Art & Words by
HOWARD B. TAYLOR

This is one of the myriads of interesting things which a forester sees routinely. The tree is an incense cedar.

A large log lay here, as the log rotted a seedling grew in its top side and the roots continued down and around each side of the rotting log until they anchored in the ground. After rotting away the logs past presence is still vividly represented by the hole.

The survey crew staked the railroad through the opening. That evening they left their transit under it to keep dry in case it rained. It undoubtedly did so. They built a fire beside it and sat in the dry to toast their cheese sandwiches. If they make a survey tie to a section corner and one of these cedar trees has been used for a bearing tree, it will likely be called a redwood in the original field notes.