Editing Sequoiadendron giganteum (section)

===Discovery===
The giant sequoia first gained widespread attention in 1852 when grizzly hunter Augustus T. Dowd discovered the [[Discovery Tree]] in [[Calaveras Grove]], marking the species' first widely publicized discovery by non-natives.<ref name="Farquhar">{{cite journal |last=Farquhar |first=Francis P. |title=Discovery of the Sierra Nevada |journal=California Historical Society Quarterly |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=3–58 |year=1925 |url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/exploration_of_the_sierra_nevada/ |doi=10.2307/25177743 |jstor=25177743 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015049981668 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> The tree was cut down in 1853 and [[Exhibition_tree|exhibited]] across the United States. The story of Dowd's discovery gained further notoriety following a 1859 feature in [[Hutchings%27_Illustrated_California_Magazine|''Hutchings' Illustrated California Magazine'']], which promoted tourism to the grove.<ref name="Tweed2016">{{cite book |last=Tweed |first=William C. |title=King Sequoia: The Tree That Inspired a Nation, Created Our National Park System, and Changed the Way We Think about Nature |date=October 1, 2016 |publisher=Heyday |page=16}}</ref>

Before Augustus T. Dowd's well-known discovery in 1852, there were three earlier encounters with giant sequoias. The first known mention of the giant sequoia by a [[European American]] was in 1833 by explorer J.K. Leonard, who recorded it in his diary. While Leonard did not specify a location, his travels likely took him through [[Calaveras Grove]], but this observation remained unnoticed.<ref name="Farquhar"/>

In 1850, John M. Wooster encountered a giant sequoia at Calaveras Grove and carved his initials into the bark of the "Hercules" tree.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/discovery-and-naming-sequoiadendron-giganteum-sierra-redwood |title=The "discovery" and naming of Sequoiadendron giganteum, Sierra Redwood |publisher=Oregon State University |access-date=2023-11-01}}</ref> A year later, in 1851, [[Robert_A._Eccleston|Robert Eccleston]] traveled through [[Nelder Grove]] with a small detachment of the [[Mariposa Battalion]] during the [[Mariposa War]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Eccleston |first=Robert |date=1957 |title=The Mariposa War, 1850–1851 |editor=C. Gregory Crampton |publisher=University of Utah Press}}</ref> Similar to Leonard's experience, these encounters also received no publicity.