Let's Know Some Trees
Charles Howard Shinn
Charles Howard Shinn was the eldest of the surviving Shinn children. He was born to James and Lucy in Texas in 1852.
Charles spent a lifetime around trees - first on the family ranch and nursery, then as an agricultural inspector, and finally as Forest Supervisor for the Forest Service.
This little book was published in 1925, the year after Charles Howard Shinn died. A second printing was in 1931.
Many of the big trees at Shinn Park were planted during the 1870s and 1880s when Shinn's nurseries was operating. The trees come from all over the world - China, Japan, Australia, Europe, California, and the Eastern US.
The only catalog that we can find is this from 1878. Do you have another one from another year?
Can't find the ginkgo in the catalog?
Look for Salisburia Adiantum instead, which was an early name for the Ginkgo biloba tree.
That 120-year old maple that Don Dillon mentioned in 1983? Perhaps it was one of these Japanese maples imported in 1876.
Chilean Bellota (Chile)
Chilean wine palm (Chile)
Memorial to the special maple (Japan) that was lost in 1994.
This beautifully illustrated article (Oct. 1892) by Charles Howard Shinn followed John Muir's Picturesque California by a couple of years. The illustrator was Harry Fenn, who was a well known illustrator, known for illustrations in Picturesque America, published 20 years earlier.
It was published in the Century Illustrated Monthly, when Charles was an inspector of the University of California experiment stations. He was living in Niles with Julia and his daughter, Ruth.
Charles Shinn really knew his trees. The trees that we admire at Shin Park today were only 10 to 20 years old when he wrote this article about trees in California. What would he say if he saw them today one-hundred thirty years later? My! Look at that huge Moreton Bay fig! And that Chilean bellota. Those palms!
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Another old publication worth tracking down is "Famous Trees," Julia Shinn is quoted in this by Woody Metcalf, regarding a particularly beautiful specimen of Eucalyptus.