Mark Twain Tree

Giant sequoia exhibition tree felled in 1891.

Mark Twain Tree

The Mark Twain Tree falling in what is now Kings Canyon National Park

Mark Twain Tree

Species| Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
Coordinates| 36°43′01″N 118°57′54″W﻿ / ﻿36.717°N 118.965°W﻿ / 36.717; -118.965
Diameter| 4.8 m (16 ft)

The Mark Twain Tree was a giant sequoia tree located in the Big Stump Forest of Kings Canyon National Park. It was named after the American writer and humorist Mark Twain. It had a diameter of 16 feet (4.9 meters) and was 1,341 years old when it was felled in 1891 for the American Museum of Natural History as an exhibition tree.[1][2]

The process of felling the tree took 13 days and was carried out by lumbermen Bill Mills and S.D. Phips, with assistance from Barney and John Lukey.[3] The tree was later shipped to the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the British Museum in London at the expense of Collis P. Huntington, the president of the Southern Pacific.[4] Despite the establishment of the Sequoia National Park, access to the sequoia groves was difficult and the existence of such large trees was not widely believed at the time.[1]

* The end view of the Mark Twain Tree when it was felled in 1891

* Fifty men stand on the massive stump of the Mark Twain Tree

* Diameter of Mark Twain Tree after it was cut

* Assembling the trunk section of the Mark Twain Tree for display in New York in 1892

* Vintage postcard.

* The Mark Twain Tree display at the American Museum of Natural History in 2012

## The remaining stump

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The residual stump of the Mark Twain Tree is preserved as part of the Big Stump Picnic Area in Kings Canyon National Park.[1] The stump is near the entrance to Grant Grove.

## See also

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* List of largest giant sequoias
* List of individual trees

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.. "Big Stump".`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
2. ^ St. George, Zach. "They Seem to Be Immortal". Guernica Magazine. Retrieved January 30, 2025.
3. ^ Mark Twain Tree (Plaque near tree). Kings Canyon National Park: National Park Service. 2022.
4. ^ Johnson, Hank (1996). They Felled the Redwoods. Fish Camp, CA: Stauffer Publishing. p. 20\. ISBN 0-87046-003-X.

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Sequoia National Park

Giant sequoias|

* Atwell Mill Grove
* Franklin Tree
* Garfield Grove
* General Sherman Tree
* Giant Forest
* Hazelwood Tree
* King Arthur Tree
* Lincoln Tree
* Mark Twain Tree
* Muir Grove
* The President tree
* Tharp's Log
* Washington Tree

Mountains|

* Alta Peak
* Mount Barnard
* Black Kaweah
* Florence Peak
* Junction Peak
* Kaweah Peaks Ridge
* Kaweah Queen
* Mount Kaweah
* Mount Langley
* Mount Le Conte
* Mount Mallory
* Mount McAdie
* Milestone Mountain
* Mount Muir
* Red Kaweah
* Mount Russell
* Sawtooth Peak
* Mount Stewart
* Table Mountain
* Triple Divide Peak
* Mount Tyndall
* Thunder Mountain
* Mount Whitney

Historic places|

* Ash Mountain Entrance Sign
* Cabin Creek Ranger Residence
* Cattle Cabin
* Giant Forest Lodge Historic District
* Giant Forest Village–Camp Kaweah Historic District
* Hockett Meadow Ranger Station
* Hospital Rock
* Pear Lake Ski Hut
* Quinn Ranger Station
* Redwood Meadow Ranger Station
* Smithsonian Institution Shelter
* Squatter's Cabin

Other attractions|

* Crystal Cave
* Eagle Lake
* Forester Pass
* Generals' Highway
* Generals' Highway Stone Bridges
* Great Western Divide
* High Sierra Trail
* John Muir Trail
* Kaweah Gap
* Kern Plateau salamander
* Lilliput Glacier
* Mineral King
* Moro Rock
* Ursa Minor Cave
* Wuksachi Village and Lodge

People|

* C.C. Curtis
* John Muir
* Stephen T. Mather
* Hale D. Tharp
* John Tyndall
* Josiah Whitney
* George W. Stewart
* Yokuts

Nearby municipalities|

* Three Rivers
* Lemon Cove
* Kaweah
* Visalia
* Tulare
* Lone Pine

* Category
* California Portal

* v
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Mark Twain

Bibliography

Novels|

* The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
* The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
* The Prince and the Pauper
* Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
* A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
* The American Claimant
* Tom Sawyer Abroad
* Pudd'nhead Wilson
* Tom Sawyer, Detective
* Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
* A Double Barrelled Detective Story
* A Horse's Tale
* The Mysterious Stranger
* Hellfire Hotchkiss

Short stories|

* "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
* "Cannibalism in the Cars"
* "A Literary Nightmare"
* "A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage"
* "The Great Revolution in Pitcairn"
* "1601"
* "The Stolen White Elephant"
* "Luck"
* "The Million Pound Bank Note"
* "A Double Barrelled Detective Story"
* "Those Extraordinary Twins"
* "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg"
* "A Dog's Tale"
* "Extracts from Adam's Diary"
* "The War Prayer"
* "Eve's Diary"
* "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven"
* "My Platonic Sweetheart"
* "Advice for Good Little Girls"

Collections|

* Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance
* Sketches New and Old
* Mark Twain's Library of Humor
* Merry Tales
* The £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories
* The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories

Plays|

* Is He Dead?

Essays|

* "The Awful German Language"
* "On the Decay of the Art of Lying"
* "Advice to Youth"
* How to Tell a Story and Other Essays
* "Concerning the Jews"
* "To the Person Sitting in Darkness"
* "Edmund Burke on Croker and Tammany"
* "What Is Man?"
* "The United States of Lyncherdom"
* "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses"
* Letters from the Earth

Nonfiction|

* Territorial Enterprise letters
* Letters from Hawaii
* The Innocents Abroad
* Roughing It
* Old Times on the Mississippi
* A Tramp Abroad
* Life on the Mississippi
* Following the Equator
* Is Shakespeare Dead?
* Autobiography of Mark Twain (Chapters from My Autobiography)
* King Leopold's Soliloquy
* The Private History of a Campaign That Failed
* Christian Science

Speeches|

* "Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism"
* "Votes for Women"

Places
and events|

* Family cabin
* Birthplace State Historic Site
* State Park
* Boyhood home and museum
* Mark Twain Cave
* Mark Twain in Nevada
* Territorial Enterprise
* Sagebrush School
* Quarry Farm
* Mark Twain House
* Stormfield
* Twain–Ament indemnities controversy

Popular culture|

* Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
* Mark Twain Tonight!
* The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
* The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)
* Mark Twain (2001 documentary)
* Twain and Shaw Do Lunch (2011 play)
* Mark Twain: The Musical

Family|

* Olivia Langdon Clemens (wife)
* Susy Clemens (daughter)
* Clara Clemens (daughter)
* Jean Clemens (daughter)
* John M. Clemens (father)
* Jane Lampton Clemens (mother)
* Orion Clemens (brother)

Related|

* Jap Herron
* Center For Mark Twain Studies
* Mark Twain (book)
* Mark Twain National Forest
* Mark Twain Tree
* National Tom Sawyer Days

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