Science, Biblical and anti-Biblical, recognizes that there was a period of time in the distant past when the earth was barren. How long ago and how long it lasted is a matter of conjecture ... unless one accepts the Biblical record. But out in California, almost as far west as one can go, there stand beautiful monuments to the past —the redwoods: monuments that were seedlings when Noah was laid to rest; saplings when the tower of Babylon was deserted; stalwart young giants when David downed his giant. And when the tree on which Christ was hung lost its life, there on the shores and mountain sides of California, those same redwoods were "lifting leafy arms to pray." They still stand there, those California redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens and Sequoiadendron giganteum.
The life story of the giant sequoia, the older of the two California redwoods, poses a number of fascinating questions that science has heretofore been unable to answer. Not the least of these are: 1) Exactly how old are they? 2) Why don't we find living specimens much older than approximately 3200-plus years? 3) Why are they limited to the mountains of California?
When we examine the writings of eminent dendrochronologists, we find that the life span of the giant sequoia is over 3200 years ... with many authorities estimating its age much greater. Richard J. Hartesveldt says, "At this writing," (1975) "3200 years of age is the oldest count on record. The stump count was made by A.E. Douglass, the well known dendrochronologist, before 1920. Some hold to much older figures for the greatest age, and a recent author claims one specimen to be 6000 years old."1 In a previous paragraph he had said, "Schmeckbier (1912) states that sequoias never fail to add an annual ring, a statement later refuted by Gillette (1930) who found missing rings in a large specimen.
Nevertheless, age dating by ring count remains more accurate than any other method known for the giant sequoia."2 In addition to the ancient bristlecone pine, we may say that the giant sequoia, found only in the Sierra Nevadas of California, IS ONE OF THE OLDEST LIVING THINGS ON EARTH!
The longevity of the giant sequoia is attributed to several factors: it is very resistant to insects, disease and fire. E.F. Clements in a pamphlet, "California Redwoods," said, " … scars show evidence of ancient forest fires, yet the trees grew to maturity."3 Its resistance to fire is due to several factors: the bark is "massively thick, greater than any tree on earth, 24-31" thick" 4, a poor conductor of heat, asbestos-like, and contains small amounts of resin. The wood is also of a soft and sponge-like quality which absorbs water easily.
"Trees," said Asa Gray in his famous essay on the Longevity of Trees, "far outlast all living things. They never die of old age, but only from injury or disease, or, in a word, from accidents. If not destroyed by accident, that is, by extrinsic causes—they do not eventually perish, like ourselves, from old age. It is commonly thought that they are fully exposed to the inevitable fate of all living things…. But the tree is an aggregate of many individuals united in a common trunk and why should not the aggregate, the tree, last indefinitely?" 5
If there is nothing "extrinsic" that can destroy trees and, if the giant sequoia is extremely resistant to insects, disease and fire, why are there no giant sequoias much older than 3200-plus years (using the most authentic and conservative age)? We know from the fossils that they existed long before that ... during the period when "pre-historic" animals also lived. "The pick of the fossil hunter has unearthed fossil remains of sequoia leaves and cones in strata as early as the Triassic. This period represents the morning of reptilian life.... Hence, the sequoia as a race has a claim to almost fabulous antiquity." 6 What could have happened 3200-plus years ago that can account for the discontinuance of the giant sequoia? Listen to one evolutionist's version: " … few of the dramas of the earth which science has restored are more wonderful than the restri