Several
huge sequoia trees were made into "tunnel trees" in the 19th century,
to highlight how big they are and to encourage motorists to visit
California parks. It was good for tourism, but carving a hole through
the trunk was not good for the individual tree. Now the last known
sequoia tunnel tree in California has fallen. The Pioneer Cabin Tree in
Calaveras Big Trees State Park, with its formerly drive-through (and
recently walk-through) tunnel, fell under the force of a weekend winter
storm, which brought flooding and mudslides. The tree was
estimated to be at least a thousand years old.
The
iconic tree was one of just a few tunneled-through sequoias in
California. The most famous was the Wawona Tree, in Yosemite National
Park; it fell during a winter storm in 1969 at an estimated age of 2,100
years. The other remaining sequoia tunnels are dead or consist of logs
on their side, the Forest Service says.
However, there are still
three coastal redwoods (taller and more slender than sequoias) with
tunnels cut through them. They're all operated by private companies, the
Forest Service says, and still allow cars to drive through — one
appeared in a recent Geico ad.
Park volunteer Jim Allday, who reported the tree's demise, said it shattered on impact with the ground
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