Challenges in providing proper care 

In a sense, this is a story about two guys who shared an office and an idea.

Let’s go back to another time.  It’s wintertime in 1936 in the quaint small city of Visalia, California in Tulare County about ninety miles south of Merced.

Nathan was the Postmaster in a newly opened Visalia Post Office.  Guy was the Superintendent of General Grant National Park in the Sierra Mountains.  During the winter, the Superintendent shared workspace in the post office alongside Nathan.

Guy brought two small Sequoia trees to the office one day during that winter season of 1936.  The pair thought re-planting the three-year-old trees on opposing sides of the new post office building might give the downtown area a little natural beauty. 

They also hoped maybe the trees might encourage others to head up into the mountains to see more of the stately trees in the National Park.

The trees grew and grew.  

By 1940, General Grant National Park was folded into what we now know as Kings Canyon National Park.  The area where visitors can find the General Grant tree is now known as the General Grant Grove.

Nathan and Guy went about their work.  Both kept an eye on the post office trees throughout their careers and beyond.

One challenge lingered during the first fifty years the two sequoias adored the sides of the Visalia Post Office.  One of the trees became diseased and had to be cut down in the mid-1980s.

But the other one continued to grow.  Outliving both Nathan and Guy, that tree is now a very special part of the community.

With a history going back to the 1930s, the downtown Visalia Sequoia, better known as the Sequoia Legacy Tree, is a unique part of this city.

Four years ago, the City formally dedicated the Sequoia Legacy Tree.  

The Tree is the focal point of a pocket park at the corner of Acequia Avenue and Locust Street in downtown Visalia.  Interpretive signs explain the story and get into some of the challenges in the care and feeding of a majestic tree that are normally found in the Sierra Nevada. 

The granite pathway the circles the tree is the approximate diameter of the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park.  Sequoia National Park is adjacent to Kings Canyon National Park.

This tree has a lot more growing to do.

Keeping the Sequoia Legacy Tree healthy and growing is a complication as it grows on the floor of the San Joaquin Valley far away from the majestic Sierra mountain range.

In the mountains, the sequoias take in water that flows from the snowpack in higher elevations.  On the valley floor, the Sequoia Legacy Tree depends on water from the City of Visalia water department. 

It also depends on the time and attention paid to it from both the public works department and volunteers who keep watchful eyes on any signs of danger that might pose a threat.

There is a sign near the tree reminding visitors that it is really up to each of us to use our water wisely to protect and conserve.

That may have been what both Guy and Nathan were thinking back in the mid-1930s when they made it possible for a sequoia to have a regular presence in one of our valley cities.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced and travels throughout the San Joaquin Valley to find stories of interest to readers. 

He’s published several books including California Back Roads where he examines more than three-dozen special places throughout Central California.  The book is available at Lulu.com