ABSTRACT
In the giant Sequoia forests on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in central California a communal settlement was established in 1887. The first obstacle that the group faced was to find a way up the forested mountain to their colony. As in many cases of a schism in a small community of strong ideological motivation, too the dynamics of a split were in action. In spite of the economic success, there was a vast gap between the dream and the reality. On September 25, 1890, congress proposed a legislation to establish the Sequoia National Park. The principles of property also were adopted from Gronlund's The Cooperative Commonwealth, which inspired Kaweah's ideologists. The federal government, however, ignored the protest and ordered the colonists to stop their logging activities and to clear the land immediately. James Martin tried unsuccessfully to reach some agreement of compensation for the colony members from the country and the government.
