| Show v awl thy aff tree ree in fogah gan canyon is is 4 three thousand years old 01 6 7 t 0 A 4 Os k 1 V 1 0 A N ml 1 r r 10 7 the famous juniper jardine sardine tree BY PROF GEORGE R HILL I 1 A life of ease often means a life of early decay this ia is true of men it I 1 Is a also truo true of trees the biff big juniper growing on cottonwood ridge in logan canyon at an elevation of feet la Is growing in rock it has been eteine out euch such substance as it could take from the rock for years it has been fighting all of that time against winds against snow against drought and because of that fight has withstood these many years red junipers rarely exceed to 1 years in age and strange to euy the largest speLl specimens mens that can be found are found on just such exposed ridge 1 as the one which the big juniper has captained for so long the big juniper juni r was dis discovered by maurice linford about november 1923 w when hen he and his brothers were on a hike up that ridge they took a picture of it and developed it and e ex X habited it in the botany department of the utah agricultural coil aa alte at once it was realized alix ed that that tree was a very extraordinary tice and as soon as the snow was off the follow in ing spring an excursion was made to it every student in botany since that time has been to the tree on one or more occasions and it ir estimated that 1500 people eople have made macie the hike up that triple mile of rocky ridge to view it all have been repaid sir mr kari karl arendtsen Arend Arendt teon son mr air L F and mr air george R hill jr made a trip early in the evson s on to ascertain facts about the tree oil measurement it vias found to be 26 ft f t 8 inches in circumference and 44 feet high by means of an auger which took out a little core of wood about aboul three sixteenth of an inch in di diameter amete its age could be estimated arcin these rings very thin shavings wei e made and placed under the micro scope which gave the duo clue to its age some time in its life history some thing had happened to take out the center of this tra it Is hollow and there is a lugo e crack running into the hollow crawling into the hollow and reaching in these men were ere able to get a mall piece of the very ry core of the tre and little chip samples PS of f the wood from that core to the sur our face and this is the story that was written on these samples the tree stared ecart l life as a little tle seedling in tiie lie crevice of as a ilia limestone ellone rock it had 3 scanty anty water supply and scanty food supply aa as shown by te the fact that for the first two inches of its growth in diameter the growth was very slow avera averaging gini between 1 md und annual birgs 01 01 wood per inch growing in the crevice ol 01 of per a rock the roots by 1 eanis of carbon dlo dioxide ude which live off could each year ear di sove their way a little farther nto the rock dung the winter the freezing of the batur which would follow these roots enlarged the crack and it on and so for some years of fighting for a foothold the I 1 tuie litle juniper developed a roo root t system large enough to our supply ply it with consi arable water then its growth was more rapid averaging from 60 to 75 rings per inch this rate of growth was maintained for a period ct tf about 2600 to 2700 years sometimes a cycle of years would occur in which the growth I 1 would be consid bably lov lo 1 v r never the growth very much in excess of W x lias imza rr inch in the early something happen ed possibly a fire swept the tr tree the tree was not burned but the num I 1 erous charred stumps on that ridge show that an extensive fire at one time ranged up and down there from front sto 50 to 53 years ago this tee tree t ee suddenly ceased this rela relatively rapid rate of growth of CO 60 rings per inch and dropped to a rate of per inch less than one third its normal rate what had happened evidently its leaves had bad been so reduced that no more mote tran this thin layer of wood could le added each year the many naked branc branches hex devoid of foli foliage ageo tell similar story for over CO 50 years this old tree hag has been struggling gnp on making a growth of about one two hundredths hund redtha of an inch in thickness each year the old tree has eo so fortified itself that it has become a tower of strength it is gradually breaking the cliff wherein I 1 n it is growing asunder and if it on oni view views the tree from the south one can cavi eee see that it is pushing slowly pushing off several tons of rocky material mai I 1 I 1 tap reverence one feels in the presence of that old tree for a living thing chich which has been able to keep up the light for life for 30 centuries ia is felt by young y 0 ung and old it is urgently hoped that the forest service will see ita its way clear to fence and permanently protect this stalwart land mark with a 4 steel fence which will adequately guard it from the souvenir hunters |
