Gorilla in the Waiting Room

In 1850, after the Gold Rush and California’s admission to the union, two brothers acquired some valuable land. There was a young tree on that land. It was growing fast and began to exhibit a peculiar feature. Its roots didn’t seem to go deep but instead spread out above-ground.

One brother became concerned. Why didn’t the roots go down? He thought something sinister must be buried beneath that tree. The roots seemed to balk at going there. His brother thought it wasn’t anything to get wor...