From Felling the Giants By Stephen Michael Payne & Survival With Stile By Joan Barriga's

Josephine came to the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1881 as a single woman, forty-two years old, in search of a quiet place of her own. The daughter of German parents living in St. Louis, she had been well educated in private schools. She took a job as a teacher after finishing her schooling, and in 1864 she met and married Lt. James A. Clifford, a cavalry officer.

After a bad marriage she moved to San Francisco with her mother, brother, and sister. Josephine obtained a job at the South Cosmopolitan School, teaching German; but her first love was writing, and before long her articles were being accepted by the Overland Monthly, a well-known magazine edited by Bret Harte and later by Ambrose Bierce. She began to number among her acquaintances such literary figures as Mark Twain, Joaquin Miller, Jack London, and poet George Sterling.

Artists, writers, and musicians were moving into the Santa Cruz Mountains as they became more accessible, and Josephine was one of the first to take up land near the small German settlement of Austrian Gulch in the shadow of Loma Prieta.

In the summer of 1899, a fire destroyed a large portion of the Summit area. The home of Josephine Clifford McCracken was in the path of the flames and was consumed. After the ordeal was over McCracken, realizing that the native redwood forests were being destroyed, not only by fire but also by the many logging operations, wrote articles published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, calling for conservation of the great forests. She enlisted the help of Andrew P. Hill, a noted artist and photographer, who had taken pictures of the fire's destruction. Together with many Summit residents, McCracken and Hill formed the Sempervirens Club. The club, dedicated to the preservation of the redwood forests, was helped by the Native Sons and Daughters and the California Pioneer Society. They appealed to the California State Legislature for the creation of parks to protect the redwoods. The result, in 1902, was the creation of the first California redwood park, now known as Big Basin State Park, located near Boulder Creek in the northern part of Santa Cruz County."

As told by Leonard McKay, who provided information for "Good & Ancient Forest", the story of Andrew P. Hill by Carolyn De Vries.

When Hill was 14 years old, he came overland to California in 1867, just before the transcontinental railway was built. His father, Elijah, had made the journey just before Andrew was born, but before he reached the golden land, Elijah and a companion were attacked by Indians, and while Elijah survived the fight he died a week later of exposure and exhaustion. Andrew came west later with his uncle and after arrival he attended the small College of Santa Clara, first as a high school student and then as a college freshman. Although a Protestant, Andrew made many Catholic friends at Santa Clara who were to greatly assist him in later years. When his funds ran out, he left to work to support himself, first as a draftsman and later, after attending the California School of Design, a painter of portraits.

Perfecting his natural artistic talent, he opened a portrait studio in San Jose with a succession of partners. Although an accomplished artist, he was a poor businessman plagued by bad luck. In order to supplement his income and to feed his growing family, he took up photography as painting was in an economic decline. In 1899, a major fire erupted in the redwood forest near the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains above Los Gatos. Hill photographed the burning trees for a London newspaper where the editors marveled at the size of these trees. They commissioned Hill for more pictures of just the redwoods. These trees are the Sequoia Sempervirens, the tallest trees in the world, with a life span of over 2000 years. Oh, yes, someone is going to correct me and say that the Sequoia Gigantia are bigger. Yes, they contain more board feet of timber, but the Sempervirens are the tallest.

On assignment, Hill took his bulky camera to the Santa Cruz grove, which we know today as Big Trees Grove near Felton. The grove was then in private ownership and Hill shot many pictures of the trees when the owner, Joseph Welch, confronted him for unauthorized photography and demanded the glass negatives. Hill, a big man, refused and strong words were exchanged. The episode so enraged Hill that he determined to do something about saving the redwoods, as he saw that almost all of the virgin trees had been cut for lumber. Infuriated, he started his crusade to save the redwoods. It was suggested that the trees in Big Basin were larger and more important than the Big Trees Grove, so in 1900 an investigative party of leading and concerned citizens explored Big Basin. They were so impressed that they vowed to save these trees. A long hard battle ensued; Hill had help from many quarters; the President Jordan and faculty members of Stanford University, Santa Clara College's President, Father Kenna, S.J., James Phelan, who was mayor of San Francisco, and later, State Senator, and most particularly, Carrie Stevens Walter. She became the first secretary of the Sempervirens Society, and participated in all of the battles. Had the trees not been saved at that very time, it was estimated that in six months there would not be any virgin trees remaining in that whole area.

Hill's campaign led him to the State legislature in Sacramento and, after many months of negotiation, it came to a final vote. The preliminary indications were that the State would not approve the expenditure of $250,000. Hill received a guarantee of $50,000 from Fr. Kenna's nephew, James Phelan; this was to be a guarantee to the lumber companies owners, forfeitable if the State did not purchase the property. At midnight, just before the vote was to be taken, Hill walked three miles from Santa Clara, as the street cars had already stopped for the night, to the Herald newspaper offices in San Jose, where the editor, Harry Wells, had a special edition published. Hill waited for the papers to be printed and boarded the 4:30 a.m. train for Sacramento with the papers under his arm. A copy was placed on each legislator's desk. The bill passed unanimously and, thus, California got its first State park, California Redwood Park. Private citizens matched the State's $250,000. Today, it is known as Big Basin National Park.

Hill's paintings may be seen at the Orradre Library of the University of Santa Clara, at Andrew Hill High School, in the City Council Chambers, at the Historic Museum, but rarely in any San Jose art galleries. The painting of giant redwoods on the wall of Memorabilia was painted for the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. As a tribute to the woman and poetess who worked so tirelessly beside him, he painted her into the right foreground, although Carrie Stevens Walter had died eight years earlier. When Hill died in 1922, he left his family an estate valued at less than $900. However, he left all of us a legacy that is immeasurable, the wonderful giant redwoods that were born before Christ.

By the age of 42

• Twenty-sixth President
• New York State Assemblyman
• Governor of New York
• Vice President
• Police Commissioner of New York City,
• U.S. Civil Service Commissioner
• Assistant Secretary of the Navy
• Colonel of the Rough Riders
• Deputy sheriff in the Dakota Territory

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential achievements:

• In foreign affairs he led us into the arena of international power politics, thrusting aside the American tradition of isolationism.
• On the domestic scene, he reversed the traditional federal policy of laissez-faire, and sought to bring order, social justice, and fair dealings to American industry and commerce.
• As Chief Executive, he expanded the powers and responsibilities of the Presidential office, establishing the model of the modern Presidency, which has been followed, by most of his successors in the White House.
• Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute to the White House for dinner. This was the first time that an African-American was entertained at the White House as a guest.
• Perhaps his greatest contribution was his work for conservation. During his tenure in the White House from 1901 to 1909, he designated 150 National Forests, the first 51 Federal Bird Reservations, 5 National Parks, the first 18 National Monuments, the first 4 National Game Preserves, and the first 21 Reclamation Projects. Altogether, in the seven-and-one-half years he was in office, he provided federal protection for almost 230 million acres, a land area equivalent to that of all the East coast states from Maine to Florida.
• Theodore Roosevelt "busted" trusts bringing the large corporations under the control of the people; he began the Panama Canal, he established the Department of Commerce and Labor; he negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War and thereby won the Nobel Peace Prize; he preached a "Square Deal" for all Americans, enabling millions to earn a living wage; he built up the Navy as the "Big Stick," thus establishing America as a major world power; he reduced the National debt by over $90,000,000; and he secured the passage of the Elkins Act and the Hepburn Act for regulation of the railroads, the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act for consumer protection, and the Federal Employers' Liability Act for Labor.
• In addition, he successfully mediated international disputes over Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Morocco. He was the first world leader to submit a dispute to the Court of Arbitration at The Hague, and he was the first head of state to call for convening of what became the Second Hague Peace Conference at which he obtained for Latin American nations equal status with the rest of the world, and won the adoption of the Drago Doctrine, which outlawed the use of force in the collection of foreign debts.
• Towards the end of his life, he was a major force for military preparedness particularly as World War I loomed. Much of what he achieved affects each and every American today and his name and personality have become part of the collective icon for what America stands for at its best.

MR. MAYOR, AND YOU, MY FELLOW-CITIZENS:

I thank you for the greeting that you have extended to me. I wish to say a word of special acknowledgment to the men of the Grand Army, to the representatives of the pioneers, to the men who proved their loyalty in the supreme test from '61 to '65, and to the pioneers who showed the same qualities in winning this great West that you of the Civil War showed in your feat. I also wish to say how pleased I am to have had as my escort the men of the Naval Militia. The one thing on which this country must forever be a unit is the navy. We must have a first-class navy. A nation like ours, with the unique position of fronting at once on the Atlantic and the Pacific, a nation forced by the mere fact of destiny to play a great, a mighty, a masterful part in the world, cannot afford to neglect its navy, cannot afford to fail to insist upon the building up of the navy. We must go on with the task as we have begun it. We have a good navy now. We must make it an even better one in the future. We must have an ample supply of the most formidable type of fighting ships; we must have those ships practiced; we must see that not only are our warships the best in the world, but that the men who handle them, the men in the gun turrets, the men in the engine rooms, the men in the conning towers, are also the best of their kind. I think that our navy is already wonderfully good and we must strive to make it even better.

I am about to visit the grove of the great trees. I wish to congratulate you people of California, people of this region, and to congratulate all the country on what you have done in preserving these great trees. Cut down one of these giants and you cannot fill its place. The ages were their architects and we owe it to ourselves and to our children's children to preserve them. Nothing has pleased me more here in California than to see how thoroughly awake you are to preserve the monuments of the past, human and natural. I am glad to see the way in which the old mission buildings are being preserved. This great, wonderful, new State, this State which is itself an empire, situated on the greatest of oceans, should keep alive the sense of historic continuity of its past, and should as one step towards that end preserve the ancient historic landmarks within its limits. I am even more pleased that you should be preserving the great and wonderful natural features here, that you should have in California a park like the Yosemite, that we should have State preserves of these great trees and other preserves where individuals and associations have kept them. We should see to it that no man for speculative purposes or for mere temporary use exploits the groves of great trees. Where the individuals and associations of individuals cannot preserve them, the State, and, if necessary, the nation, should step in and see to their preservation. We should keep the trees as we should keep great stretches of the wildernesses as a heritage for our children and our children's children. Our aim should be to preserve them for use, to preserve them for beauty, for the sake of the nation hereafter.

I shall not try to make any extended address to you. I shall only say how glad I am to be here, bid you welcome with all my heart, and say how thoroughly I believe in you, and that I am a better American for being among you. (Great applause.)

MR. MAYOR, AND LADIES FIRST, AND TO THE REST OF THE GUESTS IN THE SECOND PLACE:

I want to thank you very much for your courtesy in receiving me, and to say how much I have enjoyed being here. This is the first glimpse I have ever had of the big trees, and I wish to pay the highest tribute I can to the State of California, to those private citizens and associations of citizens who have cooperated with the State in preserving these wonderful trees for the whole nation, in preserving them in whatever part of the State they may be found. All of us ought to want to see nature preserved; and take a big tree whose architect has been the ages, anything that man does toward it may hurt it and cannot help it; and above all, the rash creature who wishes to leave his name to mar the beauties of nature should be sternly discouraged. Take those cards pinned up on that tree; they give an air of the ridiculous to this solemn and majestic grove. (Applause.) To pin those cards up there is as much out of place as if you tacked so many tin cans up there. I mean that literally. You should save the people whose names are there from the reprobation of every individual by taking down the cards at the earliest possible moment; and do keep these trees, keep all the wonderful scenery of this wonderful State unmarred by the vandalism or the folly of man. Remember that we have to contend not merely with knavery, but with folly; and see to it that you by your actions create the kind of public opinion which will put a stop to any destruction of or any marring of the wonderful and beautiful gifts that you have received from nature, that you ought to hand on as a precious heritage to your children and your children's children. I am, oh, so glad to be here, to be in this majestic and beautiful grove, to see the wonderful redwoods, and I thank you for giving me the chance, and I do hope that it will be your object to preserve them as nature made them and left them, for the future. (Cheers and applause.)