THE STORY OF
Allen's Original Redwood
Log house
-
A carpenter straightened Himself wearily from the planing,
and the last shaving wafted to the ground.
-
At the same time, figuratively and half across the undiscovered
world, a cone bearing small brown seeds
- dropped to the rich soil of California's coastal plain.
- The man was Jesus of Nazareth,and one tree which grew from the cone of seeds
is that though which you
- have now passed
- the redwoods are the tallest trees on the face of the earth.
- Fifty nine years ago Jim Allen was fishing on the famed waters of the Klamath
River in Northern California.
- A sudden rain squall rose, and Allen sought shelter in a "goose-pen"
tree...one of those forest giants which fire
- had burnt nearly hollow some time in the past, but which still lived. A
sudden thought struck him as he waited
- out the shower.
- "Why not,"he mused, "a house from one of these?"
- The tree which Allen selected years later was not hollow when it was cut.
- After spending over a month going through the forest to find that was suitable
and one that could be
- taken out of the woods without to much damage done to the bark, the tree
was found at last on the property of
- the Georgia Pacific Lumber Co., Near Eureka, California. The tree was 14
feet in diameter at the stump cut, 267
- feet high and 1900 years old.
- This is the fourth log that was cut from the base of the tree.This log is
33 feet long, 8 feet wide and 9 feet
- 4 inches in height at the larger end. The end you just came through is cut
65 feet from the stump cut, after the
- tree was felled.
- After the log had been cut it was taken into Eureka and then the gigantic
task of removing the material
- from the inside of the log.
- Working around the clock for over four months with drills,chisels, and foot
adzes over 11,000 board
- feet of lumber was removed. Enough material was removed to have built a
five-room home but it could not
- be saved.
- The walls were sanded and rubbed down by hand, then finished with a clear
varnish to bring out the natural
- grain of the wood. The case work and cabinets are all built in of redwood
material but not of what was taken
- from the log.
- The entire tree contained 74,000 board feet of lumber,enough to have built
six modern bungalows.
- From the time this exhibit was started until it was completed it required
the work of two men a little over one
- year.
- More than 85 natural parks, spread over 60,000 acres, have been preserved
for all time by the California
- State Park system and the save The Redwoods league, open to all the world
for camping, fishing and swimming
- in the many beautiful rivers and streams, for hiking and just resting. Nearly
all have camping facilities, many
- with cabins and tent-houses.
- Some of these giant redwood trees measure 30 feet in diameter. The tallest
known tree, last measured several
- years ago, towered 365 feet above the ground. This redwood is located at
Dyerville Flat, Humboldt County,
- California, and each year at Christmas it is lighted for its full height
to become the most awesome and fabulous
- Christmas tree in the history of the world. The tree section though which
you just passes, grew in this same
- general area of the famous redwood Empire of Humboldt County,California.
- The oldest cut tree by actual ring count, had witnessed the passing of 3,126
years. There is no record of one
- ever having died of old age.
- The redwood is slow to decay, is fire resistant, and is distasteful to termites,
making it one of the finest and yet
- economical home-building materials.
- The coastal growth belt is 35 miles wide by 450 miles long, with the Redwood
Highway coursing thorough the
- length of it to make the world's ,most magnificent scenic drive.
- The tree home completed by Jim Allen is probably the oldest wooden residence
in existence,outdated only by
- the stone and clay of the ancient world before Christ.
- It has lived through the time of Bethlehem, of Rome and of the Crusades;
through the glories of storied Cathay,
- on and on through 20 centuries and countless generations of mankind.
- And its regal companions and descendants will go down through the ages,
with or without us.
Alco Associates, 1978 Park Ave, Tarpon Springs, Florida 34689