Plumas County Adventures
Send Ron EMail: rcooke@oavax.csuchico.edu
Back Home

This Adventure is Boring!


I found the approximate location of a log cabin from a General Land Office map from 1870. I used GPS navigation to get to the general location. I could not find the cabin--wait, don't leave, the boring part comes later!

I noticed a swampy area nearby and decided to investigate. It was really fantastic! There were gigantic aspen trees--the largest I have ever seen. Have you ever been around smooth-barked trees like the aspen? These trees beckon to you. They whisper in your ear "carve your initials in me." If you are crazy-mad in love they add "your girlfriend's too--put a heart around them."

Needless to say, there are initials and dates on these trees. They seem very old. Here is a sample from a 22.75" diameter aspen:



The initials were obscured but the date is clearly 1909. The tree next to this one was 17.5" in diameter and had carvings too--even older dates.



Yes, it is difficult to read so you will have to trust my interpretation. I don't know about the initials, but the dates were " '92 & '96 " and below that " '29 ".

Well, I'm skeptical! Are these for real? Two of these can't be from the 1900's, they must be the 1800's. Are they the dates of the carving or perhaps the date of the high school graduation? Is the whole thing a fake?

The swampy area is quite remote and there was no sign of others having been there so I have to assume they are genuine. To lend some credence to this theory I decided to date the trees.


Trees can be dated in a nondestructive way using an increment borer. This borer is screwed into the tree to the center. When it is removed, a small core of the tree comes with it. This core can be examined and the rings counted. Here is the borer in the tree (22.75" diameter) with the 1909 date:



You turn the blue handles clockwise and the thin tube enters the tree. When you reach the center of the tree, you insert the "extractor" and turn counter clockwise. The borer comes out and so does the tree core. The cores are dried and then glued to a strip of wood with a groove in it. Next the cylindrical core is sanded flat. It is sanded with increasingly finer grit sandpaper until it has a polished appearance. It can then be stained if desired. The result is examined and the rings counted. Here is a small portion of a sanded and stained (Phloroglucinol + HCl) core:



You can see the rings. They are even easier to see with a dissecting microscope.

Results


The tree with the 1909 date was approximately 145 years old. The date would have been carved 86 years ago when the tree was about 11" in diameter. Yes this is reasonable.

The other tree was about 160 years old. The '92 date would have been carved 103 years ago when the tree was about 9.5" in diameter. The '96 date would have been carved 99 years ago when the tree was about 10" in diameter. The '29 date would have been carved 76 years ago when the tree was about 12" in diameter.

Since all the initials of the latter tree were inside a carved rectangle, it would seem they were all done at the same time. This one is difficult to interpret. I'm leaving the files open on this one. If you have some theories please Email me!

Back to the Plumas County Adventures Index