The Origin of the Sequoia is not definitely known, but it has been stated that the Austrian botanist, Stephen Endlicher, who studied the sequoias in early years, named the tree after the great Cherokee Indian, Sequoyah, who invented the Cherokee alphabet more than a hundred years ago. Sequoyah was one of most remarkable men in the annals of America. Born about 1773, the son of a Cherokee woman and man named George or Nathaniel Gist, he fought against the British in the War of 1812, finished his alphabet by about 1822, and planned alphabets for other Indian tribes but never finished them. He moved to San Fernando, Tamalpais, Mexico, where there were some Cherokee Indians, and was reported to have died in l843.
—John Ise in Our National Park Policy
A version of this article appeared in print in the February 1962 issue of Resources magazine.
