Fieldbrook Redwood Stump

Height 70' ..... Diameter 32.15' ... myth vs. fact

Copyright 2018 - 2020 by Mario Vaden.

Below, you will find a historical photo of the Fieldbrook Stump. It was a coast redwood that grew in Humboldt county and measured 32.15 ft. wide near chest-height (dbh). In The Redwood Forest: History, Ecology, and Conservation of the Coast Redwood, Reed F. Noss wrote "some observers .. believe this stump to be two". I wrote 70 feet in the heading for height, because that's the tallest number I found for any documentation. I hoped the 70 ft. was merely a typo for 170 ft., but every reference I found confirms 70 ft.

I learned something surprising ... Fieldbrook redwood had to be smaller than new discoveries like the Big Kahuna Redwood . A better explanation is at my Blog post where the Big Kahuna's upper trunk diameters are compared, pulverizing the number of a 12.5 ft. "cookie" from the Fieldbrook. See the BLOG note > Fieldbrook Stump's Real Age? Cracking the Code

A 2016 news article stated that Fieldbrook tapered to 12.5 ft. thick at 70 ft. up. Fieldbrook's base was wider than Gen. Sherman, but there's not a chance it was as big with that much taper. Apparently other living redwoods are as large and larger than Fieldbrook was. My estimate, is Fieldbrook was no larger than aHowland Hill redwood, which used to be about the 6th largest known living, before even more new discoveries.

Between 2011 - 2017, Pacific Horticulture Society published a caption that Fieldbrook was 3,500 yrs. old. But Humboldt State Univ. researchers around the same time, only ascertained 2,520 yrs. as the oldest coast redwood (Redwood National Park). A Times Standard article quoted the Fieldbrook as 1,175 yrs., possibly from the crosscut "cookie" held at Blue Ox Millworks in Eureka. An edenproject tv on Youtube had video with a man suggesting 4,000 yrs. ... The numbers soon teeter like the AT-ST Scout Walker in Star Wars! An artist printing growth rings from it's piece, wrote 1,275 years on a web page; probably a the real count from wood imprint.

To quote a story in the Curry Pilot by Jane Stebbins, "The Fieldbrook Stump was that tree. It was 400 feet tall, bigger than the General Sherman tree is today and touted as the biggest tree in the world when it was cut down." Reviewing the Blog post I provided, we can see why Fieldbrook was nowhere the size of Sherman. And no redwood has been documented 400 feet. Dr. Sillett, a scientist, noted a historical 396 ft. Douglas fir. And 380 feet is the tallest redwood published, although taller than 380 does exist.

This Humboldt redwood sprouted from roots, and those sprouts will be genetically the same. Cuttings from those were used by Achangel Ancient Tree Archive to clone the genetics of this coast redwood. The saplings won't be champion clones, but rather, clones from a big redwood shaped like an elongated Hershey Kiss with a broad base. The cutting sappling bases should vary depending on what soil they are planted.

A rumor circulates that the Fieldbrook trunk was cut down to settle a bar bet; that a businessman from Britain claimed he could find a single cross-cut of timber to seat 40 dinner guests. And for that reason it's said the Fieldbrook was felled in the 1890s and a huge trunk "cookie" sent overseas. Humboldt County Historical Society Collections Manager Jim Garrison was quoted as saying the story was fabricated by a ship captain. With the truth being another chunk was wanted for a garden in England. Garrison said the piece is still there. Like the 1890's, some people still "milk" this old redwood to squeeze every last ounce of sensationalism. The Fieldbrook has been speculated at 360 ft., but there doesn't seem to be a shred of evidence. It may have looked like the Fessler redwood in Simpson Reed grove, a broken stub 215 feet high. That would still provide a crosscut 70 feet up. The only certain information is the base diameter, the cross-cut's height and the width of that piece.

Also, the Fieldbrook may have been cut regardless. Some people have believed the story about the wager, and became angry that this redwood was cut for that reason alone. It probably didn't matter. This is about 1000 ft. from where the Crannell Creek Giant used to stand. That entire area was engulfed by redwood logging.

Sprouts from this stump were collected and cloned by Archangel Tree Archive. But with the Fieldbrook stump being so much smaller than myths and legends have ascribed, propagations from it will be conversation pieces rather than champion size tree dna stock.

A Final Note - the Times Standard 2016 article said the piece of the Fieldbrook redwood was from the Stump House in Eureka. On my Crannell Creek Giant page are photos documenting the Crannell redwood as part of the Stump House. This raised a red flag whether Times Standard and the artist interviewed were wrong about having a piece of the Fieldbrook stump. So I had to boil everything down to a likely conclusion. A 13 ft. piece from 70 ft. up cannot be the Crannell. And Mr. Garrison the collections manager sounded so well-versed, I'm going to lean toward his commentary that the piece the artist worked with was from the Fieldbrook stump, the stump shown in the photo below. Be aware, Crannell Creek Giant was also from Fieldbrook, and references for both redwoods suggest the Stump House may have had wood from both redwoods on the property. On the Crannell page, pay close attention to the sign over the door.

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