No Saw Could Cut 25-Foot Trees — So 5 Men Drilled 2-Inch Holes For 22 Days

Giant sequoias stood 300 feet tall with trunks 25 feet across. No saw could reach. The solution? Drill hundreds of holes around the circumference and saw between them. The wood was brittle. Over 50% smashed into unusable fragments on impact. What survived became shingles, grape stakes, and matchsticks. Companies logged entire groves—and still couldn't turn a profit. They cut down 1,200-year-old trees for fence post prices. This is how sunk-cost economics destroyed groves that had stood since Rome was founded.