But more impressive than the facts and figures as to height, width, age, etc., are the entrancing beauty and tranquility that pervade the forest, the feelings of peace, awe and reverence that it inspires. – George McDonald, Dollarwise Guide to California and Las Vegas, 1983, about Muir

Sweet wet balm of bough and branch…. Here is a chestnut sister, and there a sequoia brother. – Virginia Garland, “The Rain,” Out West: A Magazine of the Old Pacifi

[T]he ground beneath them is a garden of fresh, exuberant ferns, lilies, gaultheria, and rhododendron. – John Muir, “The American Forests,” August 1897

What a generous wood! what a glorious and all-seeing Providence, to provide so liberally for the inhabitants of the Sunset Land! – W.A. Pryal, “Lumber for Hives: Some Interesting Data on the Way Lumber is