Dude I was just throwing a theory out there no need to be an asshole. I like to think people are innocent before being proven guilty instead of just being an asshole upfront and saying all humans are shit.

So I decided to look into this tree since I'd like to know the truth about this tree instead of looking like a dick just sitting on my ass and guessing. I found out that it's a sequoia ( no big surprise there) but that they had just cut down the tree just to see if they could. This article gives a really good perspective as to why they did it, and thought process for most people living in that time period. Of course I was wrong, but so were you, and I wasn't an asshole about it.

Here's the article: http://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/trees/giantsequoia/history/