The Last Word - Solon, Spare Those Trees - saving the redwoods in the Big Basin area of California - Brief Article

Commonweal, March 24, 2000 by Richard Bauman

Coastal redwood trees are as rare as they are huge. They can have a life span of up to two thousand years and grow to the height of a thirty-five-story building, but exist only in a narrow strip along California's northern coast. In late 1899, Andrew P. Hill, a well-known artist and photographer, was commissioned by a London magazine to photograph the trees. He paid an entrance fee just to get into the Fremont Big Tree Grove, a privately owned stand of giant trees in the Santa Clara Mountains south of San Francisco. When he took pictures of the mammoth trees, however, his photographic plates were confiscated: the grove owners claimed exclusive rights even to photos of the trees. Hill was frustrated and angry. Believing that these natural wonders should belong to everyone, he set his mind on achieving their preservation and public ownership, and soon formed a small group for that purpose. Their first meeting was at Stanford University, and their slogan became, "Save the Redwoods!"

At that first meeting, the fledgling group learned of a much larger grove twenty miles north of the Fremont stand, known as Big Basin. It was a marvelous forest of giant trees, thousands of years old, but located directly in the path of several working sawmills less than two miles away. In May 1900, Hill and a small group of men and women, including Robert Kenna, a Jesuit priest who was president of Santa Clara College (now University), went to see Big Basin. It wasn't an easy trip. They traveled by rail, further by horse-drawn wagons over a steep, rugged mill road that ended at Sempervirens Creek. The group spent several days exploring and taking pictures. It was a wilderness of cathedral-like redwoods, of ferns and huckleberries, oaks and stately firs, and a myriad of flowers and wildlife. One night, gathered around a campfire, the group reaffirmed its commitment to save the area and named themselves the Sempervirens Club.

Later that year, the club got an icy reception from the California legislature when it lobbied for the appropriation of $250,000 to purchase and preserve Big Basin as a state park. The following year the group sent Hill to the state capital to convince lawmakers of the value of Big Basin. Relying on the axiom, "A picture is worth a thousand words," Hill arrived in Sacramento in early 1901 with dozens of photographs. Although he managed to convert a number of influential politicians, including Lieutenant Governor Alden Anderson, to the cause, strong opposition remained. Hill concluded the proposal needed stronger, more concentrated support. Observing that the Catholic members in the Assembly and Senate made up a significant minority in the legislature who typically voted together, he decided to seek out Catholic votes for the park. Not a Catholic himself, he turned to his old high school classmate, Father Kenna, for help. Kenna used his influence with the Catholic legislators to obtain support for the Big Basin Park bill, and was instrumental in getting the "Save the Redwoods" message to Catholic congregations throughout the state, requesting them to write their legislators to support the bill.

As the bill progressed through the legislative process, its opponents were unable to kill the bill, but they succeeded in attaching various conditions, including a last-minute proposal meant to scuttle passage: a private citizen must guarantee $50,000 against the state's possible inability to make the initial payment for the land. Hill, having no idea where the money would come from, nonetheless assured timber owners and legislators that he would have a solid pledge for the money. He raced to see Father Kenna, arriving at his door at midnight. He explained the Assembly's demand to Kenna, who telephoned his nephew, James Phelan. Phelan had given financial support to other worthwhile causes, and now guaranteed the entire $50,000-a huge sum at the time. Soon after, the Assembly passed the California Redwood Park Bill by a vote of fifty-five to one.

Despite the Assembly's approval, just seven of forty senators favored creation of the park. At Hill's request, and with the help of Senator Charles M. Shortridge of San Jose, Kenna was permitted to address the Senate. He later wrote of his speech: "My remarks, though very simple, were given with an earnestness that made the senators accept them as the sentiments of my heart. I said in part...'These redwoods are preeminently Californian, unique in their species and situation....I beg you to stay the hand that would harm those that still remain....'" The subsequent Senate vote was nearly unanimous in favor of the park. As a result, in 1902 the state purchased 3,800 acres in the heart of Big Basin. It remains today an oasis in what has come to be the nation's most populous state.

After the park opened, several of the oldest and tallest trees were given names to honor those who had helped preserve them. The first so named was the Santa Clara Tree, after Santa Clara College and its president, Robert Kenna. Today, the Santa Clara University yearbook is still called the Redwood.