Ten days before 31-year-old newspaper editor Ralph Sidney Smith was shot and killed by an angry reader on the streets of Redwood City, he enjoyed a final visit to his favorite place on Earth.

In November of 1887, as editor of the Redwood City Times and Gazette, Smith escorted a party of state officials deep into the redwood forest of Big Basin in the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains. He was well acquainted with what he called the “savage beauty” of this lush, rugged landscape. Growing up on the Peninsula, he escaped to the forest every chance he got – to fish in its creeks or to ramble amongst the towering trees, some more than 300 feet tall and older than the Roman Empire. He wanted to convince the state to purchase acres in either the Pescadero or Butano creek canyons to create a public park

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