Early history The giant sequoia was well known to
Native American tribes living in its area. Native American names for the species include
Wawona,
toos-pung-ish and
hea-mi-within, the latter two in the language of the Tule River Tribe. The first reference to the giant sequoias of Calaveras Big Trees by Europeans was in 1833, in the diary of the explorer J. K. Leonard; the reference does not mention any specific locality, but his route would have taken him through the Calaveras Grove. This discovery was not publicized. The next European to see the trees was John M. Wooster, who carved his initials in the bark of the 'Hercules' tree in the Calaveras Grove in 1850; again, this received no publicity. Much more publicity was given to Augustus T. Dowd at the North Grove in 1852, commonly cited as the discoverer of both the grove and the species as a whole. In 1854, a second tree named the "
Mother of the Forest" was stripped of its bark in 1854, to be reassembled at exhibitions. This mortally wounded the tree, since outer layer of protective bark was removed. The tree didn't survive long after, having shed its entire canopy by 1861. In 1908, with the tree unprotected by its fire resistant bark, a fire swept through the area and burned away much of what was left of the tree, leaving a fire-blackened snag. The forest is also home to what remains of the "Father of the Forest", an ancient and exceedingly enormous giant sequoia which fell centuries ago. Reportedly, the tree was 435 ft high with a 110 ft circumference- a "giant of giants". In early 1880s, a tunnel was cut through the compartments by a private land owner at the request of James Sperry, founder of the Murphys Hotel, so that tourists could pass through it. The tree was chosen in part because of the large forest fire scar. The
Pioneer Cabin Tree, as it was soon called, emulated the tunnel carved into Yosemite's
Wawona Tree, and was intended to compete with it for tourists.
Preservation Along with the 1850s exhibitions, the destruction of the big trees was met with public outcry. In 1864, on introducing the bill that would become the
Yosemite Grant, senator
John Conness opined that even after people had seen the physical evidence of the
Discovery Tree and the
Mother of the Forest, they still did not believe the trees were genuine, and that the areas they were from should be protected. This did not guarantee any legal protection for the trees of Calaveras Grove. By the turn of the century the land was owned by several lumber companies, with plans to cut the remaining trees down, as sequoia and giant sequoia with their thick trunks were seen as great sources of lumber at the time. This again caused a chorus of public outcry by locals and
conservationists, and the area continued to be treated as a tourist attraction. Parcels of land that would later become the state park and nearby national park were optioned by lumberman
Robert P. Whiteside in January 1900, with the intention of logging. A protracted battle to preserve the trees was launched by
Laura Lyon White and the
California Club. Legislation in 1900 and 1909 authorized the federal government to purchase the property, but Whiteside refused to sell the land at the offered price, preferring its higher valuation as parkland. It was not until 1931 that Whiteside's family began to divest the property, beginning with the North Grove. The Yosemite protection was gradually extended to most sequoias, and Calaveras Grove was joined to
California State Parks in 1931. According to
John Muir the forest protected by the park is: "A flowering glade in the very heart of the woods, forming a fine center for the student, and a delicious resting place for the weary."
Fire management The importance of fire to giant sequoias cannot be overstated. Other than the change of seasons, fire is the most recurrent and critical process in determining the life history of this species.
Tree ring records from giant sequoias show that frequent surface fires were the typical pattern of fire occurrence over the past 2,000 years. But this pattern changed after about 1860, when fire frequency declined sharply. This decline in regional fire was probably a result of decrease in fires set by Native Americans, followed by
fire suppression by government agencies. The state provided $7 million in 2022 from the Wildfire and Forest Resiliency Program to spend over five years, "to make our forest resilient when a big fire comes through". A
prescribed burn was conducted by park crews on about of the North Grove in late October through early November. ==Attractions==