Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park (Big Trees Grove)

By Deborah Osterberg, History Press.

Book review by Craig MacDonald

"Tourists arrived at the Grove with their heads thrown back, mouth wide open, eyes bulging out and frozen stiff in an attitude of amazement."

This was one writer's description of tourists trying to locate the top of the gigantic Big Trees Grove coastal redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California. Some of these trees are over 50 feet around and as high as the Statue of Liberty.

Joseph Warren Welch saved them from a logger's ax to become the first coastal redwoods preserved for public recreation. Welch, a native of Massachusetts, who came to California in the Gold Rush, ended up purchasing 350 acres, featuring these historic trees. He opened them to the public for tours, special events, like out door dances, and picnic grounds. Sometimes as many as 2,000 people gathered for a picnic. The Welch Family managed the Grove as a resort for the next 60 years.

All of this fascinating stuff was very well-researched & captured by Deborah Osterberg, a volunteer reenactor at Big Trees Grove, whose brother, Bill, lived at the park & worked for California State Parks for 30 years, and her father, "Bud," was a Santa Cruz City Firefighter.

This wonderful, definitive book captures the spirit of the redwoods, the efforts to save them & the people who traveled to see them. It highlights many original photos of not only the sequoias but U.S. Presidents, common folks and celebrities. Pres. Teddy Roosevelt, General U.S. Grant, John C. Fremont & John Muir were just a few of the characters who enjoyed the redwoods. Trees were named after them.

From 1911-24, the Grove, located in the San Lorenzo Valley (in what's now Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San Jose), was used in more than 12 Silent Movies by Hollywood icons like Cecile B. DeMille & actors such as the much-loved Mary Pickford as well as Tom Mix.

The author explains how for thousands of years the Ohlone Indians lived in this region & how many of the beautiful redwoods ended up being used in the building of San Francisco. Over 87 million board feet of redwood were used in construction projects in the famous City by the Bay.

Helping to bring thousands of tourists to the Grove were railroads. In 1875, people came on the Santa Cruz & Felton RR. (Today visitors travel from Felton to Santa Cruz aboard the popular Roaring Camp Railroads.)

In the late 1870s, the Southern Pacific Coast RR started building a route from the Bay Area to the Big Trees through the Santa Cruz Mountains. Chinese laborers did most of the work. Once at the Grove, people picnicked, fished, hiked & danced.

In the 1890s, a 14-foot fence was erected and a 25-cent admission fee was charged. Tourists from around the world remained in absolute awe over the unique trees. "Visitors were so affected by the height, they couldn't speak," said the daughter-in-law of Milo Hopkins, who ran Henry Cowell's Big Trees, a nearby competitor to the Big Tree Grove.

In October of 1899, a major fire broke out in the mountains and was heading for Mare Vista Winery. "The very air seemed on fire," wrote Josephine McCrackin. "The men soon had a hose on the wine-vat...manned the pump...and the hose was run on the roof...Two hoses contained claret. It was a sight to make Bacchus shed tears—this seeming waste of ruby-red glorious wine was played upon the devouring flames." Four thousand gallons of wine were used to stop the fire from ruining the winery.

In 1900, there was a movement to "Save the Trees" from the logger's ax. In 1902, Big Basin opened as the state's first coastal park. A year later, Pres. Teddy Roosevelt visited Santa Cruz & the trees and proclaimed: "We owe it to our children's children to preserve these great redwoods."

The Big Basin park further added to the competition that Big Trees Grove & Cowell's Big Trees faced. In 1930, the famous Grove became Santa Cruz Big Trees Park. However, tourism declined during the ensuing Great Depression & in 1940, a major mudslide blocked the Southern Pacific Coastal RR and it became too expensive to fix the damage. Then, World War II occurred, further negatively affecting the area's tourism.

In 1954, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park opened, thanks to his son, "Harry," and Santa Cruz County, who combined it with a County Park. It preserves the famous 40-acre grove of giant sequoias.

Tourists heading to the state parks should bring this book along with them to fully appreciate what they are seeing as well as understand the incredible history & amazing significance of this very special spots.

(Thanks to the author & History Press for producing the best resource on this incredible place, where the reviewer first slept in a tent. He recommends visiting the state parks & also viewing roaringcamp.com to find out about taking an incredible ride to see firsthand the coastal redwoods and sensational Santa Cruz Mountains. Also, highly recommended is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Amusement Park. He lived for 21 years in the region and his grandparents lived in Santa Cruz.)