Described various members of the Cowell Family who amassed a fortune from timber, lime and land holdings. Each of the family members has left important gifts to charity including a health center in Berkeley and a hospital in Sacramento. Artwork was donated to the palace of fine ARts in San Francisco and Henry Cowell donated 16oo acres of redwood forest to create a State park. Joseph Welch was also instrumental in protecting the trees buy buying the land when it was a Mexican land grant and protecting the trees from the timber industry. It was a local tourist attraction and then a County Park before being donated to the State.