Why California Razed it's Ancient Redwood Forests

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The history of California's lost redwood forests is a poignant tale of environmental transformation and exploitation. Before the mid-19th century, vast expanses of ancient redwood groves blanketed the coastal regions of northern California, creating awe-inspiring landscapes with towering trees that stood for thousands of years. However, the Gold Rush of 1849 triggered an influx of settlers, leading to widespread logging and clearing of these majestic forests to meet the demands for timber and land. The once-spectacular redwood ecosystems, with trees reaching heights of over 300 feet, were decimated by the logging industry. Despite conservation efforts in the 20th century, a significant portion of California's original redwood forests is forever lost, serving as a reminder of the delicate balance between human progress and the preservation of natural wonders. Today, the remaining redwood groves, such as those in Redwood National and State Parks, stand as living monuments to the resilience of these ancient giants and the ongoing commitment to their conservation.
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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Editor - Karolina Szwata
Host - Ryan Socash
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» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[@ITSHISTORY]

Thank you to Keeps for sponsoring this video! Head to keeps.com/itshistory to get a special offer.

[@NuncNuncNuncNunc]

Smith documented, not discovered, the redwoods.

[@freetolook3727]

Back in the mid 1970's as I was traveling through northern California, we passed truck after truck after truck loaded with redwoods. It's funny here in The Great Industrial Northeast, a truck can load twenty or thirty pine logs but those trucks had a maximum of four logs per trailer. And the worst part was that the loggers left a quarter mile of redwoods alongside roads untouched to give the impression that the redwood forests were untouched. Meanwhile, behind the facsade, the forests were being clear cutted.

[@huberthumphry280]

they still do the facade cutting, even here in Oregon

[@JimmyJamesJ]

Got to Google maps satellite view and take a look at British Columbia. Same thing only BC is mostly unpopulated so you can still see the clear cutting from space.

[@smo-guiver8315]

During my teens I saw plenty of fully loaded log trucks carrying just 3 logs! They weren't redwoods but I don't know where they were getting them from.

[@JimmyJamesJ]

@@energizerwolf5574 WOW! You're uneducated. Clear cutting of old growth trees on the Pacific coast is definitely still happening and it's a huge problem with less than 5% remaining. There have been huge protests and mass arrests in British Columbia over the clear cutting of old growth rain forest in the past few years. Maybe read up and learn about this before you make false statements like "no one is trying to massacre the real giants". Also, maybe study English a bit more too. "noone" is not a word.

[@huberthumphry280]

@@energizerwolf5574both of those are debatable -- yes, redwoods grow fast, ~150 feet in a human life, but girth comes later, during old growth phase at about 200 years. but more importantly, there will always be people like Charles Hurwitz willing to take over and destroy a family owned company with a more that 50 year history of sustainable business practices to maximize profit over community. Some people only see the multimillion dollar value of each of "the real giants" and will do whatever it takes to turn them into gold (dollars)

[@archstanton_live]

The pictures resemble those from the early times of whalers. As a child in the early 60's I recall seeing logging trucks on 101 with only one huge log on them. When one enters an old house with redwood (or even fir) trim the grain is so amazingly tight. You can't find wood of that quality on the market today, let alone trim or frame a whole house from it. Recycled/repurposed redwood from old houses, barns and water tanks from that period, is incredibly valuable, even with a few old, corroded nail holes. It is easily recognizable by its tight grain. Sure, you can still buy "redwood." But redwood trees need hundreds and (thousands) of years to produce high quality wood that was cut in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I am very thankful that at least a few of the matriarchs have been preserved.

[@fullonfog]

Yup same. They were still cutting down trees when I was a kid that it seemed normal to see a one-log logging truck. The trees were of such diameter that only one section of one tree could be loaded on the trucks. Same truck now is filled with toothpicks. "Redwood" sold today at a big box store lumber department is not at all the same. It's all basically 30 year old redwoods grown on tree farms where 2000 year old trees once grew. I didn't realize the magnitude of that as a kid. It just seemed normal. And now there are no more giants to cut down.

[@billybussey]

I am from Northern California. There were smaller redwoods in my backyard growing up. Great video. I suggest everyone go see those trees at least once in your life.

[@joshbenton4080]

I went to see this with my Grandparents in the mid 1990's. It's amazing that some of those trees were around roughly when Jesus, was doing His earthly ministry.

[@solomongainey838]

I live in N.C. and going out on a slow ride west across route 56 up the 101 and then back across either 90, 80, or multiple secondary roads is on my bucket list. I would love to see the old growth redwoods and the other beautiful things our country has to offer. I'm 46, and by God, I will travel one day.

[@Mrbfgray]

Rarely use the term "spiritual" but best description of what I've felt *alone, just self and one to a few friends/fam* on trail untraveled among the giants. Not even sure I want to watch vid, grateful for what was saved, what was lost tho.... There were trees in Berkley area used by seafarers as a navigation point, up to 32ft (11m) in *diameter,* probably 300ft plus tall, pinpointing the entrance to SF Bay. Just example of a place we may forget was ever spectacular.

[@genes3088]

You said you had redwood in your yard. Why are they gone?

[@billybussey]

@@genes3088 Funnny you ask. I no longer live there. But I recently looked on google maps to see if they are still there and they are. In fact they are the only ones in the whole area. I used to use them when I first walked around my neighborhood to always know where my house was because they towered over everything. They were crazy tall and I used to climb them but the limbs break easily so I had some close calls with my friends so we quit at like 13 years old. One fell on our house when we were all inside. It was loud. They fall easily and its kind of a problem. Here they are if you want to see them maps.app.goo.gl/C51pSwNu4hpPKrNj9

[@richierugs6544]

When you're around these giants they really seem like entities rather than just all trees.

[@JoeRogansForehead]

They are trees

[@user-yj7yn4fi4l]

@@JoeRogansForehead Humans are bags of water.

[@reefsroost696]

Yes

[@IAmWithinEverything]

They are entities

[@zeusatolympus]

I have thought of it that way and when you stand in a grove and look up...Yeah... Try it sometime. A lot of people don't slow down to take it in. If you don't do this when you go to the Redwoods you missed the point. The one thing on earth that is truly bigger life.

[@ciuyr2510]

Company man i know, chopped off a red tree that was in his way of creating a farming field for his business to grow weed In California. Investigator called at the site started to cry; slapped him with a 200k fine & full protection for the other trees. Totally bonked.

[@emare_6665]

Good

[@californiabreeze2182]

👍

[@Ap_twsh]

Makes you wonder what some people think of is more valuable greed is uncontrollable for some. I’m sure he could’ve farmed around the trees. SMH

[@cuddlepaws4423]

So much for Love and Peace Man. Just another greedy businessman. Serves him right 100%

[@classic.cameras]

I've stood under some red woods before and the size and scale is unimaginable until you are there.

[@flashgordon3715]

Redwood trees like the Golden Gate Bridge can't compare to being there. Walking across the bridge or walking underneath the moorings, you'll hear the bridge and realize it's living.

[@LuckyBaldwin777]

One thing he didn't mention is the coast redwoods grow in a narrow fog belt in the coast range. Once, I spent the night (at least part of it) under one of those giant redwoods. As soon as the fog rolled in, it started raining under that tree. The fog condensed on all the small leaves and dripped to the ground. I moved to a small clearing away from the big trees and the rain stopped. Was very strange.

[@denniss618]

In the 70"s I worked at Fort Ord in California dismantling old buildings... The WWII barracks were all sided with redwood. Hundreds of buildings all covered with that material.

[@StarfireReborn]

Oh My Gosh. That's Incredibly Sad. I'm Not Like A Nature Freak, Or A Vegetarian. I Believe If Humans Need Something, We Take It. Some Things Are Off The Table & Always Give Back.

[@denniss618]

@@StarfireReborn I agree with you.

[@-oiiio-3993]

The wood was used for its insect and fire resistance.

[@denniss618]

@@-oiiio-3993 30 plus years later the siding was still in very good shape, Fort Ord suffered from very wet fog most of the year.

[@-oiiio-3993]

@@denniss618 Indeed.

[@driley4381]

The redwood forests were cut down to build towns that were later largely bulldozed to make room for highways and parking lots.

[@J_J_P_]

Many were cut to rebuild SF after the earthquake and fire of 1906.

[@mikeskidmore6754]

Didn't he say that San Francisco burned down 7 times?

[@paranormalwheelers]

The trees are still there besides the roads. And they are in the sequoias and kings national park.they are not lost I see them all the time.

[@mikeskidmore6754]

@@paranormalwheelers didn't they say less than 5% old growth still alive? Here in Michigan there was a small Forrest of Virgin Trees in a Preserver The Russ Forrest for the last 70 years but a really strong Stright line wind blew them all over like 8 years ago .. The Origional Growth trees are 600 to 2,000 years old .

[@zalix512]

Now those places left are being hit with DEW’s. Up in smoke. A few things are common. The communities are wealthy and have high land value coupled with under insurance. When they are burned out or flooded most cannot afford to rebuild. They are forced to move. The land is scooped up Pennie’s on the Dollar.

[@yolo_burrito]

Florida and Georgia used to have old growth cypress stands that were razed for ship building back in the 17th century.

[@davestambaugh7282]

I just recently built a mandolin. For the soundboard instead of using the usual sitka spruce I used redwood that was salvaged from the bottom of the American river for what I would imagine to be over a hundred years. The average width of the growth rings is about twenty thousands of an inch and the board was six inches wide showing two hundred and fifty years!

[@StarfireReborn]

They Do Grow Incredibly Slow. Sometimes Things Are Worth The Wait, Eh?

[@nickb8755]

The American River, eh?

[@fullonfog]

@@nickb8755 I guess it's possible there could be some small Sequoiadendron giganteum groves in the upper reaches of the American River. But it's crap wood for building. I'd guess the board might be legit. Lots of Sequoiadendron sempervirens (Coast Redwood) shipped down from the North Coast to build all over California. Maybe it used to be part of a barn or house that ended up washed downstream in the American River, where OP found it? Either way, sounds like a nice piece of wood. Nice that it will bring music.

[@texaswunderkind]

Just went to John Muir Woods and Sequoia National Park last June. Absolutely amazing.

[@archstanton5973]

Go to the Rockefeller Forest in Humboldt Redwoods State Park and you'll be in tears as you commune with the Gawd Mother.

[@-oiiio-3993]

I live in Kaweah.

[@marcomcdowell8861]

Glad that at a point in time, someone thought outside of the box and petitioned to save what could be saved, before everything was chopped down.

[@cshepard09]

you should read about Teddy Rosevelt. what he did in terms of preserving american wildlife is maybe the single most important event in american history

[@jetsons101]

To anyone even thinking visiting any of the Redwood Foriest it is well worth the time and money, please take your time and get out of your car and walk among the trees...... Another great watch from Ryan and It's History.....

[@user-qc8wk5xr9w]

I have done that in Point Arena mendocino county. In 1974 and 2018. It was beautiful and sad at the same time. The stumps of the biggest ones were found Everywhere.

[@FatMamaVlogs]

I recently went to the second largest Douglas fur tree in Canada. Big Lonely Doug is his name. It would have been amazing to see the Island before they cut down almost all the old growth. Standing in front of Doug was quite the memory to make with my kids.

[@seansteede]

Many more Big Lonely Dougs to see in BC...but not so lonely with lost of other dougs around.. Many groves of original forest can be seen from downtown Vancouver, but most people don't know what to look for and the trails are not groomed for easy access, but I assure you there is a great deal of original forest left in this province and a significant portion of it is protected through various layers of legislation.

[@seansteede]

...and though I too wish that there were more original forests, I also have to consider that the alternative to building with a renewable resouce like wood, is to build with things like steel and concrete which both contribute to more than 15% to global GHG emissions. Wood is mother natures building material and if the forests are managed sustainably as is required by British Columbia law, then it is by far the better alternative than living in homes of steel and concrete.

[@FatMamaVlogs]

@@seansteede My goal is building a cob house on Vancouver Island. Currently working behind the scenes on getting the government to allow the permits and all that fun stuff. I've already got my land and am hoping to get the Mud Girls to help me.

[@StarfireReborn]

​@@seansteede There Are Plenty Of Fast Growing Renewable Trees... Redwoods And Old Growth Pines Shouldn't Have Been Touched. I Personally Want To Ask, Why Didn't They Use Brick? Maybe Redwood Became A Status Symbol? Either Way, It's Disgusting To Look Back On.

[@seansteede]

@@StarfireReborn Well, to start with Pines are generally renewed by mother nature through fire. Rarely will a pine tree live beyond 200 years so it all depends on your definition of old growth. Is it not better to use that pine to frame a building that can last for well over a hundred years and sequester that carbon while creating a new space for younger pine forests to grow than simply leave them to burn? The same argument can be said for Redwoods though admit they are generally much longer lived trees and the carbon sequestration piece is less impactful. Still, if harvested in a sustainable manner then that is all that should matter. Frankly I don't know much about brick but my guess is the sourcing of materials and kilning is likely quite carbon intensive, and the weight makes them harder to transport and handle. Costs of brick are likely far higher than wood and quality mason is far more difficult than a carpenter / framer. Lastly there is the performance, a well insulated wood frame house will consume significantly less energy to heat and cool as compared to a brick house, further making brick more carbon intensive over it's life cycle. Still far better than concrete or steel though.

[@joeottsoulbikes415]

My former mother in law has a house in Truckee CA. She has a Redwood in her front yard. In fact it is the tallest redwood not only in Truckee but the tallest redwood on North Lake at 278ft as of 2018 when last measured. She had to build a three car parking carport with steel framing and three layers of corregated steel roof for her car and visitors. The pine cones that fall off of Nancy are 8 to 12 inches in diameter.

[@batcactus6046]

Redwoods don't have Pine cones. Redwood cones are about an inch' long.

[@jameswilliam904]

Definitely not a redwood redwoods only grow in the coastal region Truckee is in the Sierra Nevada mountain range there are several trees from afar that look like a redwood which would be the Sequoia and the incense Cedar both of which get massive and have huge reddish trunks in old age those are the two trees that you would see in the Truckee area definitely no redwoods unless someone had planted one which is impossible if it's over 200 ft tall and the very few people that do plant redwoods in the Sierra Nevada mountains soon realize that they are not meant for this climate it's too cold they do not Thrive here in fact they'll do better in Sacramento if given water than they would in Truckee

[@conjumonblue6450]

No redwoods near Truckee. She probably has sugar pine trees. The sugar pine has pinecones that can grow to 22 inches. You would not want one of those to fall on your car.

[@waynes.2983]

Yeah she's doesn't have a coastal redwood. They do not make large cones. They make tiny cones.

[@gearheadgregwi]

NE Wisconsin we get 150 foot oak trees. Attempting to picture something almost triple that. Jaw dropping.

[@kk-wh3hb]

150' oak trees😳

[@gearheadgregwi]

@kk-wh3hb those rare monsters are disappearing, too.

[@kk-wh3hb]

@@gearheadgregwi that figures 😞

[@Coolness59]

It’s maddening to see what happened to the old growth forests across the United States….. Thankfully what was left uncut is protected and preserved. Here on the East Coast many wilderness areas were logged out and never recovered. 🤨

[@charlesmurphy1840]

There is a park in New Jersey somewhere that has old growth forest of cedars .it was never logged.ive never been there but always wanted to go

[@Ap_twsh]

Such a shame really if I could I would buy land and plant the native trees once again.

[@TheHypnotstCollector]

I lived in the Santa Cruz Mtns for over 30 yrs. Fallen redwoods litter the ground but no one mills them. A friend lived near Big Basin Park, I walked thru BB to his home, 1.5 miles down Waddel Ck, at end of Last Chance road. He built a 3 story place on an 8ft diameter 8ft tall stump. but no milling. In 2013 I moved to Music Farm road near shaver lake ca, Owner collected Sequoia cones and had a quart jar full of seeds which he and then I planted. 100% success. Over 1000 redwoods in pots. Before I left in 2016 I planted 50 ponderosa seeds. They too came up and in 2 years looked great. But in 2020 Everything burned in the Creek Fire. The entire San Joaquin river drainage! And Big Basin burned too. But on google earth you can see zillions of green toothpicks. limbless redwoods , alive. Not so with the Creek Fire. And prior to it Pine Beetle came in 2014 and just killed everything so the creek fire was often burning dead pines. I've seen a cool 2 million acres burn in 10 years. Our home in Paradise Didn't burn so that was nice, if you want to "nice" in this nightmare. And it is all almost all arson, not spontaneous comubustion. (it's arson by bureaucracy sometimes) On Music Farm road in 2018 2019 someone was setting fires. set up camera's but caught nothing.

[@smartysmarty1714]

The gov't is setting most of these fires. They also are responsible for the recent Maui fire. I encourage everyone to go learn about "directed energy weapons" or DEWs.

[@TheHypnotstCollector]

@@smartysmarty1714 Yes and until people wake up it will only become worse

[@TheHypnotstCollector]

@@smartysmarty1714 At the Caldor fire, 15 miles from me now, residents were interviewed saying "Calfire told us they had the fire under control and the Fed ordered them out and the fire took off" Then it burned 40 miles east to Lake Tahoe.... At the Creek Fire a Calfire capt told my firend " We had the fire down to nothing and the Fed ordered us out". And some 700K acres burned. That same friend placed camera's on Music Farm rd, trying to catch the arsonist a year earlier. So it is Arson By Bureaucracy". I've seen a fire intentionally set, The Aspen Fire in 2013.

[@smartysmarty1714]

@@TheHypnotstCollector--- Yes, some are set by people on the ground, but I believe the vast majority of them are now being set by DEWs. I've seen too much satellite imagery to make me think otherwise at this point, especially in last year's Canada wildfires. There was a lot of it available for the Lahaina fire(s) as well. Lahaina has basically been captured at this point, which is why there was an immediate media blackout, and why nothing is said at all now, like it never happened. The surviving residents will never call Lahaina home again. Everything was planned and executed perfectly. When people start looking for DEWs, the evidence of them is everywhere, including the Twin Towers. There is a book written by Judy Wood regarding the towers and DEWs and it is definitely an eye opener and worth reading. As long as the sheep keep believing the "official stories", nothing is going to change.

[@Look_What_You_Did]

Hope you find sobriety.

[@ricksrealpitbbq]

As a woodworker I love this kind of history. Love you videos 👍

[@johnmoyer5515]

Pa used have 20 some different pines not anymore, I sawmill trees but rarely cut down a live tree i try to salvage what nature provides. I love moving logs weighing thousand of lbs I've never been over 130 lbs myself . Sawdust is my glitter.

[@turdferguson2982]

I've been paying the bills by cutting trees for utility clearance and residential for the last decade and a half. There's still big trees buried back in the woods, but where I'm from in Northern Indiana used to be a temperate rainforest and grassy marsh stretching from Ohio to Illinois. They drained it off with the Kankakee ditch and sold it as farmland. Entire species of trees were lost; swamp oaks, cypress, etc... an estimated 80% of native migratory bird species were lost. This area used to be called Chicago's breadbasket. It's all corn and soybean and abandoned factories now. We really know how to screw up paradise. I don't know where I fit into it all. Just trying to get by and leave something for the next generation to screw up, I guess.

[@StarfireReborn]

​@@turdferguson2982 I Wanted To Be A Geologist. Instead I Work For One Of The Largest Polluters On The Planet And I See Their Trash Along My Neighborhood Streets, Into The Country, Along The Highways That Span The Nation. That's What Systemic Greed Does.

[@turdferguson2982]

@@StarfireReborn that is what it does.

[@stevedolan5065]

My first camping trip as a child in the early 1950’s, was to Jedidiah Smith state park. It was an overwhelming experience. I will always treasure those memories. In about 1990 I went back to the park, this time in a RV. The park looked pretty much the same. I was able to find the very campsite we had used on that first trip. The Redwoods are majestic and spiritual in nature. I really encourage anyone who can, experience them. Great video!

[@gregparrott]

Thanks for discussing an interesting history. A worthy sequel to this would be how the weather has changed as a consequence of such large expanses of old growth forestry having disappeared. The moisture retention, solar shading, wind dissipation, humidity enhancement, of ~1.9 million acres of dense, tall, coastal forest must be staggering

[@StarfireReborn]

Seriously. I Can't Imagine The Dewy Sunlight Filtering Through Foggy 1700's California... How Amazing That Must've Been To See From A Ship. How Amazing It Must've Been To Walk Through Each Day, Living With Your Family In The Trees.

[@user-qc8wk5xr9w]

Such a shame. I was in Point Arena were a group of people live in an area were redwoods grow. I saw the remains of the biggest redwoods. In 2018 wheny father died we deposited a part of his cremated remains in one of the sawn of Redwoods. It was an enormous stump. I always wondered how this area would look if these biggest trees were not logged. I really felt sad about that.

[@callawayken650]

Been there once during my Air Force days, 1970s. I "was chosen to drive a deuce and half though the forest and along the coast line from Travis AFB up to Crescent City, OR. I was able to drive through the tree. We went to many of the mountain tops to calibrate radar equipment for the Over the Horizon detection system. A nice 30 day trip.

[@Billyboy4209]

My first house was 2 hours east of s.f, built in 1955 out of redwood from the studs to the siding..

[@dg2152]

Well done, thank you. Yurok still there, along with Hupa (Hoopa) tribes. Pictures will never compare to being under these forests, a very spiritual experience, witnessing God's creation

[@bakoguy5330]

This is my 3rd video from you and just want to say thanks for your time I enjoy learning new things when bored. The way you put your videos together is enjoyable.

[@ITSHISTORY]

Awesome, thank you!

[@davelester5839]

Same with the great White Pines in Michigan--rebuilt Chicago, but only 155 acres left.

[@craigsawyer6453]

For thousands of years every 50 to 100 years, or so, fires would scorch the earth, clearing it of brush, fir, and other species. These fires opened the redwood cones, and made room for new seedlings. "El Nino" rain patterns fallowed thus giving the trees a fighting chance to expand the forest. It is a shame that the sate of California does not provide more incentive to replant lands that were once vast old growth. Simply giving out seedlings, and a square of filter cloth could, perhaps, slowly revers the scars on the land.

[@Ap_twsh]

I would gladly plant redwoods back in their native areas the red wood forest is believed to of reached down to central coast. But that’s is speculation Big Sur has a few redwood forest so I wouldn’t doubt there was a connection there.

[@StarfireReborn]

Centuries Of Earthquakes And Tsunamis Have Ravaged The West Coast, And Those Redwoods Survived Every One Of Them. All It Took Was A Few Years Of Humans To Nearly Extinct Them. 😞

[@sunflower_1990]

I am from Melbourne, Australia and there is a mini redwood forest near the Yarra Ranges National Park in Warburton East..🪵🪵🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳 Someone obviously brought them trees over here to Australia coz they miss their home in California, USA..🪵🪵🌳🌳🌳😃😃

[@kwd3109]

@sunflower_1990 Well, some good Australian repaid the compliment by bringing over Eucalyptus Trees and planting them here in California. I live in Burlingame and these beautiful trees line our streets. I love them. Thanks Australia!

[@felisconcolor1112]

For a long segment of your presentation I was wondering "wot no Carson House?" Thank you very much for at least briefly touching on what may well be the most complex redwood Victorian structure in California.

[@chetogan2087]

The Carson House was shown in the video. Chet, Eureka.

[@Breytremore]

I'd like to nominate Ryan for one of the best segues in KZbin history. Making the sponsor spiel entertaining is an art.

[@shanechostetler9997]

Most of our trips from Washington to So. California are down the coast road, 101. We always stop several times going through the Redwoods, it’s just awe inspiring.

[@Josh-yr7gd]

As part of the preservation process, have new redwoods been planted?

[@larslarsman]

In 1995 I flew over much of the clear cut forest area from North of Clearlake Calif. to Eureka Calif. in a private plane. The clearcut areas I could see from our route were all planted forest, now, of small trees. Looking like miles of choose and cut Christmas tree farms. In another 100 to 200 years the area will look like a real forest. Unknown to me if they planted Redwood trees, Fir trees, or Pine trees.

[@maxcorey8144]

For a builder or wood worker tradesman, redwood is a wonderful wood to work with.

[@hightalenttraining7546]

I lived nearby in the Redwoods myself... It was incredible but this documentary was A+. Thank you!

[@ITSHISTORY]

Wow, thank you!

[@jhosk]

And today their descendants still don't maintain the Forrest the way they should

[@brianbrenton1025]

I can't watch this. I am Californian. It hurts too much.

[@johnking6252]

I remember driving through a forest of redwoods just north of San Francisco, I often wonder if it still exists? Yeah it hurts to much, sometimes. ✌️

[@MrJwill919]

Well that was downright tragic 😮

[@StarfireReborn]

I Agree Wholeheartedly.

[@Hammondguy88]

I’ve planted many of these trees on the central coast around Cambria. Lucky they do grow fast and got through droughts. One tree was a live Christmas tree that I planted 25 years ago and probably 35 ft tall now

[@StarfireReborn]

What Are You Saying? You Planted A Christmas Tree? Redwoods Grow Extremely Slow. They Are Titans, A Christmas Tree Doesn't Match Up.

[@blackkennedy3966]

@@StarfireReborn ahahahaha what are you saying? Redwoods grow extremely fast like up to 10 ft a year then they slow down at a certain size and THEN start growing slow. many huge trees now are just a century old. Redwoods are some of the fastest growing trees in the WORLD.

[@flashgordon3715]

There is a redwood tree about 20 feet in circumference in my friends backyard. It's worth more than the home he lives in. Just the burl is worth $100K, im guessing. The city will never give a permit to cut it down.

[@slappy8941]

Bro, why doesn't your generation know how to use apstrophes?

[@StarfireReborn]

I'm Glad The City Won't Allow It To Be Cut. 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@mkunes2502]

What has always shocked me is the waste. I’ve seen redwood used as pilings and ridiculous crap like that.

[@jimprice1959]

Facts that most don't know about Redwood trees. 1. They are not the dominant species in the forest. Fires are necessary to prevent them from being choked out by other trees. 2. When the redwoods are cut down the roots make daughter trees. If you fly over the northern California coastal area you'll see miles and miles of redwood forests from these second growth trees.

[@dingusdingus2152]

Wish you'd have clarified the difference between coastal redwoods ( sequoia sempervirens) and the redwoods further inland in the Sierras, (sequoiadendron giganteum). A lot of confusion results from neglecting to distinguish between the two.

[@-oiiio-3993]

I can dig it. I formerly lived in Santa Cruz, Felton... now in Kaweah.

[@bradbundy1471]

Hello from the Redwoods! ( Humboldt) Walking through the Redwoods you can feel the wisdom from those trees . Sad that so many were cut down but thankful that the rest were protected. Always amazes me when I see a widow maker sticking in the ground. ( A branch the size of a large tree) They fall from hundreds of ft. High. Great series on this. Thank you! 🌲🌲🌲 🎼

[@StarfireReborn]

I Can't Imagine The First People In There Didn't Feel Something? I'm So Flabbergasted By This Thought That I'm Purely Angry. I Feel Like Those Were Aliens And I Have No Genes To Share With Them, Never Could I Be So Callous, Or Greedy.

[@gino9895]

Great video, as always.

[@TheDasbull]

The Coast Redwoods are q place I return to often. Thankfully, people saw the beauty and wonder of what remains. Great video and information!

[@rc59191]

We never should of cut them down nobody ever appreciates natural beauty until it's gone.

[@user-bg7km4ij7f]

They’re not gone? We still have plenty of Redwoods stretching hundreds of miles! This video is slightly misleading.

[@slappy8941]

Should of? Where'd you go to school? Does your mommy still tie your shoes? 😂😂😂

[@Zodroo_Tint]

You are a murican aren't you? The country was not empty when the greatest nation went there. The natives pretty much appreciated the natural beauty of the land until they went gone or transfered to a reservate.

[@rc59191]

@@Zodroo_Tint it wasn't my family that did all that

[@BullThunder]

I was lucky enough to grow up in a coastal redwood Forrest. There was evidence of this in a absolutely massive stump that they had burned out. The biggest live tree on the property was still a giant. If you put a stethoscope to the bare wood it sounds like a river.

[@xvsj5833]

Very good content, thank you for sharing ❤

[@ITSHISTORY]

Thank you too!

[@GardenerEarthGuy]

Rod Deal & The Ideals have a record about this. Thanks for sharing about The Redwood Curtain.

[@drywallpuncher1882]

It just bugs me With how we just cleared redwoods out to nearly erasing redwoods from the world. I’d love to try and re grow our redwood forests.

[@user-bg7km4ij7f]

California still has hundreds of miles of Redwoods and they are protected by the state.

[@frisk151]

Thanks Ryan!

[@Quality_Koi]

I am from nor-cal I always become very sad everytime I see these photos" .I'm not a tree hugger I am a product of that industry " I have never taken pleasure in having to cut them😢.

[@Chips2323]

Hi Ryan, A History lesson I know something about, My parents moved to Calif back in 1957, (ya a grapes of wrath real life story, mine lol) anyway I lived South in the SF Bay Area so I have been to this area many many many times with my family and yes drove my car thru the tree, but as always your lesson taught more about these GREAT GIANT REDWOOD TREES, thank you for all of your study time on subject matters and yes I moved out of Calif back in 1992...

[@Dr_piFrog]

It was criminal that such destruction was perpetrated on the redwood forest. Yes, I know hindsight is easy and is basically just complaining about History.

[@j.chrisparson1021]

I'm sure the dick-measuring for the loggers consisted of who had cut down the biggest, oldest tree. Which inevitably led to the biggest, oldest trees getting the axe first. So, the ones we see today aren't the biggest or the oldest of what was there, yet they're still amazing.

[@scottprather5645]

Very informative and well done video

[@ITSHISTORY]

Glad you liked it!

[@anthonytoreson5571]

Been living in the redwood for 30yrs only part I like about cali

[@-suphur]

I had an electric guitar made several years ago and the luthier suggested a redwood top. He had a source out of Oregon that would harvest the stumps of trees that were cut down 100 years ago. On a side note, in underground operations, they use Douglas fir for shaft guides that the cage would ride along. That wood is resistant to the wet environment and rot. They also come in long lengths 20'.

[@stevewhalen6973]

Thanks!

[@joehatch1602]

I miss my hometown Eureka CA. We had those trees all around our yard. We had a huge stump leftover from logging days with a rope swing to swing around on.

[@SHDW-nf2ki]

I rolling started my family's geo tracker while driving through the chandler tree at age 8 it was great

[@MadDragon75]

I was fortunate enough to drive through one of the redwoods When I was a kid. That had to be late 70s early 80s.

[@Jedda73]

Amazing video. Thank you.

[@ITSHISTORY]

Glad you liked it!

[@CokeCheese]

We only seem to want to save something after we’ve already destroyed it.

[@monacaravetta]

Joni Mitchell couldn’t have said it better.

[@user-bg7km4ij7f]

We still have Redwoods ya know.🤔

[@larrybanta8858]

Wow that's awesome and crazy

[@ZenZaBill]

18:45 I've been next to this tree. It is near Santa Cruz and the old logging line, the Roaring Camp RR.

[@-oiiio-3993]

I once lived within a few hundred yards of Roaring Camp.

[@Mr.Unacceptable]

B.C. has a lot of patches of these red woods up in the mountains. Dotted all along the coast mountains. They seam to like the 2000-2500 foot zone. So they must have at one point stretched all the way north.

[@markrobinowitz8473]

BC has western red cedar, not coast redwoods. Coast redwoods grow from south of SF to the CA / OR border, within less than 30 miles of the coast.

[@sjTHEfirst]

Gold was discovered in California in 1848, not 1850, which started the Gold Rush of 1849. This is why many of those gold miners referred to themselves as "49ers". And then the football team was named after them.

[@paleobuzz]

Many gold discoveries took place in California in the mid to late nineteenth century...Peru Creek 1842, Bodie 1859. I’m sure he knows about James Marshall discovering gold at Sutters Mill in 1848. Gold was being mined all over Northern California thru the 1850’s.

[@-oiiio-3993]

@@paleobuzz Placerita Canyon, also 1842.

[@user-fd1jn2xq2e]

I worked all through the area and man those are some amazing forests up there I now live in Stockton but I want to head back the coast

[@mjh5437]

That Victorian house at 9:55 is just stunning

[@davidjnichisti1108]

It's just disgusting to me that these rare trees were cut down without the foresight of what the pillage of these Forrests would do. Greed destroys all.

[@norman7179]

The trees protected the land and now it's susceptible to erosion..

[@ericl452]

I remember when I was a kid in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the outdoor picnic tables and furniture were made out of redwood. We had one of the 8 foot picnic tables at our house in NY State.

[@nameuser4406]

I was amazed driving the coast from sf to Oregon. I was amazed how many trees there is. Never knew California had so many trees. You have to see it with your own eyes.

[@ITSHISTORY]

Thanks for sharing

[@fumanpoo4725]

Hug my beloved redwoods!

[@christopherpett3264]

Once something valuable is lost it can not be reclaimed.

[@opinionater9388]

I remember going to the Sequoia National Park many times growing up. I bought a seedling at the giftshop and planted it in my backyard. It didn't make it, lol. Good memories.

[@-oiiio-3993]

I am in Kaweah now.

[@garyjones2582]

If certain people had not intervened, they would have all been gone by now...

[@user-bg7km4ij7f]

Not true

[@smo-guiver8315]

Fortunately, many original structures built from redwood lumber still exist, notably the Eureka Inn. The 93,000 sq ft (8,600 m2) hotel, which fully occupies a city block, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Also our family vacation house in Eureka survived 3 years of a is leaking roof, while it was in probate before coming to us, only because it was framed entirely out of rot resistant old growth redwood in the 1950's. We saved and renovated the original structure even though there ferns growing out of the carpeting in the back bedroom when we got it!

[@norcalviking8992]

There used to be an incredible old growth forest between Oakland and the small town of Moraga, they stripped it out of all the old growth Redwoods- there is a hidden stump which is actually one of the biggest redwood stumps in California- only us old locals know where it’s at. Ships used to navigate into the bay using the Giant Redwoods as guides that were at the tops of the Oakland Hills- top of Redwood Road

[@rickthomas6606]

I always wanted to know about what those ppl thought of but I am glad they do

[@phillipschlegel6663]

Yes I as a kid driving through that tree❤

[@pensepf49]

I first moved up there in the seventies as a kid and I love the North Coast my entire life.. I've seen the devastation and how the land turned into different growth like weird pygmy forests and yes a lot of it has come back and no we didn't need to mow all this down to build America.. so either you're just some negative naysayer that wants to call everybody cry babies or maybe you just have never seen it up there. sorry, I just reviewed all the comments and there's a handful of people that got their head in their ass

[@johnking6252]

One of the few things I'll miss in California was wandering through the redwoods or the desert ? Strange land . ✌️

[@ruger8412]

Definitely heard about the redwood rush.

[@mrgnarkilla]

I used to live in Garberville right in the middle. Was like another world

[@mikeskidmore6754]

Great research and Story. It looks like I will have to do my own research if I want to look at an actual Virgin forest myself .

[@ArjayMartin]

great doco

[@larslarsman]

In 1995 I flew over much of the clear cut forest area from North of Clearlake Calif. to Eureka Calif. in a private plane. The clearcut areas I could see from our route were all planted forest, now, of small trees. Looking like miles of choose and cut Christmas tree farms. In another 100 to 200 years the area will look like a real forest. Unknown to me if they planted Redwood trees, Fir trees, or Pine trees.

[@stephankyle6460]

20 years from now: " the freshwater lakes of north america ; Its history!"

[@1bambiefawn]

Being a child in Northwest California back in the Summer of 1971 I remember hearing chainsaws in a redwood forest and when one of the these giant redwoods fell it would shake the ground. Very sad what has been to the redwood forest.

[@CathPresbyter]

The redwoods behind HSU are just beautiful. Anyone who is in Arcata should check them out. But not on 4/20 unless you want a second hand high. lol

[@thedougster3998]

Nothing beats an old growth redwood bookshelf.

[@-oiiio-3993]

Yes, something 'beats' that. An old growth redwood _tree,_ unmolested.

[@TheCiaMKultra]

😊Great Doc ! The more people that know how fragile our ecosystem is , the better !

[@loneeagle7154]

"we" didnt cut the trees down. It was all part if a development plan. He explained it pretty clearly.

[@dwarvenaled]

I wonder if we could use crispr to make an auto-flowering style hybrid to use in other places and environments. So something similar to auto-flowering cannabis or akin to the cab-13 plant research.

[@1charlastar886]

There were redwoods over 2 feet in diameter growing in the Southern California desert at the Institute of Mentalphysics in what is now Joshua Tree planted by Edwin J. Dingle (Ding Le Mei) who started the Institute. In the 1970s, the water district in Yucca Valley tried to seize water in the aquifer under the Institute. By the time the courts settled the matter in favor of the Institute, the redwoods were dead.

[@josephpercente8377]

There are still plenty of redwood trees. They are all second and third growth. Outside of California the lumber is hard to get.

[@-oiiio-3993]

They are not _all_ "second or third growth".