Oldest Photographs of the Largest Trees to Ever Exist in Recorded History (Pre-1900 Images) 400 FT +

Do you remember the largest tree you have ever seen in your lifetime? Can you close your eyes and picture it? If you’re like me, and from the Northeast of America, the largest tree I have seen might have been close to two hundred feet tall.

However, in today’s video, we will notice that if you were alive in the 1800’s, more specifically, along the West Coast of North America, you would likely encounter trees over twice that size.

Today I will share with you the oldest images I could find of the largest trees said to have ever existed (and most chopped down) in North America. These are museum kept images, mostly taken from the 1800’s.

For reference, the current “tallest tree” in the world is said to be Hyperion at roughly 380 feet tall. Today we will focus on trees (with measurements given) from the 1800’s that stood over 400 feet tall (and take a look at their unique photographs).

[stevenvalvana]

I fought fires in all these groves. The most unreal images is the landscape of where these trees grew and felled was of prehistoric times during the dinasors. The images of hundreds of stumps that were left after being logged. Incredible. One you may know is the Chicago stump. It was a tree cut down and a thirty foot section was transported by wagon to Chicago for the worlds fair. Everyone thought it was a hoax. They said no tree could be that big. There is a stump called the Chicago stump. We were assigned to protect the stumps from fire. The wood chips are still there. One firefighter found a 50 cent silver coin piece when we were gridding.
The coin was of 1907 the same year they stopped logging. The coin was in prestine condition not a scratch on it. It was never in circulation. It no doubt was payment to a logger who lost it before he made the 40 mile trip down to town in Fresno ca. How did they move these trees to the mills down the mountain by horse and wagon is beyond me. Our crew of 15 firefighters slept on a single stump 10 foot off the ground one night. Simply amazing to see this site of stumps. Get off the roads and hike in and see something that will stop you in your tracks and see something a pic will never do...
Thank you for this video.
We also found a flume when cutting a contingency line down hill on the American river. 3 am came and someone called me on radio and said we need to ID a structure. ??? Im thinking ?? I reach the site of an old flume 15 feet high almost filled with dirt 15' high 15' wide. Hugh unmarked piece of history not marked on any map. Imagine the structure filled with water and trees floating down them. Made of 26 foot by 2" thick by 10" wide planks of wood held together by enormous size beams sunk into the ground on the side of a mountain in the path of a fire. We saved all of it. When we found it it became an assignment to protect we did just that. MMU 4246 crew5.

[kimnorton]

It's mind blowing to think about how majestic the forest must have been when these photos were taken and it is sad that they're gone now. It must have been so beautiful before they were taken down

[jadenquinn]

This is probably the most depressing and eye opening video I've seen. Man imagine what itd be like if the entire west coast was covered by trees of this size. It would be a wondrous and magical sight to behold.

[augustreil]

I actually feel a little depressed that so many of these magnificent trees were taken down. Great video though.

[jerrelboyd]

I once lived on the ridge of Mt Tamalpais in Marin Co, Ca. Every full moon, I would take a hike down into the forest of Muir woods at night and walk among the giant redwoods. Very grateful that a few of these magnificent beauties were, and still are protected.

[PF_Health]

Looking back, this is nothing we should be proud of. Thankfully, Teddy Roosevelt's conservation legacy and establishment of 150 national parks helped preserve what we have today.

[peterschmidt]

Same in Australia, the logging companies would hold competitions with finders fees for the tallest trees, and then chop them down, absolute tragedy. The old logging towns have similar pictures of massive stumps and logs from 100 plus years ago, those eucalypts are hard wood, not as wide as the red woods but records of well over 100m tall trees being felled, now only 1 tree in Tasmania has officially been measured to exceed 100m in all of Australia.

[c.fernandez]

What a magnificent collection of photos. The awesome size of these trees are hard to comprehend. But it is sad that we've destroyed so much of these giants.

[RamonaDeRyan]

My heart sank watching this video (thank you for putting it together!). The people in these photos don’t seem to appreciate or respect the beauty and necessity of these gigantic trees! They look stupidly arrogant. Why take them down? I’m glad you have these photos to refer to of what once existed here. 😢

[gerrycoleman]

Several greater than 400 foot Douglas-firs existed outside of Mineral, Washington in 1975. One of them had a big portion of the top blown out and it was still over 400 feet tall.

[MoparMan]

I've lived in Humboldt County California for the past 23 years. Those who venture "behind the Redwood Curtain", would do well to take the scenic alternative to the 101 freeway, called the "Avenue of the Giants". Its 22 miles are full of the Big Trees, ferns, winter streams, etc. Another no miss item would be the Samoa Cookhouse...one of the last few lumbermill cook houses (still in use today for the public). It's just west of Eureka, on the Samoa Peninsula. They also have one of the best logging museums around, complete with displays of original equipment loggers used back in the day.

[beautomasi]

This says a lot about the mentality of the time, and for too many now. That everything was ours for the taking. Wonder if the thought "how long ya think to grow another" entered anyone's mind.

[Fireslanga]

That's sad that a man would even begin to think of cutting those majestic beauties down

[benmcreynolds]

I live in Benton County, Oregon. I go to this store in a town next to where I live named Alsea and in the shop " The Mercantile" and they have a collection of the biggest record holding trees of the areas history. It's unbelievable.

[annarozell]

I've been there as a young person. At the time I felt that was so wrong I cried. Family just looked at me like I was crazy. I've always been aware of the spirit , Ora of plants, trees,even people. I've been to places like garden of the gods in Colorado and old 🌎 structures , forest of Europe. U can really feel the age of these places. It has always had a very strong part of the way I see and feel .

[PcTato]

Could only imagine how big the root structure of these trees would have been.

[thisplaceisludicrous]

My observation is 'why cut them?' There are obviously much smaller trees around them that could be used.

[katrinainman]

There are mountains that were once trees. Giant tree stumps that are petrified. Thanks for sharing.

[Italliving]

It is sad to see how they all stand in front of these giants proud of their own destruction . It is very sad to see what humanity does to these gentle giants that are our best friends here on earth

[nonfiction]

There are no trees left. They cut all the trees down. What you see are shrubs