PBA Galleries

Photograph of the first giant sequoia to come to the attention of the white Americans, discovered by Augustus P. Dowd, a contract hunter, in 1852 in the Mammoth Grove. Although Zenas Leonard described what are thought to be Big Trees in his 1839 Narrative, the discovery of this tree is considered the official discovery of the giant sequoia. It was cut down in 1853 by five men under the command of Captain Hanford, using only mining augers, taking some 21 days, and a portion of it transported to New York for exhibit (much to the envy of P.T. Barnum, who sought his own Big Tree but had to settle for a coast redwood). After serving briefly as a dance floor, the stump had a domed building built over it, called the Pavilion, with a small section of the trunk remaining next to it. This image was taken by C.L. Weed, who in 1859 became the first to take photographs of Yosemite, in 1859; he returned in 1864 to take mammoth plate photographs, of which only 30 negatives were produced, including this one.