  3. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018645419/
  4. Report on the Big Trees of California, United States Forest Service, 1900
  5. Van Pelt, Robert (2001). Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast. Global Forest Society and University of Washington Press. pp. 16, 42. ISBN 978-0-295-98140-6.
  6. Earle, CJ (2011). "Sequoia sempervirens". The Gymnosperm Database. Retrieved 2019-08-11.

Further reading

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