Historic, archived document 


Do not assume content reflects current 
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices. 


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MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION No. 295..- 
U.S. DEPARTMENT of AGRICULTURE (hus ,)9% 


- 


Figure 
No. 


H> GO DOF 


se OO eo 


49. 
50. 


. Arkansas Council Oak, Dardanelle, IAT: Mies TCE 
. Treaty Oak, Temple Heights, Washington, D. G 
. Lincoln Oak, near Maryland-District line, D. C 
. Mullan Tree, Fourth of July Canyon, Tdaho 


. Old Creek Tribal Council Tree, Tulsa, Okla__ 
. Fort Hunter Buttonwood, near Harrisburg, Pa 
. Daniel Boone’s ‘‘Bar Tree,” Washington County, Tenn__________ 
. Marshalli@akeMiarsinallles Ma clits i ay eee ee 
. Lanier Oak, Brunswick, Ga 
. Glebe Oak, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D. C___- 
. Witness Tree, Lancaster County, Pac Sore ao eee faa 
. Oak That Owns Itself, Athens, Ga 
. Sacred Oak of the Delaware Indians, Oley Valley, Pa_ 
_ Mothers of America Tree, Capitol Grounds, Washington, De € 
. Parent Washington Nav el Orange Tree, Riv erside, Calif _ 

. Shipmast locust trees, Long Island, N. Y 


. Canyon Live Oak, Stanislaus National Forest, Calif 
. Dense stand of California redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) 
. General Sherman Bigtree (Sequoia washingtoniana), Sequoia National 


. The Great Elm, Wethersfield, Conn 
. Twin sassafras trees, Soldiers’ Home Grounds, Washington, D. C____ 
. Locke Breaux Live Oak, St. Charles Parish, La 
. Hohen Solms Pecan, 36 miles south of Baton Rouge, La__ 
. Wye Mills Oak, about 9 miles from Easton, Md 
. Largest white pine in Lake States region, near Pike Bay, Minn 
. White oak in Friends’ Cemetery, Salem, N. J_ 
. Bald cypress, the biggest tree in ‘Oklahoma, near Eagletown me 
. Old Utah, aged juniper, Cache National Forest, Utah 
_ Veteran rock maple of Vermont’s oldest sugar orchard, Pine Grove 


. Giant arborvitae, Snohomish County, Wash 
. Largest Douglas fir tree, near Mineral, Wash____ 
. Twin white pines, Nicolet National Forest, Wis 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


TreEEs AssociaTED WitH NovraBLE PERSONS, EVENTS, OR PLACES 


Recan treessab Moumba Vier oii Vices ee eee eee 
Washington Elm, Capitol Grounds, Washington, D. C 
WANs aubarearora, I tueKerovols) avg) Ines JaenON ley bo 
John Quincy Adams Eln, White House Grounds, Washington, D. C__ 
Old beech at Wheatland, home of President Buchanan, near Lan- 
caster; “Bans A428 se ge Fe Ue are ee a ee 
Jackson Magnolias, White House Grounds, Washington, D. C_______ 
General Lafayette Balsam Poplar, Geneva, N. Y__________-. 
Cameron Elm, Capitol Grounds, W ashington, Dae 
John Goodway Sycamore, near Linglestown, Pa 
Governor Hogg Pecan, Austin, Texas______ 


Indian trail trees, Illinois _ 


. Council Oak, Sioux Cityelowasesees 

. LaFitte Wine Oak, Jefferson Parish, eae 
. Twin Pines, Beawerhevd National Forest, Mont. 
_ Hendrik Hudson’s s Tuliptree, Inwood Park, INew, York; INj2 ¥ 
. Lombardy Poplar at Fort Niagara, N. Y., survivor of a group of pop- 


lars planted by the French 200 years ago __ 


TrEES NoTaBLE FOR UNUSUAL SIZE OR AGE 


Park eC allitics 0 0) oso ROD con lee ae Sk a Veo ge en 


Farm, Voss fe See Sa se ae ees ge te ee eg sae rs 


FREAK TREES 


Live oak on “a table’’ built of its own roots, Ocala National Forest, 

Mae iS 2 ke Fa ae te Pa ce ey en oe 
Paulownia tree housing a husky offspring, Rockport, Tanto os eee 
Lyre Tree at Livingston, N. J__ 


Page 


____ Front cover 


106 
109 


UNITED STATES 


DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION No. 295 


Issued June 1938 
Washington, D. C. - Slightly revised August 1939 


FAMOUS TREES 


By CHARLES EK. RANDALL and D. PRISCILLA EDGERTON, Division of Information 
and Education, Forest Service 


CONTENTS 

Page Page 

Trees associated with notable persons, events, — Trees associated with notable persons, events, 

and places_ eee ree ee 1 and places—Continued. 

rees associated with notable people_____~ 2 Trees with peculis ssthetic or senti- 
ees pssdclated with the building of the + Be AT aeea erations ey os Eero: e 59 
Trees associated directly with educators Blois Of ea aN oie y 
or educational institutions. _........... 43 | Trees notable for unusual size or age_ _-_--___ 66 
Trees associated particularly with writers Old or large trees in the United States__-__ 66 
andslitera tune ms ses se ene ee 47 Outstanding foreign rivals___----.________ 101 
Trees associated with religion_____________ DO} ereaketrees qa eee een eet ee 102 
Trees that have had special protection____ Houperberatune cite dss == a whan. he ee eae 111 


TREES ASSOCIATED WITH NOTABLE PERSONS, EVENTS, AND PLACES 


VERY land, every clime, has its trees, and in the lore of every age 
tree stories are found, 

In the United States there is abundant tree growth of the most use- 
ful species. The Nation has been quite literally nurtured in a wooden 
cradle, and its progress has been largely due to the contributions of 
the forest. The pioneers cut paths through the wilderness—from east 
to west and from north to south—and the forest harvest has gone 
into home and community building. 

On all sides there is abundant evidence that forests are essential 
to civilized man’s welfare. The individual tree, however, has an even 
more intimate part to play mm human experience, a part so universal 
that every country has its famous tree citizens. 

Trees by their very nature are landmarks and memorials. They are 
therefore identified with human happenings. Also, trees, having 
more than the allotted life span of man, carry their associations 
through generations of men and women. Thus they often figure not 
only in biography but also in history. 

Trees are loved by all kinds of people. Therefore they are immor- 
talized by poets and artists, and their historical associations are 
perpetuated by churches and schools, by various crganizations and 
communities. 

Several hundred descriptions of, or incidents about trees, taken from 
reports coming to the Forest Service and from records and library 


165253°—39 1 1 


MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


~o) 


references? are included in this publication. They. are from almost 
every State in the Union and deal with many species. In a complete 
story of notable trees, however, there wou ild be so many chapters 
that it is impossible to tell it all at once or for one person to do the 
telling. The compilation 1 is necessarily incomplete, and many notable 
tree favorites may have been omitted. 


TREES ASSOCIATED WITH NOTABLE PEOPLE 


Since one almost invariable element of greatness seems to be a 
love of nature, trees are found entering into the interests of famous 
men and women. It is significant that tree stories are associated with 
many of our Presidents. The first tree lover of them all, Washing- 
ton, planted many trees, and many other trees are living memorials 
to him. 

Living trees planted by Washington or under his direction at 
Mount Vernon include tuliptrees, buckeyes, elms, pecans (see front 
cover), hollies, lindens, hemlocks, mulberries, and others. Trees di- 
rectly associated with Washington in at least a dozen Eastern States 
swell the number bearing his name toward the hundred mark. 

Next to the W ashington Elm in Cambridge (now dead), under 
which the leader of the American Revolutionary forces assumed 
command in 1775, probably the most notable Washineton trees now 
living are ; 

The W ashington Elm at Berkeley Springs. W. Va., associated with 
the surveying days of the young Washington while in the employ of 
Lord Fairfax. In W ashington? S journal of this survey. written in 
1747, an entry indicates that he was greatly impressed by the medici- 
nal value of certain springs near Berkeley, which, according to tra- 
dition, were exciting factors in Indian warfare. After the settle- 
ment by white pioneers, Washington planted an American elm at 
the intersection of the growing town’s principal thoroughfare, Wash- 
ington Street, with another street marking the southern boundary of 
the grant of Lord Fairfax. The tree today is 21 feet in circumfer- 
ence at its base. 

The Washington Elm facing the east entrance to the Senate wing 
of the United States Capitol, under which the first President w atched 
the building of that structure (fig. 1). 

The W ashington Elm Grandehild, a descendant of the Washington 
Elm at Cambridge, Mass., was plantea as a Washington Bicentennial 
tree on the erounds of the State capitol in Hartford, Conn., on March 
31,1988. It was accepted by the Governor of the State, and, having 
been given good care, is in excellent condition. 

A “orandchild” of the Cambridge, Mass., elm now growing on the 
front lawn of the American Tree Association office “building, 1214 
Sixteenth Street NW., Washington, D. C. 

Among the many descendants of the Washington (Cambridge ) 
Elm are one at Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Mass. sam: «ca pedi- 
greed scion” on the campus of the University of Washington at 
Seattle. A sturdy sapling, propagated from a limb of the “Seattle 


’ Acknowledgment is made to Beryl G. Gardner, assistant editor, and Melissa Speer, 
assistant librarian, Forest Service, for assistance with reference material, to donors of 
photographs used herein, and to others who have offered helpful criticisms in the compila- 
tion of this publication. 


FAMOUS TREES 3 


offspring, was set out in the university’s botanical gardens in April 
1930 to replace the Cambridge ancestor when the park department 
of that city is ready to receive it. 

Cogswell Maple. New Preston, Litchfield, Conn. This is said to 
be the largest maple in Comnecticut. The house which stands in its 
shade was once an inn where George Washington was entertained 
on one of his trips to Connecticut. 


F—321126 
FIGURE 1.—WASHINGTON ELM, OPPOSITE THE EAST ENTRANCE TO THE SENATE 
WING, UNITED STATES CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


The Great Elm, at Palmer, Mass., from the shade of which Wash- 
ington addressed his troops 3 days before he took command of the 
Continental Army at Cambridge, July a Ay. 

White oak, Gaylordsville, Conn., under whose shade tradition says 
George Washington held council When on his w ay to Hartford in 
September 1780. This tree stands near the Shagticoke Trail. It is 
owned by the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution, 
who are caring for it. Incidentally, in 1932 Connecticut D. A. R.’s 


4 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 8S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


alone planted more than 6,000 trees at scattered points in the State 
in honor of the Father of his Country. 

Elm near Washington’s headquarters at Valley Forge. Beneath 
this tree there is a marker which bears the following inscription: 

This elm, a scion of a tree planted by George Washington, was brought here 
and planted in December 1888 by the State Secretary of the Patriotic Order 
of Sons of America. 

Washington Ball Walnut, Maplewood, N. J. Historic walnut on 
Ridgewood Road, planted beside the Timothy Ball house at the time 
it was built, in 1743. Here Washington frequently visited his Ball 
relatives while headquartering at Morristown. On such visits, accord- 
ing to tradition, he tied his horse to an iron ring attached to this tree. 
This tree is also referred to by George W. Clark, a great grandson 
of Timothy Ball, as a tree of tremendous size and as a dividing line 
between the congregations of the Presbyterian Churches, one at 
Orange and the “other at Springfield, N. J., those on the south 
attending one church and those on the north, the other. 

W ashington Friendship Tree (horsechestnut) at Bath, Pa. This 
tree is said to be a memorial to the friendship existing between 
Gen. George Washington and Gen. Robert Brown in Revolutionary 
days. On one of General Brown’s visits to Mount Vernon, when 
peace had come, Washington dug from his garden two young ’ horse- 
chestnuts and presented them to his friend, who carried the saplings 
on horseback over the mountains into the hills of Pennsylvania, 
where they were planted at the home of General Brown at Bath. 
Only one of the trees is alive today (fig. 2). 

Ww ashington Live Oak at Charleston, S. C. Washington visited 
Charleston in 1791, and here, so the story goes, was an honored 
breakfast guest in the beautiful plantation home of the distinguished 
Pinckney ‘family. He heard the mistress of the household order 
her gardener to cut down the large oak which obstructed the view 
from the new portico. Washington, great tree lover that he was, 
expressed the wish that the tree be spared. It was. 

Other presidents were known for their interest in trees. 

John Quincy Adams was known as “the tree-planting Mr. Adams.” 
Thomas Jefferson was a well- known tree lover and tree planter. 
There is a “President’s grove” at Fremont, Ohio, the home of Ruther- 
ford B. Hayes, nineteenth President of the United States, many of 
the trees having been christened by former Presidents at times when 
they visited the park. There are many General Grant trees in the 
world, planted in his honor during his trip around the world. 
Theodore Roosevelt is perhaps best known as “the great conserva- 
tionist” because of his interest in wise use of the forests and other 
resources. 

Among well known trees of the Presidents are: 

The John Quincy Adams Elm (fig. 3), on the White House grounds 
near the east entrance, Washington, D. C., planted during the admin- 
istration of President J ohn Quiney Adams. 

At Wheatland, near Lancaster, Pa., the beautiful and carefully 
preserved estate of James Buchanan, fifteenth President of the 
United States, there are a number of fine old trees, notably a beautiful 
old beech (fig. 4). Wheatland is open to the "public as a shrine 


FAMOUS TREES 


FIGURE 2.—WASHINGTON FRIENDSHIP TREE, BATH, PA. 


F—320334 


6 MISG. PUBLICATION 295, U. S> DEPT. OF AGRICUETURE 


egies Toate 
ere et 


FIGURE 3.—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS ELM ON THE WHITE HOUSE GROUNDS NEAR THE 
EAST ENTRANCE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


of historic interest. (This story and the picture were contributed 
by W. E. Weisgerber, Franklin and Marshall College. Lancaster, Pa. ) 

Grant Elm, Woodstock, Conn., planted by President Grant, July 4 
1870, on the lawn in front of the Woodstock Academy. 

Elm from Grant’s farm, near St. Louis, Mo., planted near his tomb 
on Riverside Drive, New York City. 

Scarlet oak planted by Mary Lodge McKee, granddaughter of 
President Benjamin Harrison, on the White House lawn, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Famous Indiana Oak, Lafayette, Ind., under which Wiliam Henry 
Harrison once camped for the night while on a momentous journey. 


FAMOUS TREES 7 


Cottonwood near the State capitol, Topeka, Kans., under which 
Harrison, McKinley, and Taft made campaign speeches. 

The Oak of Two Presidents. William Henr y and Benjamin Har- 
rison, in Hamilton County, Ohio, neighbor of the cabin famous in 
the Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign and as the birthplace of 
the second President Harrison. 


FIGURE 4.—FINE OLD BEECH AT WHEATLAND, HOME OF PRESIDENT BUCHANAN. 
NEAR LANCASTER, PA. 


The Hayes Elm, planted by President Hayes on the White House 
grounds, 

Six tall hickory trees flanking the tomb of Andrew Jackson and his 
wife, Rachel, at the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tenn. 


8 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


Magnohas brought from the Hermitage and planted by President 
aie aCcon on the W hite House grounds in honor of Rachel, shortly 
after her death. “Something green—in her memory,” as he said 
(fig. 5). 

Jefferson Pecans at Mount Vernon, Va. (front cover). Thomas 
Jefferson and George Washington were kindred spirits in their love 
of trees. The two pecan trees on the lawn southeast and east of the 
mansion at Mount Vernon are an outstanding illustration of this 
congeniality. They were grown from nuts given to Washington by 
Jefferson and planted by the former on March 25, Vt: They are 
the oldest trees now standing on the estate. 


F—321116 
FIGURE 5.—MAGNOLIAS PLANTED BY PRESIDENT JACKSON ON THE WHITE HOUSE 
GROUNDS, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


The Jefferson Pecan in the Georgetown Convent grounds, District 
of Columbia, grown from a nut given by Jefferson to the former 
owner. 


The Lincoln Oak, on the Rock Spring Farm, Lincoln’s birthplace, 
at Hodgenville, Ky. 

The Lincoln Oak, southern red oak (Quercus rubra L.), in Rock- 
port, county seat of Spencer County, i This splendid oak stands 


FAMOUS TREES 9 


a short distance from the point on the Ohio River at which Abraham 
Lincoln, at the age of 19, embarked on the first great adventure of 
his life, going with Allen Gentry on a flatboat to New Orleans to 
market the Gentry produce. 

The Lincoln Elm, in the northern part of Spencer County, Ind., 
in the State park where Lincoln’s mother is buried. 

The Lincoln Memorial Hackberry, Decorah, Iowa, was planted in 
memory of Abraham Lincoln by John Finn on April 27, 1865, the 
day that Governor Stone of Iowa set aside as a day of mourning ior 
Lincoln. On that day Finn went into the woods, found a small 
hackberry tree, and transplanted it to the parking on the street in 
front of his home. It has grown to be one of the most magnificent 
trees in Iowa. 

Lincoln Oak, Litchfield, Conn. This oak was grown from an acorn 
from a tree at Lincoln’s grave in Springfield, Hl. It was planted 
in front of the library as part of the bicentennial celebration of the 
town in 1920. 

McKinley Elm, Woodstock, Conn. This tree was planted in Rose- 
land Park in 1897 in honor of President McKinley. 

McKinley Oak, Litchfield, Conn., planted in East Park by Mary 
Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., in memory of President Mc- 
Kinley, who was a great lover of trees. 

McKinley Scarlet Oak, planted near walk leading to Executive 
Offices of the White House, Washington, in 1898. 

The Monroe Pine, at Ashlawn, near Charlottesville, Va. This 
great red pine was brought from France by President Monroe and 
planted in the center of his garden. 

The Monroe Black Walnut, campus of University of Virginia, 
Charlottesville, near the building which was the home of the fifth 
President of the United States before he moved to Ashlawn. 

The Russo-American Oak, planted on the White House grounds, 
Washington, by Theodore Roosevelt, is from an acorn of an oak 
growing near Peterhof, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which, im 
its turn, was from an acorn of an oak that shaded the tomb of Wash- 
ington. United States Ambassador Hitchcock brought the Peterhof 
acorn from Russia, now the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 

Roosevelt Oak, East Haven, Conn. This tree, presented by Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, while President, was planted on Arbor Day, May 1, 
1908, to mark the site where General Lafayette encamped on the 
green. 

A Scotch elm, which is located near the hospital of Michigan State 
College, Kast Lansing, was planted by President Theodore Roosevelt 
in June 1907, in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of this 
institution. ; 

Lafayette was so loved and admired in this country as a friend 
of the Colonies, of the young Republic, and of its first President, 
that many landmarks associated with him are found in the East. 
Lafayette trees include: 

Lafayette Elm in Kennebunk, Maine, and one near Ware, Mass. 

The Lafayette Swamp Bay in front of Nelson House at York- 
town, Va., which Lafayette is reported to have planted. 

Lafayette White Oak, near Bradley House, Southington, Conn., 
meeting place of Lafayette with his troops, while on his way to meet 
Washington’s army. 


10 MISC: PUBLICATION, 295, U.S. DERITOE AGCRIGUREURE 


F—321102 
FIGURE 6.—GENERAL LAFAYETTE TREE (BALSAM POPLAR), ON HAMILTON STREET, 
ROUTE 20, JUST WEST OF GENEVA, N. Y. 


Lafayette, or Geneva Century Balsam Poplar, on Hamilton Street, 
Route 20, just west of Geneva, N. Y. This tree (fig. 6) shades the 
spot to which the militia and citizens of Geneva came to welcome 
General Lafayette on the occasion of his visit to that city on June 
8, 1825. A tablet has been erected at the base of the tree by the 
ae a Chapter, D. A. R. (See Trees notable for unusual size or 
AE 89. ) 

pore ette Sycamore, near Baltimore Pike, on a hill 200 yards east 
of the Brandywine Baptist Church, near Chadds Ford, Delaware 


FAMOUS TREES ll 


County, Pa.. is close to the house occupied by General Lafayette 
as his headquarters before the Battle of the Brandywine, September 
10 and 11, 1777 

Trees intimately associated with other famous people include the 


following: 
CALIFORNIA 


Sir Joseph Hooker Oak, at Chico, named for the famous English 
botanist, who pronounced it “the largest oak in the world.” In 
reality it 1s only among the largest. (See Trees notable for unusual 
size or age, p. 69.) 

Kit Carson Tree (juniper), which stood at the summit of Carson 
Pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This tree has been cut 
down, but the section bearing Carson’s name is preserved at Sutter’s 
Fort, Sacramento. Kit Carson, American hunter and scout, accom- 
pamied John C. Fremont on expeditions, took part in the Mexican 
War, and as Indian agent for many years at Taos, N. Mex., exercised 
a restraining influence over the warlike Apaches and other tribes. 
During the Civil War he rendered valuable aid to the Federal cause 
in the Southwest. Often called “the Nestor of the Recky Mountains,” 
Kit Carson occupied, in the later period of American pioneer history. 
a position somewhat similar to that held by Daniel Boone earlier. 
as the typical frontier hero and Indian fighter. 

The Peter Lassen Pine, about 5 miles southeast of Susanville. 
close to which, the story goes, Peter Lassen was killed by Indians. 


CONNECTICUT 


Calhoun Elm, Litchfield. John C. Calhoun, South Carolina states- 
man, planted this tree on Prospect Street, when he was a student at 
the Litchfield Law School, the first law school in the United States. 

Colvorcoresses Oak, Litchfield. This tree was planted in East Park 
in commemoration of the return of Rear Admiral George P. Col- 
voreoresses from the Battle of Mamla Bay (May 1, 1898), where 
he was executive officer on Admiral Dewey’s flagship. 

Sarah Whitman Hooker Elm, West Hartford. This elm was 
planted in front of the house which came into possession of the 
Hookers in 1773, by_a slave of the Hooker family who was later 
given his freedom. It is one of the largest elms in the State. 

Napoleon Willow Grandchild, Fairfield. A willow, which became 
a favorite of Napoleon, had been planted on St. Helena by the 
governor of the island. Captain Sheffield, of Fairfield, once visited 
St. Helena and brought home several willow cuttings. One grew 
into a beautiful big tree but was blown down in a thunderstorm in 
1901. The present willow came from a cutting of the Sheffield tree 
and is therefore a grandchild of the St. Helena willow. It stands on 
the property of Egbert Hadley, Harbor Road, Southport. 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


The Cameron Elm, an American elm, south of the House wing of 
the United States Capitol, named for United States Senator Cameron, 
who pleaded for its life when it was about to be removed in the 


laying of the curb (fig. 7). 


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FAMOUS TREES 13 


Maple planted in memory of Juhette Low, founder of the Girl 
Scouts of America, at Eighteenth Street and New York Avenue, NW, 
Washington, D. C., by the Girl Scouts of the District of Columbia. 

J. Sterling Morton Elm, United States Capitol Grounds, planted 
in memory of the founder of Arbor Day, by Chief Forester R. Y. 
Stuart, in 1932. Another living memorial to J. Sterling Morton is 
an elm planted by the Nebraska Society at 1214 Sixteenth Street, NW, 
Washington, D. C., headquarters of the American Tree Association. 


IOWA 


Buffalo Bill Elm. Near the old river town of LeClaire, in the 
shade of this tree, William F. Cody played when a boy. This elm 
is known also as the “Green Tree Hotel”, because it was the rendez- 
vous of river men who came to LeClaire in search of employment. 
In its grateful shade they congregated, cooked their meals, and spread 
their blankets, making its shelter their home in time of unemploy- 


ment. 
KANSAS 


The Custer Elm, at Council Grove, under which General Custer 
camped one night in 1867, while on his way with his famous Seventh 
Cavalry to quell an Indian uprising along the old Santa Fe Trail. 

Kat Carson Elm, near Halstead on the bank of Black Kettle Creek, 
served as a marker for the Arapahoe and Osage Indian hunters. It 
was here that Kit Carson and his band of pioneers, camping for the 
night, were surprised by the Comanche Indians. 


MARYLAND 


The Clara Barton Centennial Oak, at Glen Echo, was planted by 
a representative of the American Forestry Association, Easter Sun- 
day in 1922, in front of the house where the founder of the American 
Red Cross died on Easter Sunday 1912. Clara Barton was born on 
Christmas Day, 1821, in Massachusetts. 

NEW YORK 

Friendship Elm (American elm), planted in 1860 on the Mall in 
Central Park, New York City, by King Edward VII, then Prince 
of Wales. 

Friendship Elm (English elm), planted by the Duke of Windsor, 
then Prince of Wales, in Central Park, New York City, in 1920. It 
is 100 feet from the spot where his grandfather planted an American 
elm in 1860. 

European green beech planted by the Queen of the Belgians, in 
Central Park, New York City, in 1919, as a token of Belgium’s 
enduring affection for the people of the United States. 

The W ayne Black Walnut, or Black Walnut of Stony Point, takes 
its name from association with Mad Anthony Wayne, Revolutionary 
hero, and its location at Stony Point, N. Y. Also, the belef has 
been handed down that, under this old walnut tree, the patriots of 
Stony Point were paid by Washington after the battle. There seems 
to be no reason to doubt that the tree was there at the time, and 
the shade of its branches must have made the spot most fitting for 
such an occasion on a hot July day (7/, pp &§2-83)- 


2 Italic numbers in parentheses refer to Literature cited, pp. 111-115. 


14 MISC. PUBLICATION 295; U. Ss DEPX. OF AGRICUL U RD 


NORTH CAROLINA 
Blackboard’s (Teach’s) Oak, at Oriental, associated with that dar- 
ing pirate, Edward Teach. 
PENNSYLVANIA 
John Bartrain’s Cypress, brought in his saddlebag from a Florida 
swamp to the botanical garden near Philadelphia. 


FIGURE 8.—JOHN GOODWAY SYCAMORE, NEAR THE SITE OF FORT GILCHRIST, OF 
REVOLUTIONARY TIMES, 2 MILES WEST OF LINGLESTOWN, PA. (COURTESY OF 
C. A. REED, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY.) 


The John Goodway Sycamore (fig. 8), near the site of Fort Guil- 
christ of Revolutionary times, 2 miles west of Linglestown, Dauphin 
County, associated with John Goodway, last of the friendly Indians 


FAMOUS TREES 15 


in the region about Harrisburg. (See Trees notable for unusual size 
or age, p. 93.) 

Tradition has it that a grove of giant hemlocks at Stenton, Ger- 
mantown, once the country place of James Logan, William Penn’s 
secretary, was planted by Penn himself. This tradition has not been 
authenticated, but the trees are very old (S2). 


TEXAS 


Davy Crockett Tree, an ancient oak at Crockett, under which Davy 
Crockett 1s said to have camped during his journey from the States 
to assist Texas in its struggle for freedom from Mexican rule. Not 
long after he camped there he met death in the historic battle of the 
Alamo. 


FIGURE 9.—NUT TREES PLANTED AT THE GRAVE OF GOVERNOR HOGG, IN AUSTIN, 
TEX... IN COMPLIANCE WITH HIS DEATHBED REQUEST THAT SUCH A MONUMENT 
RATHER THAN ONE OF STONE BE ERECTED TO HIM. (COURTESY OF C. A. REED, 
BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY.) 


The Governor Hogg Pecan (fig. 9). The governor’s last wish was 
that “no monument of stone or marble” be placed at his grave, but 
instead that there be planted— 
at my head a pecan tree and at my feet an old fashioned walnut; and when 
these trees shall bear, let the pecans and walnuts be given out among the plains 
people of Texas so that they may plant them and make Texas a land of trees. 


His wish is being carried out. The first nuts were saved in 1926 
and planted at College Station. Each year since, the nuts have been 
gathered and planted in nursery rows. As soon as the young trees 
become large enough to transplant, they are dug up and distributed, 
one each, first to county high schools, next to other high schools, and 
last to county boards for planting on courthouse lawns. 

_-The Sam Houston Pecan Tree. Under this famous tree, standing 
in the well-kept yard of Sam Houston’s old home at Huntsville. 


16 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


General Houston smoked the peace pipe with his Indian friends “and 
with his ‘paleface’ comrades planned many a political campaign.” 
J. L. Clark, Sam Houston State Teachers College, Huntsville, advises 
that nuts or seedlings from this tree may be had for planting on school 
grounds, in parks, and in other appropriate places. ane 
Santa Anna’s Surrender Tree, immortalized in a noted painting, is 
the oak under which Gen. Sam Houston lay wounded after the battle 
of San Jacinto (Apr. 21, 1836) when the captive Mexican General 
Santa Anna was brought before him. Beneath this tree today stands a 
oranite marker, a gift of San Jacinto Chapter of the Daughters of 
the Republic of Texas in commemoration of that eventful surrender. 


VIRGINIA 


The Clay Oak, Hanover County, a post oak to which the “Millboy 
ot the Slashes,” Henry Clay, tied his horse when sent on errands to a 
mill near his birthplace in a district called “the Slashes’—hence the 
sobriquet. The oak bears a marker to this effect. Though nearly 150 
years have passed, the ruins of the dam at the site of the old mil! may 
still be seen. The ground is now occupied by the plant of the Ashland 
Lumber Co. and may be reached by turning west at the Ash Cake 
Inn on the Richmond-Washington Highway (48, p. 4). 

Stratford Horsechestnut, Stratford-on-the-Potomac, family home 
of the Lees, mentioned in Gen. Robert E. Lee’s diary as having been 
planted by his mother, Anne Carter Lee. 

Maury Walnut (black), Fredericksburg, proudly spreads its 
branches over the home of the “Pathfinder of the Seas,” Matthew Fon- 
taine Maury. (See also Trees that have had special protection, 
Ds 095) 

The Martha Custis Yew, at Williamsburg, an English yew, which 
tradition claims was planted by Martha Custis while still the wife of 
Daniel Parke Custis. It is in the park area of the Eastern State Hos- 
pital (58, p. 27). 


WISCONSIN 


“The Forest of Fame,” in Mount Vernon, Wis., was started in 1916 
by the late John Sweet Donald, one-time Secretary of State and pro- 
fessor of agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin. 
Within the forest boundaries are trees from birthplaces of former 
Presidents of the United States, famous generals of the world, and 
personages associated with religion, science, music, agriculture, com- 
merce. While Professor Donald was Secretary of State he began the 
Forest of Fame by purchasing a field which had once been a beautiful 
forest and planting therein trees from George Washington’s Mount 
Vernon estate. The first trees were planted on Arbor Day, 1916. 


TREES ASSOCIATED WITH THE BUILDING OF THE NATION 


If a contest were to be held in the naming of the three best-known 
trees associated with the early history of our country, it is likely that 
the winners would be as follows: 

The Penn Treaty Elm, at Shackamaxon, Pa., which is now in the 
Kensington section of Philadelphia, memorable as the place where 
William Penn concluded his famous treaty with the Indians in 1682. 


FAMOUS TREES MW. 


The elm was nearly 300 years old when felled by a storm in 1810. It 
is perpetuated to the fourth generation, there being seven of its 
descendants growing in one place, the campus of Haverford College, 
Haverford, Montgomery Co., Pa. 

The Charter Oak, einetond. Conn., which stood in front of Gov- 
erhor Wyllys’ mansion, built in 1688. The charter of the Connecti- 
cut Colony, granted by King Charles II in 1662, is supposed to have 
been hidden in the oak by a patriot when Sir Edmund Andros de- 
manded its surrender in 1687, at the command of King James II. 
The charter served Connecticut as a constitution from 1662 to 1816 
and conveyed to the colony all the land “from the said Narragansett 
Bay on the east to the South Sea on the west.” The tree blew down 
in a light gale on August 21, 1856. The hole which concealed the 
charter had been enlarged enough to hold 25 men. Pieces of the 
wood were made into gavels, picture frames, and even chairs, one of 
which stands in the senate chamber of the State capitol. 

A seedling of the Charter Oak stands in the Israel Putnam 
Memorial Camp Ground, Redding, Conn. A marker near it reads: 


Charter Oak. “A chip off the old block.” This tree sprang from an acorn 
of the famous Charter Oak of Hartford in which the charter of Connecticut 
was hidden when Sir Edmund Andros, the royal governor, threatened the 
liberties of the people. 


There is another descendant of the Charter Oak, in Bushnell Park, 
Hartford, and numerous other descendents may be found in Con- 
necticut. One was planted near the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, 
D. C., by a president of the Kiwanis International. 

The Cambridge Elm, under whose branches General Washington 
took command of the Continental Army on July 3, 1775. One 
writer says of it: 

This tree, probably the most famous of American elms, was undoubtedly 


of the original forest growth, and was in its maximum glory when the American 
Revolutionary leaders met under its branches. 


October 27, 1923 (by coincidence the birthday anniversary of 
Theodore Roosevelt), witnessed the fall of this great American tree, 
estimated to be 204 years old at the time. Many of its descendants 
have been planted throughout the country to perpetuate its fame. 
(See Washington Elm Grandchild, and other descendants of Wash- 
ington (Cambridge) Elm, Trees associated with notable people, 
pp. 2 and 3.) 

In addition to these well-known tree veterans, which have gone 
their way but whose descendants perpetuate the name, there are 
others in the same class that should be better known than they are. 
Among these are the following: 


ARKANSAS 


The Arkansas Council Oak, at Dardanella, under which an im- 
portant treaty between the Indians and the whites was hegotiated, 
relative to the adjustment of territorial boundaries (fig. 10), 

Liberty Tree, a memorial maple planted at Arkadelphia, by the 
Daughters of the American Revolution, in soil brought from many 
parts of the world. 


165233 °—39 


» 


18 MISC: PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


FIGURE 10.—THE ARKANSAS COUNCIL OAK. AT DARDANELLA, ARK. 


CALIFORNIA 


Fremont Oak, near Alameda, under which Captaim Fremont 
camped with 62 men, including 5 Delaware Indians and_ the 
redoubtable Kit Carson. 

Hangman’s Tree, in the old nuining town, Second Garrote, near 
Groveland, Tuolumne County, said to owe its name to its misshapen 
ugliness. Groveland was first called First Garrote because a man 
was garroted there. 

The Junipero or Vizcanio-Serra Oak, which stood near the gateway 
of the Presidio of Monterey. Under it the ceremony of taking pos- 
session of California for Spain was enacted. The tree was named 
for Padre Junipero Serra, leader of the Franciscans who established 


FAMOUS TREES 19 


and maintained the chain of missions along the Pacific coast, who 
performed the ceremony of transferring C alifornia. The tree died in 
1905, but the trunk is preserved in the rear of the mission church of 
San Carlos de Monterey. 

Kit Carson Juniper. (See Trees associated with other famous 
people, p. 11.) 

The Sailor’s Sycamore (Platanus racemosa), at the corner of Milpas 
and Quinientos Streets, Santa Barbara, was, according to tradition, 
used as early as 1800 by sailing masters to sight their anchor age as 
they came into port. It has been preserved through the efforts of the 
Daughters of the American Revolution. 

The Tr eaty of Capitulation Oak, at Verdugo, is a landmark of the 
old Spanish days. Under or near it was sioned the treaty of capitu- 
lation between the Americans and Spanish ¢ on January 13, 1847. 


CGN NECTICUT 


1812 Elms, Litchfield. These trees were planted by soldiers sta- 
tioned at the former Cables place during the War of 1812. They are 
found on the continuation of West Street. 

Oliver Ellsworth Elms, Windsor. It was a custom during the 
period just after the American Revolution to plant 13 trees to com- 
memorate the original colonies. Oliver Ellsworth, one of the fram- 
ers of the Constitution and member from Connecticut of the first 
United States Congress, planted 13 elms at his home in Windsor, of 
which only 2 remain. The Ellsworth homestead, buiit about 1740 
on land bought by the Ellsworths in 1665, remained in the possession 
of the family until 1903, when the descendants of Oliver Ellsworth 
presented the property to the Connecticut Daughters of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. The house was named Elmwood from the elms 
which Oliver Ellsworth planted and named for the original colonies. 

Revolutionary Elm, Redding, near the center of Fairfield County. 
Near this elm stood the home of Widow Sanfor d, where Continental 
officers banqueted in 1779. 

The Sentinel Elm, Sharon, near western border of Litchfield 
County. The Sentinel Elm is so called because it stands near the old 
stone house in Gay Street, which, tradition has it, was used as a hid- 
ing place for arms and ammunition during the American Revolution. 

Signpost Elm, Litchfield. This elm was used as the town signpost 
for many years after the settlement of Litchfield in 1720. 

South Windsor Elms, tradition has it, were planted by British 
soldiers who were interned there dur ing the Revolution. 

Whipping-Post Elm, Litenfield. This tr ee, standing at the corner 
of North and West Streets, near the county jail, was used as a whip- 
ping post as late as 1815. When official whippings took place, the 
tree was small enough so that the culprit’s arms stretched around it 
and his hands were tied together. It now has a circumference of 11 
feet 9 inches at breast height. 

Woodstock Elms, about the Revolutionary Smith Tavern, where the 
last slaves kept in Woodstock died. 

Bolleswood Hemlocks, New London. Bolleswood was deeded to 
Thomas Bolles of New London by Owaneco, Sachem of the Mohegan 
Indians, in 1693. A short time ago the estate was given to Connecti- 
cut College as a part of its arboretum. It has remained practically 


20 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 8S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


untouched since the days when the Indians held council there, and it 
contains a grove of ancient hemlocks, some of which are 450 years old. 

Mulberry tree, Guilford. In 1760 half an ounce of mulberry seed was 
sent to each parish in the colony to encourage the raising of silk worms. 
A number of these trees in Guilford gave Mulberry Point its name. 

The Connecticut Constitutional Oaks were presented by the late 
Senator Joseph R. Hawley, of Hartford, to each delegate of the 
Constitutional Convention of Connecticut in 1902. He requested 
them to plant these trees in their respective towns as a reminder of 
the purposes of the convention and of the friendships made during 
the session. The State hbrarian made inquiries in 1927 regarding 
the fate of the 168 trees that were planted and received 105° replies 
indicating 69 living, 14 dead, and 22 unrecorded. The trees are not, 
as many suppose, seedlings of the Charter Oak. They are all red 
oaks, while the Charter Oak was a fine specimen of white oak. 

1812 White Oak, East Glastonbury. According to tradition, this 
white oak on the New London turnpike was used as a target by 
American soldiers in 1812 when they marched to New London. Also, 
under it the evangelist Whitfield preached. 

White Oak, Gaylordsville. (See Trees associated with notable 
people, p. 3.) 7 

Great Oak, Double Beach, Branford. This huge old tree was a 
landmark and council tree at the time of the settlement of Bran- 
ford, in 1640. 

Oldest Inhabitant, Fairfield. An oak standing on Greenfield Hill, 
above the Pequot swamp, has this title. It sheltered first the red 
men and then the white settlers. In 1778 a band of Redcoats en- 

camped under this oak and made their plans to destroy the village. 
Tn 1790 the ministers of the established religion in C onnecticut met 
with Timothy Dwight in this place. 

Primeval Oak, Litchfield. This tree is said to be a primeval oak; 
under it the last bear roaming at large in Litchfield was killed. 

Revolutionary Oak, Litchfield. This oak was planted in East Park 
by the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., in memory ot 
Litchfield’s Revolutionary soldiers. 

Westport Oak, Fairfield County. This oak stands at the corner 
of Compo Road and Gorham Avenue on the route taken by the 

British on their march to Danbury. This march took place bet ween 
April 25 and 28, 1777, when General Tryon raided many places in 
and near Danbury. 

Hale Pear Tree, South Coventry. This tree, which is still bearing 
fruit, was planted about 1750 by Richard Hale, father of Nathan 
Hale, the American spy who was hanged by the British on Septem- 
ber 22, 1776. 

Connecticut Sycamore, Litchfield. This tree stands in front of the 
Catholic Church and is the last of 13 sycamores planted by Oliver 
Wolcott and named for the original colonies. This is the one named 
for Connecticut. Oliver Wolcott was a signer of the Declaration of 
page pen cence and a Governor of Connecticut. 

1812 Sycamore, Fairfield. In 1915 a peace feast was held in Fair- 
field, and an ox was barbecued under this tree. This sycamore is 
still standing and is in a flourishing condition. 

Re volutionary Sycamore, Danbury. This sycamore was standing 
at the time of the settlement of Danbury in’1685 and marked the 


FAMOUS TREES 91 


west boundary of the town on Wooster Street. It was on the line of 
retreat of the British to Ridgefield after they had burned Danbury. 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


Signal Station Cherry Tree, in center of Fort Stevens Park on 
Georgia Avenue, Washington. Near this tree President Lincoln 
watched the battle of Fort Stevens, when the Confederates under 
Gen. Jubal A. Early threatened the city of Washington in June 1864. 
Beneath this tree are many white markers of the graves of soldiers 
who fell there. 

Treaty Oak in the old Dean estate on Temple Heights, at the inter- 
section of Florida and Connecticut Avenues, Washington, D. C. (fig. 
11). Under this tree Chief Mannacasset, of the Anacostan Indian 


F—321125 
FIGURE 11.—THE TREATY OAK, TEMPLE HEIGHTS. AT FLORIDA AND CONNECTICUT 
AVENUES, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


22, MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DERE. OF AGRICULZURE 


Tribe, had his wigwam and negotiated many treaties with other 
tribes and with the “white men. 

Tradition has it that among the many captives taken by Mannacas- 
set were a young mother and her daughter. The chief spared their 
lives but sent forth a decree that under penalty of death the woman 
must not wander beyond the shade of the oak which overspread the 
hut in which she lived. 

Shortly after the death of Mannacasset the treaty for the purchase 
from the Indians of the site, which is now within the National Capi- 
tal, was signed beneath the branches of this majestic oak. Several 
homes were offered the captive, but she preferred to remain beneath 
the shelter of the sedy oak. In appreciation of her sufferings, a 
tract of ground 1714 acres in extent was assigned to her as “ “The 
Widow’s Mite,” and to this day, this property (ineluding also several 
blocks adjacent) traces its deeds to the “Widow’s Mite.” 

Lincoln Oak. A white oak, just off the Bladensburg Road and 
inside the District line at Fort Lincoln, marks the site of the Battle 
of Bladensburg in 1814, where troops from the city of Washington 
awaited the British. Abraham Lincoln when President, visited the 
fortifications and drank from the spring beneath the tree. Ten feet 
away from the tree is the springhouse, and a little more than 25 feet 
trom its door begin the breastworks of Fort Lincoln. This tree has 
five or six main limbs, one so large it appears as if the trunk itself 
had decided to change its course. From these main limbs, 20 lesser 
branches grow and spread (fig. 12). 

Glebe Oak, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D. C. (See Trees 
associated with religion, p. 51, also fig. 25.) 


FLORIDA 


De Soto Oak, in the grounds of the Tampa Bay Hotel. De Soto, 
who became governor of Florida in 1539, is said to have been very 
fond of this oak, and in its shade he is beheved to have made a treaty 
with the Indians. More than 350 years later, during the Spanish- 
American War, Gen. Nelson A. Miles made his headquarters beneath 
the branches of this venerable tree. 

Santa Rosa Live Oak Grove, 30,000 acres on and near Pensacola 
Bay, set aside as a forest reserve by the United States Navy Depart- 
ment in 1827 for the supply of ship timbers, under an act authorizing 
“proper measures to preserve the live oak timber growing on the 
lands of the United States,” etc. A small part of the ‘original “forest 
reserve” is still owned by the United States Government as a naval 
reservation. 

GEORGIA 


Great live oaks on St. Catherine’s Island, coast of Georgia, first 
national naval forest, purchased by the Government in 1799. The 
timber in Old Ivronsides was largely from St. Catherine’s. 

Treaty Poplar of Indian Springs, Butts County, a monument to 
two famous treaties made in the immediate neighborhood between 
the United States and the Indians. 


FAMOUS TRIES 23 


F-321124 


FIGURE 12.—LINCOLN OAK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
IDAHO 


Mullan Tree (western white pine) in the Coeur d’Alene National 
Forest, bears the inscription, “MR July 4, 1861,” a marker for the 
military road to the building of which Captain Mullan was assigned. 
From the date, the canyon which the road followed received its 
name, “Fourth of July Canyon.” It is known to all who travel 
the Yellowstone Trail (fig. 13). 


ILLINOIS 
Indian trail trees. 


Back and forth across the vast extent of the United States, there once existed 
a great network of Indian trails. Some of these were important routes of 
travel, linking trade centers of the various tribes. Others were hunting trails, 


94 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 


S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


FIGURE 13.—THE MULLAN TREE (WESTERN WHITE PINE), ON THE COEUR D’ALENE 
NATIONAL FOREST, IDAHO. 


fresh-water trails, or trails of raiding and warring parties. As time moved 
on, the tread of the soft moccasined feet gave way to the rumble of wagon 
wheels, and these in turn to the gleaming rails and concrete roads of modern 
streamlined train and motor traffic. 

3irch-bark canoes no longer line the banks of the Mississippi. The Indian 
campfire has given way to the smokestack. Where once the red man pitched 
his wigwam, there rise tall apartment houses of steel and stone. The warwhoop 
of the aborigine has been replaced by the auto siren and the shrill whistle of 
the lightning express train. But as the stone age was transformed into the 
machine age, a few remnants of the past remained standing in the shape of 
old Indian trail trees dutifully pointing out the direction of former routes now 
followed by the super-highways of the white man. 

Indian trail trees are still growing throughout the Mississippi Valley region 
and in the eastern and southern United States. ‘They are most common, 
however, in Cook and Lake Counties, Ill., north of Chicago (49, 50) (Fig. 14). 


ae 


FAMOUS TREES 25 


F—-336323 


FIGURE 14.—A, INDIAN TRAIL TREE MONUMENT PLACED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF 


THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, AT EVANSTON, ILL., INSCRIBED: ““‘THIS RED OAK 
WAS A POTTAWATOMIE TRAIL TREE WHICH GREW ON GREEN BAY TRAIL IMME- 
DIATELY WEST OF CALVARY STATION WHERE IT POINTED TO A LARGE INDIAN 
VILLAGE LOCATED ON AND EAST OF THE SITE OF BOWMANVILLE.’’ B, THIS TRAIL 
TREE HAS TAKEN ROOT AT A POINT OF SECONDARY CONTACT WITH THE GROUND 
AND HAS CONTINUED GROWING WITH TWO SETS OF ROOTS. IT IS A WHITE OAK 
AT HIGHLAND PARK, ILL. (COURTESY OF AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION.) 


26 MISG. PUBLIGATION 295, Us-S: DEPT.-OF AGRICULTURE 


INDIANA 


Miami Apple Tree, near the city of Fort Wayne, at the junction 
of St. Marys and St. Josephs Rivers, marks the site of the most noted 
village of the Miami Tribe of Indians. 

Constitutional Elm, Corydon, beneath which on June 10, 1816, 
members of the constitutional convention met to deliberate upon the 
articles of the organic law to be adopted for the government of the 
new State of Indiana. It is protected by the citizens of Corydon as 
one of Indiana’s famous historical landmarks. 


S—1207-C 
FIGURE 15.—COUNCIL OAK, AT SIOUX CITY, IOWA. (COURTESY OF THE EXTENSION 
SERVICE.) 
IOWA 


Council Oak (great bur oak) at Sioux City, believed to have been 
150 years old when Lewis and Clark saw it on their way to the 
Pacific coast and there held council with the Indians (fig. 15), 

Plow Oak, Exira, the tree that grew around a plow left leaning 
against the tree by a homesteader who went to the Civil War and 
never returned. 

Peace Tree—a sycamore—initial tree of an aboretum dedicated 
to the memory of the early pioneers, by its planter, W. H. H. Barker, 
of Harvey. , 


FAMOUS TREES D7. 


KANSAS 


Cottonwood in capitol grounds, Topeka. Mustering place for 
the Twentieth Regiment of Kansas Volunteers which made such a 
fine record in the Philippines. 

Lone Cottonwood, a well-known landmark 6 miles southwest of 
Meade. Scene of massacre of United States surveyors under Captain 
Short, by Cheyenne Indians under Chief Medicine Water, August 
24, 1874. 

Delaware and Wyandotte Maple, at Olathe, under which these 
Indian tribes made a treaty of peace. (See Trees that have had 
special protection, p. 56.) | 

Council Oak, at Council Grove, marks the place of the treaty signed 
August 10, 1825, between the United States commissioners and the 
Indians for unmolested use of the Santa Fe Trail across the Great 
Plains. 

Post Office Oak, facing the old Santa Fe Trail at Council Grove. 
A cache of stone at the base of this tree served as a post office for 
hunters, trappers, scouts, and overland travelers until 1847. 


KENTUCKY 


Famous elm at Boonesborough. Under this elm delegates gathered 
in May 1775, in response to a message sent out to the scattered settlers 
regarding the desirability of establishing some form of local gov- 
ernment and of devising measures to protect the handful of people 
living west of the Alleghenies and south of the Ohio. The fort 
was not yet completed so the meeting was held under this giant elm, 
and here the articles were agreed to for a local government. Under 
this elm, the first agreement as to the purchase of land in Kentucky 
was ratified by the House of Delegates on May 27. On May 28 the 
first recorded church service in the locality was held there, attended 
by the members of the House of Delegates and perhaps a number 
of other persons from nearby localities. This must have been an 
impressive service because all were armed against possible Indian 
attack. 

Naturalization Tree, at Camp Zachary Taylor, under whose 
branches thousands of aliens took the oath of allegiance upon being 
mustered into the ranks of the United States Army during the World 
War. 


LOUISIANA 


LaFitte Live Oak, Jefferson Parish. Named for LaFitte, the bue- 
caneer, with whom it was associated (fig. 16). 

De la Ronde Oaks, sometimes called “Pakenham Oaks,” forming a 
lovely avenue at Chalmette, some 4 miles below the city of New Or- 
leans, are associated with the Battle of New Orleans. The heaviest 
fighting occurred on parts of the Chalmette plantation. There are 
two rows—37 on one side, 38 on the other—and 1 tree out of line, a 
total of 76 trees. The rows are 100 feet apart, with a space 40 feet 
wide between the trees, for a total length of 1,800 feet. Eight of the 
trees were measured, the first two being each nearly 20 feet in circum- 
ference. 


G) PUBLICATION 295, U.S. DER OF AGRICUE MUR 


FIGURE 16.—LAFITTE LIVE OAK, JEFFERSON PARISH, LA. 


FAMOUS TREES 29 


MAINE 


King’s Pine. A magnificent white pine near Hiram, Oxford 
County, dates back to the Royal Charter of 1690 granted by William 
and Mary to the Province of Massachusetts Bay, wherein were re- 
served to their Majesties all white pine trees having a diameter of 2 
feet or more 1 foot above the ground, not on priv ately owned prem- 
ises. Similar reservations were later made by George I, Queen Anne, 
and George II. All such trees, the cutting of which was forbidden 
without a “royal license, were marked with the King’s Broad Arrow. 
The object of this royal protection was to provide material for masts 
and spars for the British Navy. 


MARYLAND 


Old Mulberry at Saint Marys City under whose branches, well- 
authenticated tradition tells us, Calvert made a treaty with the 
Yaocomicos. The first General Assembly of Maryland convened at 
Saint Marys City on February 26, 1635, under the branches of this 
iree. The first mass is believed to have been celebrated here by the 
Catholics of this little community. This tree fell in 1876, but a hand- 
some monument marks the spot where it stood. 

Royal Oak, or Tree of the Lighted Lanterns, in the little town of 
Royal Oak, west of Easton. During the War of 1812 a British ship 
came to anchor at night opposite the town of St. Michaels, Talbot 
County, a few miles from this veteran oak, and opened fire. The in- 
habitants, who were unprotected, by hanging lighted lanterns in the 
tops of the high trees, deceived the enemy into mistaking these for 
the lights of the town, with the result that the shots passed harm- 
lessly “overhead. 

Annapohs Tuliptree—Liberty Tree—Treaty Tree, a giant tulip- 
tree on the campus of historic St. John’s College, at Annapolis. It 
served as the canopy under which the colonists and Indians made a 
treaty of peace, probably the treaty agreed upon with the Susque- 
hannocks in 1652. Here, at the beginning of the Revolution, the 
patriots of Annapolis assembled, and here also the people gathered to 
celebrate peace. W ashington visited it in 1791 and Lafayette in 
1824 (10, v. 26, pp. 472-475, 22; 104). 


MASSACHUSETTS 


Old Liberty Elm, in Boston, planted by a schoolmaster long before 
the Revolution and dedicated by him to the independence of the Colo- 
nies, was a favorite meeting place of the patriots. When at last it 
fell, the bells of all the churches of the city were tolled. An imperish- 
able monument marks the spot. 

Elm by the Little Brown House, Deerfield, past which the Indians 
usually led their captives to a ford in the river and thence to the 
Mohawk Trail. 

Monroe Tavern Elm, Lexington, directly in front of the Old Mon- 
roe Tavern, where, on the day ‘of the Battle of Lexington, horses were 
tied to iron spikes. One of these spikes, over which the bark has 
not yet closed, may still be seen about 114 inches below the surface of 
the tree trunk. 


30 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


Beaman Oak, Lancaster, marks the place where Gamaliel Beaman, 
an early settler, built his house in 1659 (83, pp. 124-125; 1/05, p. 78). 

Red Oak, not far from the town square in Grafton, bears on a cop- 
per tablet, the following inscription: “Under this tree before the Old 
Tavern, patriots of the community gathered to pledge their services 
in the cause of American Independence.” 

Endicott Pear, Danvers. John Endicott, the earlest pioneer of 
the Massachusetts settlement under patent, planted this pear tree 
about 16382. 

Abolition Grove, a stand of white pine at Abington, held to be the 
place where the War between the States began, because in its shade 
speeches in the cause of abolition were delivered. 

Charlemont Buttonwood (Platanus occidentalis li.) Charlemont, 
not far from where the first pioneer settler of the town perished at 
the hands of Indians. 

Deerfield Buttonwood (Platanus occidentalis Li.) near which “in 
the Stebbins House, seven men, besides women and children, held at 
bay one hundred and forty Indians under a French officer of the line, 
for three hours.” (According to an inscription on a marker.) 


MICHIGAN 


Treaty Basswood of Grosse Ile, under whose branches, on July 6, 
1776, a treaty was signed, conveying the island to two merchants of 
Detroit, who purchased it for a little money, some blankets, and some 
tobacco. Tecumseh, “the Torch of the Northwest”, was one of the 
chiefs who signed the document. 

Republican Party Oaks, at Jackson. According to a History of 
the United States from the Compromise of 1850 (vol. 2, p. 48), by 
James Ford Rhodes: 

“In response to a call signed by several thousand leading citizens of Michigan, 
for a State mass meeting of all opposed to slavery extension, a large body of 
earnest, intelligent, and moral men came together at Jackson, Mich., on the 6th 
day of July (1854). The largest hall was not sufficient to accommodate the 
people, and, the day being bright, the convention was held in a stately grove 
in the outskirts of the village.” The story goes on to tell that among other 


momentous recommendations and resolutions, the members of this convention 
decided to be known as “Republicans.” 


Royal Oak (a white oak), on what was the Indian trail leading 
from Detroit to the village of Pontiac. It is a tradition that beneath 
this oak Chief Pontiac and representatives of another tribe had an 
unfriendly meeting. This oak has figured also as a boundary tree. 

Twin Oaks, on the western end of Juniper Hill in Walter J. Hayes 
State Park near Jackson, were probably Indian trail markers. They 
can be seen for some miles to the west and east and south, and from 
beneath their shade one sees much of the surrounding country. 


MINNESOTA 


Beech of Great Cloud Island, called by the Indians “medicine 
wood,” signifying “simply miraculous or wonderful tree.” Men- 
tioned in a journal of the Leavenworth expedition of 1819 to estab- 
lish Fort Snelling. This is the only known beech tree within the 
borders of Minnesota. 


FAMOUS TREES all 


MISSISSIPPI 


Crawford Oak at Biloxi is famous as a tree under which Indians 
roasted their oysters. Tradition also says that Jean Lafitte and his 
band of pirates buried their treasures at its roots. 

Live Oaks at Beauvoir. Beauvoir is now a home for old soldiers, 
who enjoy their shade and see that the trees are well preserved. 

Battle-Scarred Oak of Harrisburg. In its trunk a cannon ball 
was embedded during the historic Battle of Harrisburg near Tupelo. 
July 14, 1864. Confederate dead lie buried beneath its onarled 
branches. 

Two post oaks at Brices’ Cross Road. In Lee County, 5 miles 
west of Baldwyn, are two post oaks famous because a Federal 
battery was stationed between them, on June 10, 1864, when the 
Union forces under General Sturgis were defeated by the Con- 
federates under General Forrester. 

Confederate Tree. An old red oak which stands on North Lamar 
Street in Oxford, is claimed to be one of the largest, oldest, and most 
historic trees in the South. Its history dates back to 1842. As 
a small tree it served as a starting point from the town of Oxford 
after the site had been purchased from the Indians. During the 
War between the States, it is said, two of General Forrester’s 
spies hid in this tree and observed the Union Army march into the 
town. General Grant is said to have made his headquarters beneath 
its branches when the Union Army invaded the town. 


MISSOURI 


Daniel Boone’s “Judgment Tree,” an elm in the Femme Osage dis- 
trict, near which Daniel Boone held court while commandant of the 
district. 

MONTANA 


Twin Pines, Beaverhead National Forest, where Indian sharp- 
shooters are said to have been located during a battle between Nez- 
perce Indians, under Chief Joseph, and soldiers and citizens under 
General Gibbon, August 9, 1877 (fig. 17). 


NEBRASKA 


Lone Tree (cottonwood) on the north bank of the Platte River 
about 3 miles southwest of the site of Central City. Beneath its 
spreading shade, Indian chiefs are said to have held their councils. 
Lone Tree iaricli: established in the neighborhood in 1858, was named 
in honor of the old tree, and so were the post office and railroad sta- 
tion 3 miles distant. In 1865 the big cottonwood was felled by a 
violent storm. In 1911 a stone monument in the form of a cotton- 
wood stump was erected on the spot. 


NEW JERSEY 


Stockton Catalpas, Princeton, a memorial to Richard Stockton, 
the well-known signer of the Declaration of Independence, who is 
believed to have brought the trees from England in 1762. They 
are also called “Independence Trees” because they are in flower over 
the Fourth of July. 


27 MISC: PUBLICATION 295, U.S DERI OF AGRICUL: 


F—203601 
FIGURE 17.—TWIN PINES, BEAVERHEAD NATIONAL FOREST, MONT. 


NEW YORK 


Hessian Beeches, at Bay Ridge, beneath which, tradition has it, 
Hessians camped during the Revolution. 

Treaty Chestnut Tree (now dead) of Phillipse Manor, near New 
York City, which stood in plain sight from the Albany Post Road. 
Under its branches, it is believed, was signed the last treaty between 
the whites and the Wequadequeek Indians, who lived in that locality. 
(See trees associated particularly with writers and literature, p. 49.) 

Verplanck Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus (L.) Kock) 
directly in front of the historic Verplanck mansion at Fishkill-on- 
the-Hudson, occupied for some time during the Revolution by Baron 
von Steuben. This mansion was also the scene of the first meeting 
of the Society of the Cincinnati. 

Caledonia Council Elm, standing on grounds of the Caledonia 
High School, once marked the meeting place of the Iroquois Indians 
on the main trail between Albany and Niagara Falls. Many pris- 
oners of war were executed near this tree. 

Council Elm Tree, in the Johnstown cemetery, Johnstown. Under 
this tree Governor Tryon, Sir William Johnson (Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs), Josey yh Brant, and the Mohawk Indians of Lower 
Castle met in soot on July 28, 1772. Important conferences 


FAMOUS TREES 33 


between the Iroquois and Sir William Johnson were also held under 
this tree. These conferences led ue the opening of the Ohio Territory. 

Elm of Italy Hollow (71, pp. 44-45; 85, pp. 9-12). Old Indian 
council tree, near the border of the towns of Potter and Middlesex. 
Standing at the junction of several Indian trails, it furnished an 
accessible meeting place for the various tribes. 

Fort Stanwix ‘Elm Sapling, in the city of Rome, near which the 
Troquois Indians and the United States made the treaty by which 
the Indians signed over a vast portion of their lands in the West to 
the United States in 1788. This tree is one of the claimants to hav- 
ing flown the first American flag—one was flown from it on August 

7716. 

Markham Elm, on the Markham estate, 2 miles north of Avon. 
The Indians of western New York held this tree in great veneration 
and made a favorite camping ground of the spot. It also served as 
a resting place for early missionaries, scouts, and traders. 

Pioneer Elm, Ballston Lake, near which stood the log cabin of 
Michael and Patrick McDonald, first white settlers in. Saratoga 
County, 1763. 

Another “birthplace” of the Republican Party (see Republican 
Party Oaks, p. 30) is the claim of an elm at the corner of South 
Avenue and West Onondaga Street, Syracuse. There, in the early 
sixties, in what was then the garden of Vivus W. Smith, editor and 
abolitionist, assembled a noteworthy gathering, consisting of Smith 
himself, Horace Greeley, Thurlow ‘Weed, and William H. Seward, 
afterward Lincoln’s Secretary of State. These men are said there 
to have drawn up and subscribed their names to a set of principles 
that governed the beginnings of the party. 

Seneca Council Elm, near Kanandesaga (now Geneva). Besides 
sheltering the conclaves of the Seneca Indians, this old elm marked 
otherwise historic ground. Kanandesaga figured in the French and 
Indian Wars and the Revolution. During the Revolution the Seneca 
chief was Big Tree. 

Council Maple, on the old Hutchinson estate, Cayuga Lake, Cayuga, 
under which Indians held their conferences. 

Council Oak of Penn Yan, Yates County. Under this tree the 
Seneca braves built their council fires and smoked the pipe of peace 
while they deliberated on the affairs of the Six Nations. 

Red Oak at Lloyds Neck, on the north shore of Long Island, facing 
Halesite, where Nathan Hale, hero of the American Revolution, was 
finally captured by the British on September 21, 1776, and hanged 
the next day. He it was who said that he truly regretted that he 
had but one life to give for his country. 

Whipping tree at Peekskill. This tree, an oak, is still flourishing 
in a field adjoining the grounds of the Van Cortland Manor house, 
Washington’s headquarters when he was in Peekskill. Here La- 
fayette, “Rochambeau, Von Steuben, and other famous soldiers, were 
entertained. Beneath this tree strenuous correction was adminis- 
tered to deserters from the American cause in Revolutionary times, 
whence its name. 


165255 °—39 3 


34 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OW AGRICULTURE 


F—321108 
FIGURE 18.—HENDRICK HUDSON’S TULIPTREE, NEW YORK, N. Y. (COURTESY 
AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION.) 


FAMOUS TREES 35 


Witenagemot Oak, Schagticoke. This oak was planted to mark the 
signing of a treaty of peace with the Indians in 1676, by Sir Edmund 
Andros, colonial governor of the Province of New York and Indian 
commissioner. 

War Scythe Tree, balm-of-Gilead (balsam poplar), near Waterloo. 
In October 1861 a farmer named Johnson hung his scythe in the 
crotch of this tree and went off with a New York regiment to the Civil 
War, telling his wife: “Don’t touch the scythe until I come back.” 
He never returned, and the tree has grown around the blade, the han- 
dle having been removed. Two others now keep the first scythe com- 
pany. When the United States entered the World War, two sons of 
the present owner of the farm hung their scythes in the tree, one to 
enter the Army and the other the Navy. 

Hendrick Hudson’s Tuliptree, the Inwoed tuliptree (Liriodendron 
tulipifera L.), Inwood Park, northern end of Manhattan Island, at 
the mouth of the Harlem River, New York City. Hudson entered 
this inlet in 1609 and may have met the Indians here. The tree is 
the only living thing on the island which was there during Hudson’s 
time (fig. 18). The city’s park department has preserved this an- 
cient tree. On the surface of one of the cement fillings is the follow- 
Ing inscription in gold letters: 

Tuliptree, Liriodendron Tulipifera. Henry Hudson entered this inlet in 1609 
and may have met the Indians here who used the place for a camp, as shown 
by the quantity of old broken oyster shells around this tree and nearby. (17, v. 
33, p. 545: 71, pp. 63-64). 

Torture Tree (species not given), 1 mile east of Cuylerville, in Liv- 
ingston County. Lt. Thomas Boyd and Set. Michael Parker, of Sulli- 
van’s Expedition, 1779, were captured by the Iroquois Indians, most 
severely tortured, and eventually killed near this tree, September 11, 
1779. 

Lombardy Poplar (fig. 19), planted over 200 years ago at Iort 
Niagara by the French occupants. It 1s the sole survivor of a group 
of these trees planted at the time. This is the only United States 
Army post flying three flags—the French, British, and United States. 
When the colors are lowered, the French flag comes down first, fol- 
lowed by the British, then Old Glory. 


NORTH CAROLINA 


Cypress of New Bern, at New Bern. This was the council tree 
of patriot leaders. 

Battleground Oak, also known as Cornwallis Oak and Liberty 
Oak, stands but a few hundred yards from where the Battle of Guil- 
ford Courthouse was fought in 1781. Tradition has it that during 
the battie General Greene tied his horse to this tree. 

Revolutionary or New Garden Oak. (See Trees associated with 
religion, p. 53.) 

Henry Clay Oak (white oak), Wake County. Henry Clay 1s said 
to have sat under this oak while writing his memorable letter oppos- 
ing the annexation of Texas. 

Tory Oak, Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, on which four Tories are 
said to have been hanged by the Revolutionists. 

Fagle’s Nest Longleaf Pine, Dare County, on the edge of Fort 
Raleigh, Roanoke Island. The tree bears the letter C, which, it is 


4 


4 


A\GRICULTURI 


Leahy OMe 


iy Ws tee JDO: 


29 


MISC. PUBLICATION 


36 


(CN ‘ASNVYO LSVA ‘SOWTIVM “1 °D JO ASALYNOD) ODY SYV3SA 002 NVHL 


SJYOW HONAYA SHL AG GSALNV1d dNOYD V AO YOAIAYNS 3410S “A CN ‘VWYVOVIN LYOS LV YV1dOd AGUYVEWOT—'’6l 3YNSI 
ceLLve-A 


FAMOUS TREES 37 


believed, indicates that the colony established here by Sir Walter 
Raleigh ‘had moved to the Cr oatans, friendly Indians. 


OHIO 


Logan Elm, 6 miles south of Circleville, in southern Ohio. It was 
under this tree that Lord Dunmore, colonial Governor of Virginia, 
made a treaty of peace with Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnees and 
Chief Logan of the Mingos 2 years before the Revolution. Chief 
Logan declined to be present, but sent a message which is considered 
a classic of Indian oratory. 


Chief Logaws Message 


I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan’s cabin hungry 
and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked and he clothed 
him not. During the course of the last iong and bloody war, Logan remained 
idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites 
that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said: “Logan is the friend of 
the white men.” I had even thought to live with you, but for the injuries of 
one man, Colonel Cresap, who last spring in cold blood and unprovoked murdered 
all the relatives of Logan, not sparing even his women and children.* There 
runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This calls 
on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted 
my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. Yet do not 
harbor the thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He 
will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? 
Not one. 

The elm is now owned and cared for by the State of Ohio. Named 
for Chief Logan, it is 70 feet high and nearly 22 feet in circum- 
ference 6 feet above the ground. It has a crown spread of 148 feet. 
In recent years it has been severely damaged by storms. Seeds trom 
this tree have been planted by the State forestry department, and 
more than 100 seedlings have been transplanted in 88 counties in Ohio 
with appropriate ceremonies. 

Centennial Oak (white oak), near Lake Punderson, Newberry, was 
planted on July 4, 1876, by the Woman’s Suffrage Political Club. 

Fort Ball Sycamore, at Tiff. This tree was a sapling growing 
within the walls of Fort Ball during the War of 1812. In 1926 the 
Dolly Todd Madison Chapter, D. A. R., erected a tablet at the base 
of the tree marking it as historic. 


OKLAHOMA 


Tribal Council Tree, Tulsa, a giant oak near the Arkansas River. 
The bronze marker placed on it December 22, 1923, reads: “Tribal 
Council Tree—Meeting place of the Creek Indians after their coming 
to Indian Territory in 1828” (fig. 20). There is an interesting story, 
too long to give here, of the Trail of Tears of the Creek Indians and 
the carrying of the council fire (77). 


OREGON 


Pioneer Walnut, planted at Salem in pioneer days. (See Trees 
notable for unusual size or age, p. 92.) 

On the Ochoco National forest is the famous “Sheep Shooters’ 
Tree,” under which the cattlemen met in the range wars of 1904-1905. 


3 Tt has been proved that Logan was mistaken about Colonel Cresap’s guilt. 


38 MISG. PUBLICATION 295, USS! DEBT. OF AGRICULTURE 


F—321196 
FIGURE 20.—THE OLD CREEK TRIBAL COUNCIL TREE, TULSA. OKLA. (COURTESY 
OF AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION.) 


PENNSYLVANIA 


Cumberland Elm, 1 mile southwest of Carlisle, is in the very center 
of the Cumberland Valley and was a landmark of the early settlers. 

Liberty Tree, near Clinton, sometimes called the Tiadaghton Elm 
and sometimes the Pine Creek Elm. Under this tree the famous 
Tiadaghton Creek Declaration of Independence was being signed at 
the same time that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 
Independence Hall, Philadelphia. 

Dilworthtown Oak, about a mile west of Dilworthtown, in Chester 
County, is on the Brandywine Battlefield, near Washington’s Head- 
quarters, where some of the fiercest fighting in the American Revo- 
lution took place. : ; 

Kutztown White Oak. It is reported that an ammunition train of 


the Continental Army camped under this tree about the time of the 
Battle of Germantown. 


FAMOUS TREES 39 


Fort Hunter Buttonwood (P/latanus occidentalis L.), a huge tree 
of its kind standing by the edge of Fishing Creek in the Fort Hunter 
tract of land, is of ‘oreat age and is among y the historic trees of Peun- 
sylvania (68). Fort Hunter, 6 miles north of the State capital, on 
the east side of the Susquehanna, was one of a chain of forts between 
the Susquehanna and the Delaware Rivers. Situated on a bluff jut- 
ting out into the stream “where the Blue Hills cross the Susquehanna,” 
this fort commanded an extensive view up and down that river and 
overlooked as well the tortuous course and outlet of Fishing Creek. 
The banks of this stream, judging by the relics found there, were a 
favorite camping site of ne marauding red men. Hunter’s Fort 
served as a refuge for the pioneers in those unsettled times, and many 
a thrilling tale is told of alarm and of escape (fig. 21) 


F—323C17 
FIGURE 21.—FORT HUNTER BUTTONWOOD BY THE EDGE OF FISHING CREEK, FORT 
HUNTER TRACT, 6 MILES NORTH OF HARRISBURG, PA. (COURTESY OF MRS. 
MARGARET WISTER MEIGS.) 


40) MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 8. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


SOUTH CAROLINA 


Historic Red Oak, at Chesterfield. The first flag ever thrown to the 
breeze in the South on which was printed “Immediate separate State 
action” was girded to this tree. 

Spy Oak, at Hillcrest, High Hills of the Santee, near Stateburg, 
is so called because two Tory spies were hanged therefrom by 
General Sumter’s men during the Revolution (72). 


SOUTH DAKOTA 


Struck-by-the-Ree’s Tree, at Yankton (named for the Sioux chief 
who bore this name). Here the Yanktown tribe of the Sioux Indians 
met with Lewis and Clark, and together they held “a grand council, 
powwow, and carousal.” The name comes from a savage encounter 
between the Sioux and the Ree Indians. Struck-by-the-Ree was 
friendly to the whites, partly because he was proud of having been 
wrapped in the American flag by Captain Lewis, who, in doing so, 
prophesied that the boy would become a chief of the tribe. 


TENNESSEE 


Daniel Boone’s “Bar Tree,” a beech in Washington County, in the 
extreme northeastern portion of the State was a living record in the 
life of probably the first white man to venture into the heavy forests 
of the middle Appalachians (67). This tree bore the inscription: 
“D. Boon cilled A BAR On Tree in ThE Y Ear 1760” (fig. 22). This 
tree is no longer living. 

Pemberton Oak, on the Cherokee National Forest, bears a tablet 
placed there by the Sycamore Shoals Chapter of the Daughters of 
the American Revolution, telling that Col. John Pemberton here 
mustered troops for the Battle of Kings Mountain. Kings Moun- 
tain is a ridge in Gaston County, N. C., and York County, S. C. 
About 144 miles south of the boundary line between the two States, 
the Battle of Kings Mountain was fought on October 7, 1780, the 
Americans being victorious. This victory largely contributed to the 
success of General Greene’s campaign against Lord Cornwallis. 


TEXAS 


Treaty Oak, in Austin, near the west bank of the Colorado River, 
a mammoth live oak estimated to be over 500 years old. The Co- 
manche and Tejas Indians often met for feats of skill and endurance 
and for religious rites beneath this tree. They called it “The Father 
of the Forest,” and regarded it with superstitious reverence. Tra- 
dition has it that Stephen F. Austin signed the first boundary line 
treaty between the settlers and the Indians under this tree, the line 
being so placed that the tree stood within the settlers’ lands. 

Masonic Charter Oak, near Brazoria, Tex., under whose sturdy 
branches Texas declared her independence. Here the second pro- 
visional government of Texas was organized on March 2, 1836. 


VIRGINIA 


Hessian apple trees, 3 miles north of Winchester. During the Rev- 
olution, Hessian soldiers planted an orchard here. Sixteen of these 


FAMOU 


S TREES A] 


‘D.Boon cilled A BAR On 
in ThE YEar 1760 


F—3251178 
FIGURE 22.—DANIEL BOONE’S *‘BAR TREE,’’ WASHINGTON COUNTY, TENN. 


49 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


trees of the Fameuse variety have survived, and most of them are 
bearing regularly. 

Cedars of Lebanon, Arlington Cemetery. (See Trees associated 
with educators or educational institutions, p. 46.) 

Chippoke Oak, Chippoke plantation, Surry County, takes its 
name from the Indian chief, Chippoke, who was a friend of the 
early settlers. 

White Oaks in Abbs Valley, Tazewell County, at the grave of 
James Moore, who was one of the first persons killed in the Indian 
massacre of 1786. 

Sheep-shearing Oak, one of the most famous trees in Arlington 
National Cemetery. It was the scene of the shearing of a valuable 
flock of imported Merino sheep owned by George W ashington Parke 
Custis. This oak is estimated to be 300 years old. 

Tarleton’s Oak, Charlottesville. Tradition has it that under this 
oak the British cavalryman, Banastre Tarleton, planned his raid on 
Charlottesville on June 4, 1781. He attempted to capture Governor 
Jefferson and the legislature, but Capt. Jack Jouett, by taking a 
short route, arrived in time to warn the patriots of their danger. 

Tory Oaks, white oaks in the Black Lick Valley in western Wy the 
County. Gen. William Campbell’s men surrounded a band. of 
plundering Tories and hung them to these two nearby oaks. 

Original Lynching Tree ‘(walnut ) on plantation near Alta Vista. 
According to the inscription on a marker near this giant black 
walnut, under it— 


Colonel Charles Lynch, William Preston, Robert Adams, Jr., James Calloway, 
and others held an informal court for the trial of Tories and criminals, 1780. 
From this rude justice, the term “lynch law” was evolved. 


The Virginia Conservation and Development Commission erected 
the marker in 1929. 


WASHINGTON 


A western red cedar bearing the inscription, “Washington Terri- 
torial Volunteers camped here June 2, 1856,” was recently discovered 
in the upper Cedar River watershed, Snoqualmie National Forest. 
It is recorded that in 1856 Regular Army troops were camped at 
Snoqualmie Falls in order to ‘watch Snoqualmie Pass for Indian 
raiding parties from east of the mountains. Without question, the 
Territorial Volunteers were watching Yakima Pass for the same 
reason at the time the inscription was made. 


WEST VIRGINIA 


Corner Oaks, at the foot of Marlin’s Mountain at Marlinton (70, 
pp. 412-417), marked: “These oaks are said to be the oldest corner 
trees in ne Mississippi Valley.” They also bear the name and date: 
“General Andrew Lewis, 1751.” 

Blennerhasset Sycamore, on what is known as Blennerhasset Island 
in the Ohio River about 2 miles below Parkersburg, with a large hole 
in the trunk, in which Blennerhasset took refuge when pursued for 
his connection with the Burr conspiracy to separate the Western 
States from the rest of the United States (1807). 


FAMOUS TREES 43 


Old Pringle Sycamore, which stands at the mouth of Turkey Run 
on the Buckhannon River, a few miles below the little town of 
Buckhannon in what is now Upshur County, is the “grandchild” of 
a tree which served as a home for the first white settlers in the trans- 
Allegheny region in what is now West Virginia. As early as 1764 
Samuel and John Pringle, two brothers, penetrated the unbroken 
wilderness and lived for 3 years in the hollow of the great old tree. 
The cavity measured 12 feet across, so they were not crowded. The 
stump stood until 1850, and the second Pringle tree, which sprang 
from the roots of the first, was carried away by a flood in 1880. 
The present tree is a sprout from the roots of the second, and in its 
cavity three persons could easily find shelter (77, p. 476). 


WISCONSIN 


Fort Howard Elm occupies the site of the first permanent fortifica- 
tion in Wisconsin and for 200 years has been associated with the 
history of the region owned in turn by France, Great Britain, and 
the United States. 


TREES ASSOCIATED DIRECTLY WITH EDUCATORS OR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 
ALABAMA 


Gorgas Oak, campus of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. 
This is a pin oak named for Gen. William Crawford Gorgas, Ameri- 
can Army surgeon, born at Mobile, Ala., under whose sanitary 
measures yellow fever has been eradicated from tropical America. 


CALIFORNIA 


Hilgard Chestnut, College of Agriculture, University of California, 
Berkeley. Named for E. W. Hilgard, first dean of the college and 
one of the pioneers of agricultural education in the United States. 
The Hilgard Chestnut is of a European species (Castanea sativa). 

Henry S. Graves Redwood Grove, named in honor of Henry Solon 
Graves, forester, educator, and administrator. He succeeded Gifford 
Pinchot as chief forester of the United States Department of Agri- 
culture. This grove is 10 miles south of Crescent City. 


CONNECTICUT 


Calhoun Elm, Litchfield. (See Trees intimately associated with 
other famous people, p. 11.) 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


Lombardy Poplar, on Massachusetts Avenue near Eighteenth 
Street, NW., memorial to Quentin Roosevelt, youngest son of Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, killed during the World War. This tree was planted 
in his memory by the students of the Force School on Massachusetts 
Avenue between Seventeenth and Eighteenth Streets, NW., which 
he attended. 


KANSAS 


Cypress, “The Tree That Would Not Die,” planted by Father 
Boniface, Kansas pioneer, monk, professor, and naturalist, on the 
slope of a ravine on the campus of St. Benedict’s College, at Atchison. 


44 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


During campus-improvement work, this dauntless tree has_ lived 
through the filling-in of the ravine, although its trunk is buried 
for 30 feet or more. 

Locust in Topeka, associated with the Civil War history of the 
State, is marked by a concrete block which is inscribed: “The oldest 
tree in Topeka. The 2-B Grade of 1912. Central Park School.” 


LOUISIANA 


Century Live Oaks, on the campus of Southwestern Louisiana 
Institute, Lafayette, planted on the first day of the twentieth century, 
January 1, 1901. 

McDonough Oak, City Park of New Orleans, bears name of great 
patron of education who left his fortune to Baltimore, Md., and 
New Orleans, La., for educational purposes. 


MAINE 


Thorndike Oak, red oak in center of Bowdoin College Campus, 
Brunswick. It bears the name of one of the first eight students 
to enter Bowdoin in 1802, who planted the acorn. 


MICHIGAN 


Filibert Roth Memory Elm, planted by his friends in Palmer 
Park, Detroit, in May 1926. Dr. Roth was an outstanding figure in 
educational work in fore estry. He was dean of the forestry depart- 
ment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for more than 0 years. 

Marshall Oak. A huge forest tree on the ground of H. C. Brook, 
of Marshall. Under this historic tree two early settlers often met in 
the summer of 1834 to discuss their plans for an improved public- 
school system. These men were Isaac E. Crary, United States Repre- 
sentative in Congress from 1835 to 1840, and John D. Pierce, first 
superintendent of public instruction in Michigan, from 1836 to 1841. 
Their system, enacted into law in 1836, has given rise to the claim 
that the school system of the United States had its inception in the 
village of Marshall, which has been called “The cradle of American 
public school education” (fig. 23 A and B.) 


NEW HAMPSHIRE 


Old Pine, at Dartmouth College, Hanover, was the center of class- 
day exercises and other celebrations during the greater part of the 
nineteenth century. It was cut down in 1895, but its stump, 4 feet in 
height, has been preserved as a valued relic. 


NEW JERSEY 


The Stamp-Act Sycamores, planted in front of the residence of the 
president of Princeton University in 1765, have always been associated 
with the famous Stamp Act of that year. 


NEW YORK 


Nott Elm, on grounds of historic Union College, at Schenectady, 
named in honor of Eliphalet Nott, president of Union College from 


FAMOUS TREES 45 


F—302989 F—302990 
FIGURE 23.—A, THE MARSHALL OAK, MICHIGAN; B, THE MARSHALL. OAK TABLET. 
(COURTESY OF HAROLD C. BROOKS, MARSHALL, MICH.) 


46 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


1804 to 1866. Many illustrious citizens of the United States have sat 
beneath this tree in informal meetings of the senior classes—Senators, 
Cabinet. officers, Governors, even President Chester A. Arthur, and 
scientists like the agriculturist, Seaman A. Knapp, and Franklin B. 
Hough, “father of American forestry.” 


NORTH CAROLINA 


New Garden Oak (Quaker settlement of New Garden) on the campus 
of Guilford College, near Greensboro the first coeducational college 
of the South. (See also Trees associated with religion, p. 53.) 

Davie Poplar (tuliptree), Orange County, on the campus of the 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Under this tree the 
commissioners tied their horses when selecting a site for the university. 


OHIO 


McGuftty Elms, on the campus of Ohio University, at Athens, 
planted by William McGutffy, president of the institution and author 
of McGutty Readers. Fifteen of the forty-eight trees planted were 
still standing in 1934 and were about 90 years old. 

Oberlin Elm, on a corner of the Oberlin College campus, Oberlin. 
In its shade the first building of Oberlin College was erected. This 
was the first American college to admit women on an equality with 


men. 
PENNSYLVANIA 


Historic White Oak at King of Prussia, dedicated to Henry Sturgis 
Drinker for his services in for estr y by the Pennsylvania Forestry Asso- 
elation (75), August 19, 1933, is said to have been standing when the 
founder of the Commonwealth, William Penn, was born (1644). 
Lehigh University took part in dedication. 


VIRGINIA 


Cedars of Lebanon, from the historic Lebanon Mountains in Syria, 
planted in Arlington Cemetery, a gift to the United States from the 
American University of Beirut, Syria, in appreciation of aid extended 
by this country through the Near East Relief. 

Emancipation Oak, on the grounds of Hampton Institute in Eliza- 
beth City County. The first school for “contrabands” was held under 
it in pleasant weather. 

Abingdon Smoketree, near the main portico of Martha Washington 
C ollege, Abingdon. Tradition has it that William Campbell Preston 
brought this tree with him from Napoleon’s grave. 

V.M. I. Guard Tree (hickory), Lexington. Reported to have been 
the only tree standing on the grounds of Virginia Military Institute 
when it was founded in 1839. Guard tents were pitched under this 
tree In summer. 

Wilham and Mary Live Oak, southeast corner of the campus of 
Wilham and Mary College, Williamsburg. Styled, “Old Monarch of 
Middle Plantation.” 


FAMOUS TREES Ai 


TREES ASSOCIATED PARTICULARLY WITH WRITERS AND LITERATURE 


CALIFORNIA 


Jack London’s Oak. A sturdy oak tree planted on the plaza before 
the city hall, in his native city, Oakland. The dedicatory resolution 
of the city council of Oakland reads: 

We confer this mite of honor by dedicating Oakland’s standard-bearing oak 
to him who grew with this city, that this sturdy sentinel may stand in memory 
and to honor Jack London. 

Mark Twain Oak, on Jackass Hull, Tuolumne County, under which 
the humorist wrote The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which 
made him famous overnight. This tree was felled in 1929, and only 
the stump remains. Sections of the tree are on exhibit in the Mu- 
seum of Natural History, New York City, and in the British Museum, 


London. 
DISTRICT CF COLUMBIA 


Six memorial oaks, all red oaks on the new Academy of Science 
grounds Twenty- first and C Streets NW. keep alive the memory of 
Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Burroughs, John James Audubon, 
Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, W alt Whitman. 

Shakespeare plot in West Potomac Park, Washington. On April 
23, 1935, the anniversary of the birth of the Bard. of Avon, trees 
presented by the Governors of various States were planted in a corner 
of the rose garden in West Potomac Park, as the nucleus of a Shake- 
speare 2 carden. Wives of S Senators and Representatives of the States 
contributing officiated in the tree planting. The trees planted include 
a tuliptree contributed by Tennessee, an ash by Massachusetts, moun- 
tain-ashes by New Hampshire and New York, pines by Michigan and 
Virginia, elms by Nebraska, Maine, and Arizona, oaks by South 
Carolina and Jlhnois, a cypress by Maryland, cherry trees by Kansas 
and California, persimmon trees by Florida and Delaware, a Russian 
olive tree by South Dakota, and a magnolia by Louisiana. 

Southworth Oak (red only in the park at Thirty- -sixth Street and 
Prospect Avenue NW, planted by the League of American Pen 
Women in memory of Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth, authoress, who 
resided for many years in old Georgetown. 


FLORIDA 


Mandarin Live Oak, Duval County, on St. Johns River. The 
piazza of the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe was built around this 
tree. During the Civil War a cannonball was shot into the tree 
from a Federal gunboat in the river. The bark has grown around 
the ball and has almost entirely covered it. 


GEORGIA 


Lanier Oak, on the edge of the Marshes of Glynn, at Brunswick. 
Under the gracious boughs of this tree, Sidney Lanier, native of 
Macon, Ga., and the greatest lyricist of the South, was inspired to 
write the Marshes of Gly nn (fig. 24). 


AS MISC. FUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULLZURE 


F—305 144 
FIGURE 24.—THE LANIER OAK, AT BRUNSWICK, GA. (COURTESY OF AMERICAN 
AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION.) 


LOUISIANA 


Evangeline Oak, at St. Martinville, on Bayou Teche, a giant live 
oak which marks the spot where the Acadians, driven from Nova 
Scotia, landed in St. Martinville in 1758, 2 years after their expulsion 
from their former homes. It has been immortalized by Longfellow 
in his poem, Evangeline. 

Maryland Live Oak, at New Roads, under which James Ryder 
Randall wrote the words of Maryland, My Maryland. 


MASSACHUSEIrTS 


Oliver Wendell Holmes Pine, on old road to Lenox, in a wide sweep 
of lawn, a lone and superb pine much loved by Holmes. 

Two notable white oaks in front of the Wayside Inn, on the State 
Road, in Sudbury, about 20 miles west of Boston, immortalized by 
Longfellow in his Tales of a Wayside Inn. 

Louisa May Alcott Elms, in front of the Alcott home and the little 
grove of pines and spruces just beyond it. Under the shade of the 
elms once lived the author of Little Women, and among the whisper- 
ing pines Hawthorne walked, thought, and wrote, or conversed with 
his friend, Thoreau. 

Pratt Elm, or “The Great Elm of Concord,” believed to have been 
set out in 1700. Beloved of Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau. 

Waverly Oaks, along Beaver Branch, near Waverly Station, 6 or 
7 miles from Boston, are remarkably large trees and are famous, not 


FAMOUS TREES 49 


only for size but also for association with James Russell Lowell and 
the writing of his Vision of Sir Launfal (83). (See also Trees 
notable for unusual size or age, p. 85.) 

Sheffield Elm, which, tradition says, was standing when the town 
of Sheffield was settled, in 1725. Oliver Wendell Holmes included 
the elm at Sheffield among those of greatest size, beauty, and sym- 
metry of form. 

The beautiful Whittier Elm, near the poet’s birthplace at Haver- 
hill. (See also Trees that have had special protection, pp. 56, 58. ) 


MICHIGAN 


A red oak towers above the old Walker Tavern on the main high- 
way between Detroit and Chicago, where the road from Toledo, Ohio, 
crosses the Chicago Pike. It ‘spreads its shade over the roof that 
cheltered James Fenimore Cooper and other notables of the early 
days. Here Cooper is said to have written Oak Openings. The 
treetop has been thinned out. Local old-timers tell of the night 
that this was done, so that a flag might fly from a high place at the 
rally for “Tippecanoe and Ty ler too.” 


NEW HAMPSHIRE 


Whittier’s Pine Tree, on the Sturtevant farm, near Sunset Hill. 
Center Harbor. Whittier bestowed upon it the name “Wood Giant” 
(1886), but it is now called “Whittier’s Pine Tree.” 


NEW JERSEY 


Haddon Yews, site of the old Haddon Homestead at Haddonfield. 
immortalized in Longfellow’s beautiful poem, Elizabeth. 


NEW YORK 


Oak from Stratford-on-Avon, England. <A little oak from Strat- 
ford-on-Avon, birthplace of Willian Shakespeare, was sent to Walter 
Hines Page when he was America’s Ambassador to the Court of St. 
James, by the mayor of historic Startford. The precious package 
was immediately shipped to the Shakespeare garden committee of 
Central Park, New York, which had it planted in the corner known 
as the Garden of the Heart. 

Shakespeare Memorial Oak, occupying a place of honor on the 
campus of the University of Rochester. This oak was brought from 
Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-on-Avon, England, and was planted 
in Rochester, April 23, 1864, in connection with the tercentennial of 
Shakespeare’s birth. 

Treaty Tree of Phillipse Manor near New York City. Under this 
old chestnut, it is said, Washington Irving wrote The Headless 
Horseman. (See Trees associated with the building of the Nation, 
p. 82.) 


NORTH CAROLINA 


Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, a 4,000-acre tract of virgin forest 
near Lake Santeetlah in the Nantahala National Forest, southwestern 
North Carolina, was dedicated on July 30, 1936, to the poet who 


165233 °—39——4 


50 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


wrote Trees. This area contains some of the most magnificent virgin 
timber to be found in the United States. Trees 5 and 6 feet in 
diameter are of common occurrence, and the largest tree measures 
80 inches across the bole. 

This memorial forest was established by authority of the Secretary 
of Agriculture and is under the administration of the regional 
forester of the Forest Service. The tract will be maintained as a 
permanent wildlife refuge. Deer, black bear, and other wild animals, 
including Russian wild hogs, are to be found here. Headquarters of 
the Nantahala Forest are at Franklin, N. C. The Joyce Kilmer 
memorial was sponsored by the Bozeman Bulger Post, Veterans of 
Foreign Wars, New York City. Joyce Kilmer was killed in action 
in France, July 30, 1918. 


PENNSYLVANIA 


Cedarcroft Chestnut, in grounds cf home of Bayard Taylor, at 
Kennett Square, Chester County, is a splendid old chestnut whose 
shade was a favorite rendevzous of the well-known author. Sidney 
Lanier, the poet, a welcome visitor at Taylor’s home, was much 
attached to this old tree and immortalized it in his graceful poem, 
Under the Cedarcroft Chestnut. 


VIRGINIA 


Margaret Preston Oak, in the family burying ground in Lexington 
Cemetery, Lexington, last resting place of the “poetess laureate of 
the South,” Margaret Junkin Preston. 

Lonesome Pine, Wise County, made famous by the late John Fox, 
Jr., in his novel, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. A very large part 
of Wise County, in southwest Virginia, is in the Jefferson National 
Forest. 

TREES ASSOCIATED WITH RELIGION 


CALIFORNIA 


Cathedral Oak rides the cliff of South Pasadena’s rustie Arroyo 
Seco Park, and is beheved to be at least 600 years old, according to 
the writings of the vahant Padre Juan Crespi, who was Padre 
Junipero Serra’s right-hand man on his long journey from Mexico 
to found the missions of Alta, Calif, and who, when the sadly crippled 
Serra was unable to push onward by land toward Monterey in 1769, 
accompanied Caspar de Portola and his party of 66 soldiers, priests, 
niuleteers, and Indians on the first overland trip northward through 
California, Franciscan padres always walked. Easter morning, 
1770, found them in camp under the Cathedral Oak, and there they 
held the first Easter service on California soil. After Mission San 
Fernando had been established in 1791, the padres, on their journeys 
by foot from mission to mission, made the Cathedral Oak their over- 
night shelter, between San Gabriel and San Fernando, At one time 
a bell hung there to toll the hour of morning mass. 

A Mile of Christmas Trees, Deodar cedars, Pasadena. 

“The Oldest Christmas Tree.” (47) General Grant Bigtree, the 
General Grant National Park (see Trees notable for unusual size or 
age, pp. (0-71.) 


FAMOUS TREES 51 


CON NECTICUT 


Beecher Elm, Litchfield. This elm stands near the site of the 
Lyman Beecher House. Lyman Beecher was the Congregational 
winister in Litchfield from 1810 to 1824 and was the f father of Harriet 
Beecher Stowe and seven coneiee aon munisters. 

Oldest Inhabitant (an oak), Fairfield. (See Trees associated with 
the building of the Nation, p. 20.) 

The Great Elm, Wethersfield. (See Trees notable for unusual size 
OF age, Pp: Ca.) 

The 1812 White Oak, East Glastonbury. (See Trees associated with 
the building of the Nation, p. 20.) 

Great White Oak, Hebron. In 1829 a bell for the new edifice of 
First Congregational Church was sent to Middle Haddam Landing 
from Boston. Hebron men with yokes of oxen brought the bell from 
the landing, and, unable to recent their eagerness fo hear the bell, 
they hung “it over a branch of this oak. The church burned in 1882 
and the bell with it, but the tree is still in vigorous condition showing 
no signs of decay. 

Glebe House Sycamore, Woodbury. This very large old sycamore 
is identified with the Glebe House, in which Samuel Seabury was 
selected as the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
America in 1783. 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


Twin copper beeches, on front lawn of Georgetown Convent. These 
magnificent specimens of one of our most beautiful trees must have 
been in their prime during Civil War days. 

Magnolia grandiflora planted by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, second 
wife of President Wilson, near the famous wall of the Bishop’s Gar- 
den, National Cathedral Close, Washington. Mrs. Wilson used a. 
shovel which had been handled on similar occasions at the cathedral 
by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Prince of Wales, the Arch- 
bishop of York, the Dean of Chester, and other distinguished visitors. 

Glebe Oak, beside the chapel in Rock Creek Cemetery, is a white 
oak only 14 feet in circumference but with limbs so tremendous that 
three of them hang from the height of 10 feet to the roadside. The 
original glebe was a gift of “1,000 pounds of tobacco and 100 acres 
of land for the then minister and his successors, and with that in- 
tent forever.” The gift was made in 1719 by “John Bradford, Gen- 
tleman,” of Prince Georges County, Md. A chapel was built beside 
the tree and, in 1726, became the parish church of Prince Georges 
parish, replaced later by the present edifice. The tree’s roots have 
been cut back to accommodate burials under the tree until the life of 
the tree is now endangered (fig 25.) 


GEORGIA 


Wesley Live Oak, St. Simon Island, off the coast of Georgia, 
under which preached both John and Charles Wesley, pioneers of 
Methodism in this country. It stands at the gate of the churchyard 
of Christ Church, on whose parish register are the names of some 
of the earliest settlers on the island. 


WD) MISG. PUBLICATION 295, U.S: DEPT OR AG RIC UE O RD 


F—321122 
FIGURE 25.—THE GLEBE OAK, ROCK CREEK CEMETERY, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


INDIANA 


Huntington Elm. (See Trees that have had special protection, 
D562) 


IOWA 


Denmark Elms (American elms), in the village of Denmark, near 
the Congregational Church. While Deacon Trow bridge was in the 
act of planting them in 1865, a courier galloped up with the news 
of the assasination of Abraham Lincoln. 


KANSAS 


Lincoln Memorial Elm (American elm), at Atchison, in the church- 
yard of a small Methodist church. Here Lincoln spoke preceding his 
nomination for President of the United States. The crowd to hear 
him overflowed the building, and an audience larger than that inside 
gathered around the young “elm outside the open window near which 
Lincoln stood. The ‘tree has been carefully preserved and bears a 
bronze tablet, the gift of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 


KENTUCKY 


Famous elm at Boonesborough. (See Trees associated with the 
building of the Nation, p. 27.) 


NEW JERSEY 


Historic white oak in Friends’ ppcie ne at Salem. The tree is 
supposed to have been in its prime when Salem was founded in 1675 


FAMOUS TREES 53 


and the land on which it stands came into the possession of the 
Society of Friends in 1681. Its picture has been adopted for use 
on the New Jersey State forestry crest or emblem. It is a matter 
of authentic record that when John Fenwicke, who had bought one- 
half of New Jersey for $5,000 in trust for Edward Byllings and 
others, landed on the Delaware in 1675, he made a treaty with the 
Indians in the shade of this oak, a treaty never broken, because no 
white man has ever been killed by an Indian in Salem ‘County nor 
any Indian by a white man. (See Trees notable for unusual size 
or age, p. 87.) 

Washington- Ball Walnut Tree. (See Trees associated with notable 
people, p. 4.) 


NEW YORK 


Presbyterian Oak, at Smithfield, about 6 miles east of Amenia, 
on the road from Amenia to Poughkeepsie by way of Millbrook. 
George Whitfield preached under this oak on Sunday, June 18, 1770. 
The services were to have been held in the church, opposite which 
the tree stands, but in order to accommodate the ‘congregation he 
delivered his sermon in the inviting shade of the oak. On the 150th 
anniversay of this occasion, a plate was attached to the tree com- 
memorating its history. 


NORTH CAROLINA 


New Garden Oak (called also “The Revolutionary Oak”), near 
the Quaker Meetinghouse of New Garden. After the battle of 
Guilford Courthouse, near what is now Greensboro, both General 
Greene and Lord Cornwallis withdrew, leaving their wounded to the 
care of the Quakers of New Garden, 444 miles southwest of the bat- 
tleground. The Quakers, then as now, peace-loving ce hastened 
to care for the wounded of both armies, and as the mortally wounded 
died, they were buried in the shade of a magnificent white oak. 

The South’s “Living Christmas Tree,” in Hilton Park, Wilmington. 
(See also Trees notable for unusual size or age; p. 89.) 


PENNSYLVANIA 


Witness Tree, white oak still standing before the Donegal Presby- 
terian Church, in Lancaster County (j6) under whose spreading 
branches the congregation swore allegiance to the Republic in June 
ec (hig. 26). 

Huguenot Oak, Oley Valley, Berks County. This white oak stands 
in the middle of a public road and bounds the corners of four farms. 
It is on the site of an earlier white oak under whose spreading 
branches the first Huguenot settlers in Oley Valley held services on 
their arrival from Rotterdam, in 1719. 

New London Oak, one of the largest white oaks in Pennsylvania, 
stands by the New London Pr esbyterian Church, in Chester County. 
The tree is centuries old, according to history, and was standing 
there when this church was org canized in 1726. Two Governors have 
interested themselves in the fate of this tree when road work threat: 
ened its existence. 

Brandywine White Oaks, a trio of white oaks standing before the 
Brandywine Baptist Church near Chadd’s Ford, Delaware County. 


A MISG. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


s 
‘ 


7 
Pe tei 


FIGURE 26.—WITNESS TREE, LANCASTER COUNTY, PA. 


FAMOUS TREES 


55 


Sassafras at Horsham, in a quaint old graveyard directly opposite 
the Friends’ meeting house. This noble tree is estimated to be much 
more than 300 years old. It stands as a monument to pioneer set- 
tlers of Pennsylvania who were buried here as early as 1719 (95). 


RHODE ISLAND 


Catholic Oak, at Lonsdale, near the corner of Broad and Miil 
Streets. In 1843 James Cook Richmond, a missionary of the Episco- 
pal Church, on his way to preach at a neighboring town, paused be- 
neath the branches of this immense oak, exclaiming: “What a beauti- 
ful tree this is! I think I will hold services here next Sunday.” He 
did, and the services soon became popular. The first was held on 
Whitsunday, June 4, 1843, when Mr. Richmond christened the tree 
“The Catholic Oak”, referring to its universal invitation to worship. 
After preaching beneath the oak for several months, Mr. Richmond 
was sent to another field, but he returned every year to hold service 
under the tree on Whitsunday. An iron railing has been placed 
around this oak, with a tablet commemorating its history. 


VIRGINIA 


Washington Tuliptree, at Falls Church, in the churchyard of the 
church erected in 1734. This is the tree to which Washington tied 
his horse when he attended a meeting of the vestrymen. The church 
was used as a stable for the horses of Union soldiers during the Civil 


War. 


TREES THAT HAVE HAD SPECIAL PROTECTION 
CONNECTICUT 


Johnson Oak, halfway between Stratford and Bridgeport, said to 
be 500 years old. The property on which it stands has changed hands 
many times, and when the city of Bridgeport opened up the land, a 
citizen bought the lot on which the tree stands and built a retaining 
wall about the tree to help save it (//, v. 27). 

Johnson Oak, Northford. The property on which this oak stands 
was purchased by Nathaniel Johnson in 1714. It remained in the 
Johnson family until 1916. This tree was saved from destruction in 
1931 when the course of the State road was changed at the request of 
the town (66, p. 21). (Compare both Johnson Oaks mentioned. The 
stories are similar but from different sources, and distinctions may be 
poted which make it appear that they are different trees. ) 

Nichols’ Spruces, Lyons Plains, Redding. These six trees can never 
legally be destroyed by men, according to the provisions of the deeds 
which have been given to each owner of the property since the first 
owner, Ebenezer Nichols, planted the trees in 1844. 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


Cameron Elm, near the House wing of the United States Capitol. 
(See Trees associated with notable people, p. 11.) 
Three oak trees of Civil War fame stand near Thirtieth Street and 
Grant Road, Washington, D. C. Civil War generals held conference 
under these trees. 


56 MISC. FUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


GEORGIA 


The Oak That Owns Itself (white oak), near Athens. This oak is 
unique in that there was willed to it by its owner, Wilham H. Jack- 
son, “for and in consideration of the great love I bear this tree and 
the great desire I have for its protection * * * entire possession of 
itself and all land within 8 feet of the tree on all sides.” This deed, 
dated 1820, is recorded in the town clerk’s office (fig. 27). 

Big Oak (a live oak), Thomasville, cared for as a historic treas- 
ure, stands near the intersection of two paved streets. At the time 
the contract for paving was let, the city outlined specifications cover- 
ing its care. Also an application of 200 pounds of fertilizer 1s made 
each year to its roots, and the tree receives water as needed during 
hot, dry weather (39). (See also Trees notable for unusual size or 
age, p. ((.) 

INDIANA 


Famous Elm at Huntington, saved by a change in the architect’s 
plans for the building of the Christian Science Church of Hunting- 
ton. The architect redrew his plans to give the tree plenty of root 
and branch space, leaving out the organist’s room and a Sunday 
school classroom. 

Constitutional Elm, Corydon. (See Trees associated with the 
building of the Nation, p. 26.) 


KANSAS 


Delaware and Wyandotte Maple, at Olathe, under which the Dela- 
ware and Wyandotte Indians made a treaty of peace. In 1905 the 
city council and street department decided that this tree would have 
to come down, since it stood in the way of a proposed sidewalk. Mrs. 
Jennie Baker and her daughter, on whose property the tree stood, 
marched around and around it to prevent the crew ready with axes 
from doing their work of destruction. Three-fourths of the popula- 
tion of Olathe came to their assistance and protected the tree until 
legal aid was obtained for its permanent protection. 


KENTUCKY 


A sycamore with special protection, Pippapass, Knott County. 
Thirty-six square feet of land, sufficient to protect it from inter- 
ference so long as it shall live, was deeded to the sycamore by deed 
of conveyance filed in Knott County, on August 20, 1918, “for and 
in consideration of its shade, coolness, and inspiration.” It shades 
a home known as the House of the Sycamore Tree, in the Caney Creek 
Community Center, and has been christened the Freed-Budd Tree, 
probably in compliment to two of its well-wishers. 


MASSACHUSETTS 


The beautiful Whittier Elm, near the poet’s birthplace at Haver- 
hill. When the place was sold in order that the poet’s mother might 
live near the Quaker Church in Amesbury, the new owner proposed 
to cut down the tree. An admirer of the poet then offered to pay a 


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5S MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


yearly rental for the place including the tree in order to save the 
elm. The place is now owned by the Whittier Association, and the 
preservation of the beautiful old ‘tree is assured. 

Avery Oak, at Dedham, the oldest white oak in Dedham, bears the 
distinction alt having been selected as suitable material or the cele- 
brated and much- honored frigate Old Ironsides. The amount offered 
was $70, but the offer was refused because the owner’s wife, Mrs. 
William Avery, greatly admired the tree and prevailed upon her 
husband to spare it (104, p. 77). 

Gulliver Elm, at Milton, so called because it was deeded in 1833 
by the First Congregational Parish in Milton to Isaae Gulliver who 
gave bond for its ‘perpetual exemption from molestation. 


OHIO 


Logan Elm. (See Trees associated with the building of the Nation, 
Ds ot) 


OKLAHOMA 


McAlester’s Lone Pine, McAlester. This tree stands in the middle 
of a wide street, with ample roadway on each side and is protected 
by a concrete curbing and a wire fence stretched on iron posts. It 
was there among its own kind long before the foot of white man 
tramped over the McAlester ranch. 


PENNSYLVANIA 


Greason White Oak, standing back of the railroad station at 
Greason on the Cumberland Valley Branch of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road, about 5 miles southwest of Carlisle. The farm on which the 
oak stands was long owned by Robert Greason, for whom Greason 
station is named. He would not agree to sell the tract to the railroad 
until the president of the road assured him that this splendid white 
oak would be given the best of care. 

New London Oak, near the Presbyterian Church in Chester 
County. (See Trees associated with religion, p. 53.) 

Sacred Oak of the Delaware Indians of Oley Valley, Berks County 
(20, v. 38). This chestnut oak was saved generations ago, at the 
request of an Indian chief, and flourishes today on the Hoch farm, 
in Oley Township, a few miles northeast of Reading (fig. 28). (See 
also Trees notable for unusual size or age, p. 92.) 


SOUTH CAROLINA 


Washington Live Oak, at Charleston. (See Trees associated with 
notable people, p. 4.) 


TEXAS 


Ancient pecan a few blocks from the city hall of San Antonio, on 
South Flores Street, from which Texans and Mexicans gathered 
pecans in season during the troublous times of 1836-37. Some years 
ago the owner of the property on which the tree stands decided to 
erect a large vehicle warehouse and salesroom. Not wishing to de- 
stroy so venerable a relic, he had the structure built around its 


FAMOUS TREES 59 


F—227793 
FIGURE 28.—SACRED OAK OF THE DELAWARE INDIANS OF OLEY VALLEY, PA. 


powerful trunk. The splendid old tree towers 20 feet above the 
roof of the second story. 
VIRGINIA 


Maury Walnut, Fredericksburg, so named because it proudly 
spreads its protecting branches over the home of the Pathfinder of 
the Seas, Matthew Fontaine Maury. When the Government appealed 
to patriotic Americans for black walnut for special purposes during 
the World War, this walnut tree was generously offered by the owner, 
Mrs. Coghill, without thought of recompense. However, when the 
inspector came to see it, he was so struck with its magnificence that 
he recommended that it be held in reserve for the last call. 

Memorial Oak, on Westover Avenue, Norfolk. So far as known, 
this tree antedates the city itself, which was established by law in 
1705 and incorporated as a city in 1736. In June 1923 this tree was 
purchased jointly by the city and the Garden Club of Norfolk as 
2 memorial to the sons of Norfolk who made the supreme sacrifice 


in the World War. 
TREES WITH PECULIAR AESTHETIC OR SENTIMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS 
CALIFORNIA 


A mile of Christmas trees, Deodar cedars, Pasadena. | 
Conservation Oak of the C. C. C., Santa Barbara National Forest. 


60 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


Bohemian Grove, sequoias, beside the Russian River, in Sonoma 


County. 
CONNECTICUT 


Bridal Elm, Wethersfield. In colonial days it was the custom for 
a bride-to-be to bring a tree from her father’s home and plant it 
near her new home. Sarah Saltonstall came from New London to 
marry Daniel Buck just before the Connecticut River froze over and 
so was not able to bring a tree with her. The next spring as she was 
drawing water from her well she saw an old Indian approaching and 
bearing a sapling in his hand. After some conversation in sign lan- 
ouage “Sarah exchanged a quart of rum for the sapling, which she 
planted by the well. This proud elm still stands today, shading the 
house where Sarah and Daniel Buck lived in 1775. 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


Japanese cherry trees (Yoshino Cherry, Prunus yedoensis Mats.) 
Tidal Basin and the Speedway in Potomac Park, presented by the 
Tokio Muncipal Council to Mrs. Wilham Howard Taft, wife of the 
President, in 1909 and 1912, as a token of friendly feeling between 
Japan and the United States. 

International Willow Oak, planted on Pan American grounds by 
women representing 20 countries. 

Van Ness Sycamores, near the Pan ‘American Building, on the 
site of the old Van Ness mansion. 

Row of American elms planted along Bladensburg Road by the 
Federation of Women’s Clubs in honor of women who have won 
great distinction. 

Armistice Elms, two American elms planted at the head of Inter- 
national Avenue, leading to Lincoln Memorial, by the American 
Forestry Association in memory of the signing of the Armistice. 

Five hundred Norway maples, planted along Sixteenth Street, as 
memorials to residents of Washington who gave their lives in ‘the 
World War. 

Mothers of America Tree, European white birch, to memorialize 
mothers of the Nation. The tree was planted east of the United 
States Capitol by the American Forestry Association. It was chosen 
because of its beauty and dignity (fig. 29). 

Mothers of the Presidents Tree, weeping birch (Betula pendula 
gracilis), planted in honor of mothers of the Presidents on the south 
lawn of the White House. 


ILLINOIS 


Rock Island Honor Row Lombardy Poplars, planted by Rock Island 
lines along the right-of-way at Midlothian, fase employees 50 years or 
more in the service of the railroad. 


MISSOURI 


Majestic oaks flanking the stages of the Municipal Opera Associa- 
tion outdoor theater and the New Garden Theater, St. Louis. 


FAMOUS TREES 61 


F—321128 
FIGURE 29.—MOTHERS OF AMERICA TREE, EUROPEAN WHITE BIRCH, UNITED 


STATES CAPITOL GROUNDS, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


PENNSYLVANIA 


The first “Mothers’ Tree,” Reading, a European white birch, planted 
on the shore of Antietam Lake, in 1923, under the auspices of the 
American Forestry Association. 

Inspiration Tree, a white pine, in the forest of Sheerlund, about 4 
miles southwest of Reading. It is called the Inspiration Tree be- 


62 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


eause it is said that this tree inspired the owner of Sheerlund to begin 
his forestry work. In 1909 he started the development of his beautiful 


forest estate. 
TEXAS 


Matrimonial Oak, San Saba, a huge lve oak commonly known as 
the Matrimonial Altar, stands lke a deserted giant in the middle of a 
public road on the edge of the town. Tradition has it that, long 
before the white man invaded the valley, brave and daring Indian 
warriors and shy Indian maidens met beneath the boughs of this old 
oak. It is a well-known fact that some of the oldest and most promi- 
nent citizens of this section of the country were united for hfe under 
this tree. Even now, in the spring, especially in June, as many as 
three or four couples are married in the shade of the tree on a Sunday 
afternoon. 

VIRGINIA 


Marriage Trees—oaks on the line between Maryland and Vir ginia. 
on the Eastern Shore. This division between the two colonies was 
made in 1663, and in running the line a number of sturdy old oak 
trees were selected as boundary monuments. On the northern side 
of the line, in the shade of one of the Marriage Oaks, the Maryland 
justices and parsons made marriage easier for runaways from “farther 


down.” 
WASHINGTON 


Road of Remembrance—a thousand elms planted along 8 miles of 
road near Seattle, as the beginning of Memorial Way, dedicated to the 
soldiers of the State of Washington who died during the World War. 


HEADS OF TREE FAMILIES 
CALIFORNIA 


Parent Washington Navel Orange Tree. One of two trees sent to 
Mrs. L. C. Tibbets, Riverside, in 1873, from the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, which had received 12 navel orange trees at 
Washington, D. C., from Bahia, Brazil, in 1871. Propagations were 
made from these trees by budding onto sweet orange seedlings in the 
greenhouse at Washington and distributed to growers, largely in 
Florida, but the var iety was not commercially successful there. How- 
ever, the oranges from the two trees sent to California were found 
to be so superior that the trees became the foundation of the entire 
commercial navel-orange industry of the Southwest and of most 
foreign countries. One tree, which the executor of the Tibbets estate 
gave to the city of Riverside, was moved in February 1902 to the little 
parkway at the intersection of Magnolia and Arlington Avenues, not 
far from its original location, and ‘there it still stands. 

The other parent tree, which was transplanted to the courtyard 
of the Glenwood Mission Inn by President Theodore Roosevelt in 
1903, died in 1921. This Parent Washington Navel orange tree was 
replaced by a “child” tree (fig. 30), which had been propagated 
from it. (Reported by C. S. Pomeroy, associate pomologist, Bureau 
of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture.) 


FAMOUS TREES 63 


F—321103 
FIGURE 30.—PARENT WASHINGTON NAVEL ORANGE TREE, RIVERSIDE, CALIF. 
(COURTESY C.S. POMEROY, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY.) 


MASSACHUSETTS 


Old Lindens at Plymouth. About the year 1750 a ship captain 
brought to Plymouth from England a few rooted cuttings of the 
European linden in a raisin box. Three of these were planted in 
the garden at the rear of the mansion of George Watson of Plymouth. 
From cuttings taken from these trees and planted about 1760 by 
Colonel Watson just within the line of the street, eight other trees 
have grown. At each end of the space occupied by these trees there 
is an inscription which reads, “Linden trees planted by Colonel 
George Watson, 1760.” Many lindens have sprung from this same 
stock. 


64 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 8S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


NEW YORK 


Famous Weeping Beech (Fagus sylvatica pendula), at Flushing, 
Long Island, said to be the tree to which the origin of all the trees 
of its kind in the eastern part of the United States is traced. 

Shipmast locusts (Robinia pseudoacacia var. rectissima Raber) 
(fig. 31). Among first ancestors of their kind in New York State, 
are several at Washington Inn, Roslyn, Long Island, and one on the 
grounds of Isaac R. Coles, at Glen Cove. This variety of locusts 
is said to have been introduced by Capt. John Sands (1649-1712), 
the tradition being that he brought seedlings from Virginia. During 
the Revolution, the smaller trees that grew from the first plantings 
were cut for posts by Revolutionary soldiers. The name “shipmast 
locust” came from the unusually straight trunk. 


FIGURE 31.—ORIGINAL SHIPMAST LOCUST TREES, WASHINGTON INN, ROSLYN,N. Y. 
(COURTESY OF C. S. SWINGLE, SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE.) 


Black Walnut trees overshadowing the grave of Theodore Roose- 
velt at Oyster Bay, from which walnuts have been taken for plant- 
ing by Boy Scouts all over the country as memorial trees to Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

Gates Weeping Willow, Third Avenue and Twenty-second Street, 
New York City. About 1712 Alexander Pope, English poet, found 
a willow twig in a drum of figs sent to him by a friend who was 
traveling in Smyrna. From this twig grew the first weeping willow 
(Sali babylonica) in England. Tn 1775 a British officer brought a 
cutting of this tree to Washington’s stepson, John Parke Custis, 
and this was the first weeping willow in the United States. A 
cutting from this tree, planted by General Gates, in 1790, has become 
the famous Gates Weeping Willow of New York City. — 


FAMOUS TREES 65 


PENNSYLVANIA 


Powhatan Oak, at the Amos E. Ball Tree Place, 1 mile northwest 
of Fredonia, Mercer County. This tree was grown from an acorn 
from the Powhatan Oak at Jamestown, Va. 

Weeping Willow Tree, at the Amos E. Ball Tree Place, 1 mile 
northwest of Fredonia, Mercer County. This tree was a cutting from 
a weeping willow erowing in Washington’s garden at Mount Vernon, 
which in turn was “developed from a cutting ‘from the weeping willow 
at the grave of Napoleon at St. Helena. 

White Willows (Salix alba) in Fairhill near Philadelphia. Benja- 
min Franklin has left us an interesting account of the introduction 
into Pennsylvania of the white willow, “from a sprout brought in on 
a willow basket to Philadelphia. He gave the twig to Debby Norris, 
who planted it on her father’s estate, Fairhill. It took kindly to the 
new environment and became the progenitor of the white willows in 
the Northeastern States. 

RHODE ISLAND 


Napoleon Willow, Providence. A Napoleon willow was brought 
from St. Helena about 1852 by a resident of Providence. When the 
tree was well grown, he gave a cutting from it to a relative in Wiscon- 
sin, and later transplanted back to Providence a cutting from the 
Wisconsin tree. (See Napoleon Willow, Madison, Wis., pp. 65-66.) 


VIRGINIA 


Washington Horsechestnut, on the corner of Charles and Fauquier 
Streets, Fredericksburg. This is the sole survivor of the 13 horse- 
chestnuts planted by George Washington in 1782, on the estate of his 
sister, Betty, to honor the original 13 States of the Union. Scions 
have been taken from this tree at various times. 

Onancock Cork Oak (Quercus suber),a few yards from the beauti- 
ful winding Onancock River. ‘This is cne of several trees of GY. suber 
smuggled out of Spain in 1847. Of the two planted at Cokesbury, in 
Accomac County, one died, as did one set in North Carolina. Except 
for one known to be in Cordele, Ga. (p. 76), this is thought to be 
the only cork oak in eastern North America. 

Black Walnut Tree at Mount Vernon, from which walnuts have 
been taken for planting by Boy Scouts all over the country as me- 
morial trees to George Washington. 

Black Walnut Tree in Arlington Cemetery, formerly the Lee estate, 
from which walnuts have been taken for planting by Boy Scouts all 
over the country as memorial trees to Robert E. Lee. 

Black Walnut Trees at Monticello, estate of Thomas Jefferson, from 
which walnuts have been taken for planting by Boy Scouts all over 
the country, as memorial trees to Thomas J efferson. At the same 
time that black walnuts were being distributed by Boy Scouts, nuts 
from Mount Vernon, Arlington, and Monticello, were sent to most 
State capitols of the United States and to more than fifty American 


embassies for planting. 
WISCONSIN 


Napoleon Willow, Madison. On the shore of Lake Mendota, a row 
of handsome willows grown from cuttings brought from the grave 


165253°—39 5 


66 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S: DBPL. OF AGRICULTURE 


of Napoleon at St. Helena by a sea captain. (See Napoleon Willow, 
Providence, KR. I., p. 65.) 


TREES NOTABLE FOR UNUSUAL SIZE OR AGE 


Trees, the giants of the plant world, have among themselves their 
own giants and veterans. Trees that outstrip or outlive their con- 
temporaries become famous even when not directly associated with 
historic events or notable persons. In the pages that follow is a 
selected list of famous trees, the most outstanding of those claimants 
to size and age distinction that have been reported to the Forest 
Service. 

These heroic individuals are not confined to regions peculiarly 
favorable to tree growth. The stories of the more than 290 trees 
listed have come from 37 States and the District of Columbia. A 
goodly number of species is represented. Oaks are the most humer- 
ous, sequolas the most celebrated; elms and pines are outstanding. 

This tree history is by no means complete, and it is Lkely that 
many of those who use it can make additions from their own knowl- 
edge of trees notable for great size or age. or both. However, even 
this partial list of tree oiants and veterans will give some idea of 
the unusual capacity for orowth and endurance shown by many kinds 
of trees. 

Which is the largest tree in the world? 

The term “largest” is relative. There may be many answers to 
the question, depending on whether the criterion of size is height, 
girth, or volume of wood content. An authentic statement also 
would require more complete records of individual trees than have 
been furnished in many cases. 

Different kinds of trees grow differently and vary in regard to 
usual height, circumference of trunk, spread of branches, volume, 
and span of life. In studying those trees with reputations for unus- 
ual size and age, ther efore, consideration has been given to the usual 
size and age of members of the group to which the outstanding in- 
dividual belongs. for purposes of comparison. The range of the 
species is also considered. 

Which is the oldest tree in the world? 

The determination of the age of the living tree is generally the 
most difficult thing in its history. It is ustially mere ouesswork or 
hearsay, depending upon association with some historic event or 
personage or upon the memory or tradition of local residents. Defi- 
nite record of age is found only in the count of the annual rings of 
tree erowth—succession of springwood and summerwood. Years of 
unusual weather conditions may affect even this tree calendar. The 
story of the annual rings is sometimes read on cores obtained by the 
use of an increment borer, but this instrument has not been manu- 
factured in sufficient length to reach the heart of a very large tree. 


OLD OR LARGE TREES IN THE UNITED STATES 


For a detailed study of species, growth habit, and range of different 
trees, poy information may be found in the following reference 
book and publications: 


Manual of the Lrees of North America, by Charles Sprague Sargent. 


FAMOUS TREES 67 


Check List of the Forest Trees of the United States, Their Names and Ranges. 
United States Department of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Circular 92. For sale 
by Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 
Price 40 cents. 

Forest Trees and Forest Regions of the United States. United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Publication 217. For sale by Superintendent 
of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Price 15 cents. 

Arbor Day, Its Purposes and Observance. United States Department of 
Agriculture Farmers’ Bulletin 1492. For sale by Superintendent of Documents, 
Government Printing Office, Washington, D. ©. Price 5 cents. 

The list of trees of unusual size or age that follows, which is 
necessarily incomplete, is arranged geographically by States, each 
State list being subdivided alphabetically by kinds of trees. 


ALABAMA 


There is a large Adlanthus altissima near Florence. It has a cir- 
cumference of 1614 feet, 4 feet above ground and a height of about 
55 feet. The base of the tree is hollow, but otherwise its condition 
seems sound. No one knows its age, but 50 years ago the diameter 
was about half what it is now. This description is from corre- 
spondence between W. N. Tharp, of Florence, Ala., and E. N. Muuns. 
Chief, Division of Silvics, Forest Service. Pennsylvania Depart- 
ment of Forests and Waters Bulletin 38 (47) is one of the best sources 
of information on ailanthus. 


ARKANSAS 


Near Luxora there is a catalpa tree which, when measured, showed 
a circumference of 16 feet and a height of 75 feet. Its story is told 
by the American Genetic Association, as a part of a report of the 
tree contest sponsored by that association (6,54). 

A persimmon tree at Luxora has a circumference of nearly 22 
feet. It has a height of 130 feet (6, 54). 


CALIFORNIA 


An incense cedar (Libocedrus decurrens) in the Trinity district of 
the Shasta National Forest has a circumference of 26 feet 4 inches, 
according to Ranger Alvin E. Noren, of the Modoc National Forest, 
who reported it in September 1924. 

In 1918 an incense cedar near Morgan Springs, Tehama County 
was reported as having a diameter at breast height* of 8 feet, 
which means a circumference of 25 feet.’ It is credited with a height 
of 120 feet and a volume of 9,700 board feet (69). 

McecCubbin Manna Gum (Hucalyptus viminalis), growing in Tulare 
County between Reedley and Dinuba, was planted in 1889 by J. C. 
McCubbin, who has kept consistent records of its growth. The 
1934 measurement showed it to be 22 feet in circumference at breast 
height and between 125 and 150 feet tall, at 45 years of age. This 
tree was reported to the Forest Service by Woodbridge Metcalf, 
extension forester, University of California, April 26, 1935. 

A blue gum (Fucalyptus globulus) on the grounds of Clark’s 
nursery west of the highway between Milpitas and San Jose in Santa 
Clara County, is known as the Aram Blue Gum from Joseph Aram. 


* Breast height, measured 414 feet above ground. : ‘ . 
°Given the diameter, multiply it by 3.14 to get the approximate circumference, 


GS MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


who established a nursery at this place in 1856 and probably planted 
this tree sometime in the sixties. It is therefore about 20 years 
older than the McCubbin Manna Gum. When measured on April 
10, 1935, it had a circumference of 25 feet at breast height, the largest 
of any eucalyptus tree in California, but it 1s about 25 feet shorter 
than the McCubbin tree and much shorter than the blue gum trees 
on the Berkeley campus. This tree also was reported by Woodbridge 
Metcalf, University of California, April 26, 1935. 

There is a very symmetrical specimen of Eucalyptus globulus at 
the Shinn place near Niles, Alameda County. It measures about 
n feet 9 inches in circumference and 130 feet in height. Mrs. Julia 

T. Shinn, wife of Charles Howard Shinn who was active in the ear ly 
days of the College of Agriculture, University of California, and. 
for years, the supervisor of the Sierra National Forest at North Fork, 
has this to say of the tree: 

it was a “runt” in a flat of eucalyptus seedlings grown in the Shinn Nursery 
about 1870. My husband, helping his father in the nursery, was transferring 
the seedlings to larger quarters, and his father condemned this one as not 
worth room. So Charles, as he told me long afterwards, poked his finger into 
the ground and put the tiny thing in, staking and watering it when it refused 
to die. (88, 94.) 

Mrs. Shinn was thus quoted by Woodbridge Metcalf to the Forest 
Service in a letter dated May 18, 1935, after. visiting the Shinn tree. 

Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla), at Twentieth Street and 
Compton Avenue, Los Angeles, has a girth of 21 feet 3 feet from 
the ground and is ‘estimated to be 60 feet tall. It has a branch spread 
of 113 feet east to west and 116 north to south. Another tree of the 
same species 1s reported as growing on Cedar Street, Glendale, with a 
circumference of 14.3 feet, a 1 height of 86 feet, and a spread of 78 feet. 

About one-half mile west of the west end of Carson Spur on the 
Carson Pass State Highway across the Eldorado National Forest. 
stands a juniper of which it has been said: “It is questionable if 
there is any other Juniper tree in America of equal or greater size.” 
This giant of the _species is 31 feet 8 inches in circumference breast 
high. Although 76 feet tall, it does not show its height to advantage 
because of the lar ge size of the limbs and the excessive amount of 
foliage. This tree is very close to a well-traveled highway and grows 
on a south slope at an altitude of over 7,000 feet. 

A remarkable California Laurel (Umbellularia californica), grow- 
ing at 624 Lowelling Street, San Lorenzo, Alameda County, breaks 
into six large trunks about 5 feet from the ground. The tree, where 
it is smallest, 3 feet from the ground, has a circumference of 
29.3 feet. It is approximately 70 feet tall, with a crown diameter 
of 85 feet, and, when examined, was bearing an enormous crown of 
flowers. This tree also was reported by Weodbridge Metcalf, on 
March 20, 1936. 

In this collection of tree stories, there are several famous oaks in 
the far West: 

A Canyon Live Oak (87) (Quercus chrysolepis), on the Stanislaus 
National Forest, 8 miles east of Tuolumne, has a circumference of 
3114 feet, a height of 60 feet, and a br anch spread of 131 feet. Its 
estimated age is : 700 years. In 1920 the people of Tuolumne County 
subscribed $750 for the services of a tree doctor to preserve this tree 
(fig. 32). 


FAMOUS TREES 69 


F—176962 
FIGURE 32.—CANYON LIVE OAK, STANISLAUS NATIONAL FOREST, CALIF. 


San Benito Valley Oak (Quercus lobata), in San Benito County, 
(6, 54, 77) has a circumference of 371% feet, a height of 125 feet, and 
bears a ton of acorns in a good season. 

Sir Joseph Hooker Oak, one of the finest specimens of valley white 
oak (Quercus lobata), north of Chico, in a park deeded to Chico by 
the widow of Gen. John Bidwell, who had entertained Sir Joseph 
Hooker, an English botanist, in 1877 (6, 9, 48, 54, SO, S71), has been 
variously estimated as having a circumference of 24 to over 28 feet 6 
feet from the ground and a height of 105 to 110 feet. Its spread 
of branches is 150 feet in diameter, the outer circumference of its 
shade being at least 450 feet. 

Another splendid specimen of Quercus lobata, 130 feet high, is in 
the Ojai Valley, and the Henley Oak in Round Valley is 150 feet 
tall and over 25 feet in circumference (87). 

The superintendent of the C. C. C. Bouquet Canyon Camp on the 
Angeles National Forest tells of what he believes to be the largest 
coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) in southern California. It is 341% 
feet in circumference 5 feet from the ground, has seven limbs, one of 
which is 13 feet in circumference, a crown spread of 150 feet in diame- 
ter, is 100 feet tall, and is estimated to be 1,000 years old. A spring 
beneath its shade and a trail leading to the spot make this tree pleas- 
ant to visit and easy of access. 

A “white or native oak” at Gridley has a circumference of 2514 
feet 5 feet from the ground, is 123 feet tall, and has a branch spread 
of 139 feet east to west and 134 feet north to south, according to 


70 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


Clyde H. Pitney, secretary of the Gridley District Chamber of Com- 
merce, in a letter to the Forest Service dated February 20, 1920. 

A sugar pine on the Tahoe National Forest has a circumference 
of over 34 feet and is 235 feet tall, according to a field report of forest 
supervisors in connection with the preparation of a sugar pine 
monograph. 

Joe Elhott giant sugar pine, the largest known conifer in southern 
California, dedicated to Joe Elliott, supervisor of the San Bernar- 
dino National Forest, 1929 to 1935, by the residents of San Bernar- 
dino County. This giant tree is 23 feet in circumference and 140 feet 
high. This tree story comes from Forest Region 5, bulletin, October 
18, 1935. 

‘Another writer (25) says: 

All who have entered or left Yosemite National Park by way of Stockton or 
Tioga Pass over the Big Oak Flat Highway will remember the trip for one 
reason—the magnificent forest of immense sugar and yellow pines that line the 
road from Tuolumne Sequoia Grove to Carl Inn. 

A ponderosa pine on the Shasta National Forest has a circumfer- 
ence of 23 feet 1 inch, according to Alvin E. Noren, forest ranger on 
the Modoc National Forest, which adjoins the Shasta National Forest. 

A lodgepole pine on Mammoth Trail, near Granite Stairway, Si- 
erra National Forest, has a circumference of nearly 22 feet and a 
height of 80 feet, as reported by Supervisor Paul G. Redington and 
Ranger W. R. Taylor, of the Sierra National Forest, September 2, 
1912. 

Sequoia, a genus of pinaceous trees, named in honor of Sequoiah, 
who invented the Cherokee alphabet, has only two species—S. wash- 
ingtoniana, the bigtree of California, and S. sempervirens, the red- 
wood of Oregon and of California. S. washingtoniana was formerly 
designated as S. gigantea and at present by some authors as S. wedl- 
ingtonia. Sequoia, heroic figure of the tree world, widely scattered 
with several species over the ‘Northern Hemisphere during the Creta- 
ceous and Tertiary epochs, 1s now confined to the coast of Oregon and 
California and the mountains of California. The redwood occurs in 
southwestern Oregon and southward near the coast to Monterey 
County, but is rarely found more than 20 to 30 miles from the coast 
or beyond the influence of ocean fogs, or over 3,000 feet above sea 
level (fig. 33). 

The bigtree is found on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada 
at elevations of 5,000 to 8,400 feet above sea level (62). 

The result of the work of several engineers to settle rival claims for 
the honor of possessing the largest tree in the world, gives General 
Sherman Bigtree a volume of 600,120 board feet ; General Grant Big- 
tree, 542,784 board feet; Boole Bigtree, 496,728 board feet; and Hart 
Bigtree, 410, 952 board feet (700). 

Accor ding to the latest reports, General Sherman Bigtree (Sequoia 
washingtoniana) (fig. 34), Sequoia National Park, has a diameter of 

3614 feet or a circumference of nearly 115 feet, a height of 272.4 
foots a volume of 600,120 board feet, and it is between 3 000 and 4,000 
years old. The sequoias were measured by engineers representing the 
California State and Fresno Chambers of Commerce (Gisy HDs Sih, Hil, 
88, 96, 102). 

General Grant Bigtree, General Grant National Park (43, 57, 99), 
has a base circumference variously estimated at from 106 to 125 feet. 


FAMOUS TREES 71 


F-48712 


FIGURE 33.—DENSE STAND OF CALIFORNIA REDWOODS. 


Two writers refer to it as 264 feet tall, and two others report it as 267 
feet tall. A mere 3-foot difference in the height of a sequoia is im- 
material, except in competition for greatest size. However, volume 
is the measurement that has naturally led to the decision on the 
largest tree, and comparison of the General Grant with the General 
Sherman shows that the latter has about 58,000 more board feet. 
(See General Sherman Bigtree, p. 70.) 

Grizzly Giant Bigtree, in Yosemite National Park, has a circum- 
ference at base -ariously estimated at from nearly 87 to more than 
97 feet. One authority gives it a circumference of about 63 feet at 
11 feet ; another, nearly 65 feet at about 10 feet. Its height has been 
variously estimated at from 200 to 209 feet. Its age 1s estimated at 
3,800 years (19, 31, 43, 81, 96, 101). 


MISC: PUBLICATION 295, U2 S2 DEPT. OF AGRICULRURE 


~I 
NO 


F—48731 
FIGURE 34.—GENERAL SHERMAN BIGTREE, SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, CALIF. 


During the fall of 1934 a windstorm felled one of Yosemite’s big 
trees estimated to have been nearly 2 000 years old and mighty, even 
in overthrow (24). This old sequoia was widely known as the Stable 
Tree because of a great burned-out place in its base in which horses 
were stabled in stage- coach days. It was 921, feet in circumference 
at its base and 269° feet high; these measurements show it to have 
been a rival of the Grizzly (Giamen im life. 

A redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in the Humboldt State Red- 
wood Park, near Dyerville, Humboldt County, is said to be “the 

tallest tree now known.” It is 364 feet high. This redwood has been 
dedicated to the founders of Save-the- Redwoods League and is there- 
fore called the Founders Tree (26, 87, 88, 94). 


FAMOUS TREES 72 


Professor Starker says in his article on the Giant Growers of the 
Globe (88), following a description of the Founders Tree: “But not 
far away in Bull Creek flat is another redwood reported to be 345 
feet high.” 

General Grant Redwood, Santa Cruz County, is credited with a 
base circumference of 5614 feet and a height of 300 feet (47). 

A redwood in Big Lagoon tract on Maple Creek, Humboldt County, 
has a circumference of 62.8 feet outside the bark 5 feet from the 
ground and a height of 308 feet. It scales 361,366 board feet— 
Spaulding scale—‘enough to build 22 average houses” (94). 

“The Paradox Walnut” of Yuba, so-called because it is a cross be- 
tween the California black walnut and the Persian (English) walnut, 
is undoubtedly the largest walnut tree in California. It has a circum- 
ference of 18 feet 7 inches, 4 feet above ground, a height of 90 feet, 
and a branch spread of 108 feet (6, 73,54). 


COLORADO 


A limber pine (Pinus flexilis) 18.8 feet in circumference at breast 
height, and 67 feet tall, is on the Huerfano district of the San Isabel 
National Forest. This tree was reported by Paul Gilbert, district 
forest ranger of the Huerfano district of the San Isabel National 
Forest, in ‘the Rocky Mountain Region Bulletin for December 1936. 
He reports this tree as growing on an eastern exposure in a mixed 
stand of ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce, and a scattering of 
Douglas fir, at an elevation of 8, 500 feet and says that it 1s not defec- 
tive in any way. 

An Engelmann spruce on the Gunnison National Forest has a cir- 
cumference of more than 15 feet and is 164 feet tall, as reported by 
Supervisor Kreuger on March 10, 1930, from measurements taken by 
him and Ranger Heilman on J uly 8, 1929. 


CONNECTICUT 


The canoe birch at Warehouse Point, Hartford County, has a 
circumference of 8 feet 5 inches 4 feet from the ground, and a branch 
spread of 73 feet. It is 75 feet tall (66, p. 23). 

The Great Elm at Wethersfield (oO 1D 300, p.45 (hy 109, p. 
SO), has been acclaimed as “the largest living elm in the United States” 
and when the results of the contest of the American Genetic Associa- 
tion, 1915 (6,44) in its search for outstanding trees, were published, 
it was announced that “in all probability there is no living elm larger 
than the Great Elm at Wethersfield, Conn.” This contest was far- 
reaching and brought forth stories and photographs of 337 trees. 
Nevertheless, comparison with records of other elms show close com- 
petition. (Compare with descriptions of the Rugg Elm, Framing- 
ham, Mass., and of the Gowanda, Italy Hollow, and Markham elms 
of New York, and the Elmshade tree in Canton, Conn.) The Great 
Elm at Wethersfield stands on the east side of the Broad Street Green, 
and the sign on it reads: “The Great Elm is 9 feet 6 inches in diam- 
eter, 29 feet 6 inches in circumference. Age 172 years, 1930.” It is 
credited with a height of 100 feet and a branch spread of about 150 
feet. Tradition has it that Charles Wesley preached under the 
spreading branches of this elm (fig. 95). Newspaper reports indicate 
this tree was destroyed by the storm of September 21, 1938, 


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FAMOUS TREES 15 


The beautiful old elm in front of Elmshade at the head of the 
green in Canton, Hartford County (66, p. 25), is nearly the size of 
the Wethersfield elm. One owner of Elmshade has stated that the 
elm was a good-sized tree when the house was built, in 1784. 

Revolutionary Tree (an elm) at Redding, Fairfield County (66, 
p. 19), has a circumference of 30 feet 6 inches 1 foot from the ground. 
Its branches have a spread of 112 feet. On the site near this elm 
stood the house of the Widow Sanford where Continental officers 
banqueted in 1779. 

Bolleswood, which contains a grove of ancient hemlocks, was 
deeded to Thomas Bolles, of New London, by Owaneco, sachem of 
the Mohegan Indians, in 1698. It has remained practically un- 
touched since the days when the Indians held council there (66, p. 37). 

Cogswell Maple (species not given) at New Preston, Litchfield 
County, is said to be the largest maple in Comnecticut. It is on 
property owned by a lineal descendant of William Cogswell. The 
house on this property was once an inn where George Washington 

was entertained on one of his trips to Connecticut (66, p. 12). 

Giant Oak, at West Ashford, (66, p. 33), was awarded the first 
prize offered ‘for the lar gest tree entered in a State tree contest in 
1927. It has a circumference of 21 feet at breast height. Its height 
is 95 feet, and its horizontal branch spread is 135 feet. 

At Easton (66, p. 14), there is a white oak about 300 years old 
on the lawn in front of the house built in 1730 by Isaac Bennett. 
The circumference of its trunk is 1614 feet, and its branch spread 
is 125 feet. 

Johnson Oak, at Northford (66, p. 27), stands on property pur- 
chased by Nathaniel Johnson in 1714, which remained in the Johnson 
family until 1916. The measurements of this tree in 1800 were as 
follows: Circumference of trunk, 30 feet; branch spread, east and 
west 111 feet, north and south 107 feet. 

“Cathedral Pines,” at Cornwall, Litchfield County, had a maxi- 
mum height in 1922 of 125 feet. They are known to have been in 
the possession of one family for over 200 years. The United States 
Geological Survey has said of them that “they are the finest bit of 
original forest in the Eastern States and not surpassed in the Lake 
States” (66, p. 13). 

A sycamore of good old age is the Rev olutionary Sycamore, at 
Danbury, Fairfield County. According to the record, this tree was 
standing at the time of the settlement of Danbury in 1685 (66, p. 17). 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


Twin sassafras trees, on Soldiers’ Home Grounds, are said to be 
the oldest living things in the District of Columbia. This was the 
opinion of Humboldt, the German naturalist, verified byw. Ww. 
Corcoran, whose estate adjoined the Soldiers’ Home (52, p. 69) 
(fig. 36). 


FLORIDA 


A so-called sovereign cypress in the dense swamp between San- 
ford and Longwood, is supposed to have been a denizen of this 
section before Ponce de Leon sought the Fountain of Youth (459). 
There is space enough for a roadway to be cut through the trunk. 


76 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U.S: DEPT. OF AGRICULDURI 


SS 


F—321119 
FIGURE 36.—TWIN SASSAFRAS TREES, SOLDIERS’ HOME GROUNDS, WASHINGTON, 
D. C., SAID TO BE THE OLDEST LIVING THINGS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


The Florida Forest Service in a letter of April 18, 1935, to the 
Forest Service, says this cypress has a circumference of 54 feet, a 
height of 125 feet, and an estimated approximate age of 3,000 years. 

A red oak at Chipley with a circumference of about 25 feet 3 feet 
from the ground, a height of 60 feet, a spread of 65 feet, at only 20 
vears of age, was reported by the American Genetic Association in 
September 1915. The description of the red oak at Chipley was 
included in the full list of tree contestants in the 1915 contest of the 
American Genetic Association sent to the Forest Service by the asso- 
clation. 

Old Pisa is a giant oak 2144 miles south of Daytona (10, pp. 284- 
287). It has a circumference of 35 feet at the base and its branches 
extend over almost an acre of ground. It is believed to have been an 
old tree when Daytona was the Indian village, “Autumceas.” 


GEORGIA 


A cork oak (Quercus suber) on the edge of a cottonfield, a half 
mile north of Daphne station, west of Cordele (53), is said to be 
“undoubtedly the largest specimen of cork oak 1 in the country, prob- 
ably brought from Spain by a southern planter.” It has a circum- 
ference of. nearly 12 feet at 1 foot from the ground, is 60 feet tall, 
has a branch spread of 60 to 70 feet, and 1s more than 100 ) years old. 

In a public park at Brunswick (9) there is a tree, a veteran in 
1768, which was called Lovers’ Oak by the Indians of the locality. It 
is claimed for this tree that it 1s the “largest live oak in the South.” 


FAMOUS TREES ed 


A foot above the ground its circumference is 28 feet. (Compare 
Old Pisa, near Daytona, Fla., and Locke Breaux, Arnaud Robert, and 
George Washington live oak in Louisiana.) With the sun directly 
overhead, the shadow of Lovers’ Oak measures 90 feet in diameter. 

Big Oak, a live oak (Quercus virginiana), at Thomasville has a 
circumference of 19 feet, a height of 47 feet, a branch spread of 133 
feet, and is about 200 years old. (See Trees that have had special 
protection, p. 56.) 

Oglethorpe Oak (Quercus virginiana), 11 Savannah, Ga., with a 
circumference of 21 feet 6 inches at about 5 feet from the ground 
and a spread of 114 feet, was reported by the American Genetic 
Association in September 1915 (54). 

A loblolly or old-field pine (Pinus taeda) about 4 miles north of 
Gordon, Wilkinson County, in the swamp of Great Commissioner 
Creek, on an island subject to overflow, has a circumference of 19 
feet at 3 feet from the ground and is 125 feet tall (47). It has been 
estimated that this tree would cut about 16,000 feet of lumber, but 
it is hoped that it will be preserved as an example of what nature will 
do if unhindered. 

IDAHO 


A western red cedar on the Washington Creek drainage not far 
from Headquarters, Clearwater County, Idaho, which was still stand- 
ing July 31, 1931, has been acclaimed as the “largest western red 
cedar so far recorded in Idaho.” It has a circumference at breast 
high of 39.4 feet. This tree was reported by Elers Koch, assistant 
regional forester, and J. A. Fitzwater, forest inspector of the Forest 
Service. 

A lowland white fir (Adzes grandis) near the top of Moscow Moun- 
tain is reported by Floyd L. Otter, instructor, School of Forestry, 
University of Idaho, as having a circumference of more than 14 feet 
at breast height. 

An estimate of the ages of the large cedars (junipers) of the Roose- 
velt Grove in the Kaniksu National Forest, near Priest River, gives 
the ages as between 2,000 and 3,000 years, as reported by Floyd L. 
Otter (1929), instructor of forestry, School of Forestry, Moscow. 

C. K. McHarg, Jr., of the northern forest region, reports a western 
white pine on the Little North Fork of the Clearwater River, in 
Idaho, which has an estimated diameter, breast high, of 7 feet, mean- 
ing a circumference of about 22 feet. 

A western white pine growing on land of the Potlatch Lumber Co., 
20 miles from Moscow, was 207 feet tall and 425 years old, when 
reported in 1912 (2). 

A mountain willow (Saltz scouleriana) near the top of Moscow 
Mountain is reported by Floyd L, Otter, instructor, School of Fores- 
try, University of Idaho, as being more than 5 feet in circumference 
at breast height. 

ILLINOIS 


The State forester of Illinois reports a cypress in Massae County 
having a height of 137 feet with the reputation of being “the tallest 
tree in the State.” 

A bur oak in Brownfield Woods, Urbana, almost 16 feet in circum- 
ference and 104 feet tall, is reported by State Forester R. N. Miller. 


78 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
INDIANA 


According to C. R. Tillotson, of the Forest Service, in a letter of 
March 21, 1919, to John Gill, Haddon Farm, Haddonfield, N. J., the 
largest white oak on record at that time was one at Atwood, the cir- 
cumference of which was 21 feet. However, this list includes several 
later-known rivals. 

An oak near Warsaw (20) has a circumference of very nearly 22 
feet. 

A sycamore (Platanus occidentalis Li.) at Worthington, Greene 
County, about 70 miles southwest of Indianapolis, was adjudged the 
largest shade tree in the United States in the 1915 contest of the 
American Genetic Association. It has a circumference of 42 feet 3 
inches at about 5 feet from the ground; a height of 150 feet; and a 
branch spread of about 100 feet Ch, 5,6, 54). 

A large sycamore at East Mount Carmel was reported by V. W. 
Agniel, of Princeton, July 16, 1920, to the Forest Service, as found 
while making a survey along the Ww abash River; Mr. Angiel gives 
the measurements as about 341/ 5 feet in circumference and about 150 
feet in height. 

IOWA 


Lincoln Memorial Jalal een y is 110 feet high and nearly 12 feet 
in circumference (10, v. 26, p. 514). (See Trees associated with nota- 
ble people, p. 9.) 

Twin cottonwoods, 80 feet in height, are reported from Solon. 


KANSAS 


A cottonwood east of Engelwood has a circumference of 31 feet 
and is said to be the largest tree in Kansas (105, pp. 12-14). 


KENTUCKY 


An oak in Harrison County with a circumference of 31 feet 5 feet 
trom the ground, a height of 125 feet, and a spread of 70 feet was 
reported by the American Genetic Association in September 1915 
(6, 54). 

A sassafras on a farm near Glendale, Hardin County, was reported 
as having a circumference of 14 feet 6 feet above ground (37). 


LOUISIANA 


A cypress tree estimated to be 1,300 years old and measuring 16,175 
board feet in volume when cut recently in the Amite River swamp in 
Livingston Parish, is reported by Extension Forester Robert Moore 
of Louisiana State University. The age was calculated by counting 
the annual rings. The tree had a merchantable length of 86 feet 
8 inches, measured 7 feet 8 inches across the stump, and was sound 
throughout (98). 

A sweetgum near Urania has a circumference of 18.8 feet and a 
volume of 10,580 board feet, according to the late Henry E. Hardtner, 
president of the Urania Lumber Co. 

Edwin Lewis Stephens, president of Southwestern Louisiana Insti- 
tute, says (89, 90): “I at present number among my personal ac- 
quaintance 43 live oaks whose individual age is not less than 100 


FAMOUS TREES 79 


years.” First on the list he puts the Locke Breaux Live Oak, on the 
right bank of the Mississippi River, 4 miles above Hahnville, in 
St. Charles Parish. Measured January 22, 1932, by Dr. Stephens 
and the owner of the tree, Samuel Locke Breaux of New Orleans, it 
showed a circumference of 35 feet, a height of 75 feet, and a branch 
spread of 166 feet. It is probably nearer 200 than 100 years old 
(fig. 37). 

Second on the list, Dr. Stephens describes the Arnaud Robert Live 
Oak, 6 miles above “Breaux Bridge, in St. Martins Parish, about a 
mile west of the Teche. Dr. Stephens visited it in company with 
the late Albert E. Winship, of Boston, on September 18, 1932, and 
found its circumference to be 33 feet 10 inches, its height 87 feet, 


Ss ok 


F—288640 
FIGURE 37.—LOCKE BREAUX LIVE OAK, ST. CHARLES PARISH, LA. 


SO MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 8S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


and its branch spread 135 feet. This tree, also, is probably 20) 
years old. 

Others of Dr. Stephens’ list with a girth of more than 25 feet are: 

George Washington Live Oak, in ‘Audubon Park, New Orleans, 
which measured 8, feet around on October 9, 1932. P. H. Fontaine. 
of Kentwood, contributes an interesting description: 

In the summer of 1897 I measured the George Washington Oak (92, p. 20) in 
Audubon Park. Four feet from the ground its circumference then was 22 feet. 
Comparison of this with my measurement of the tree in 1932, when I found it 
to be 28 feet 6 inches around, shows that during that period of 35 years there 
was an increase in circumference of 6 feet 6 inches—or 78 inches. Dividing 
78 by 35, we get an average annual increase of 2.23 inches, which approximates 
closely the annual growth of the 18 live oaks on Southwestern campus that 
were set out January 1, 1901. Their average annual increase was 2.4 inches. 

Luling Oak, on the right bank of the Mississippi, by the side of 
the Old Spanish Trail (U. S. 90), a quarter of a mile south of 
Luling, measured in September 1930, showed a circumference of 27 
feet 8 inches. 

Martha Washington Live Oak, in Audubon Park, New Orleans, 
has a circumference of 2714 feet. 

Mays Live Oak, on the right bank of Bayou Grosse Tete, on Live 
Oak Plantation at Rosedale, has a circumference of 2714 feet. 

Seven Sisters, on the old Lastrapes place, in St. Landry Parish, 
near Washington (one dead) ; others in two clusters (of three each) 
measuring 26 feet 4 inches to 27 feet 3 inches in circumfer ence. 

Jamison Oak, on the Preston Pugh plantation near Thibodaux 
in Lafourche Parish, has a circumference of 27 feet 2 inches and a 
branch spread of 140 feet. 

Kaplan Oak, 4 miles above the mouth of the Bayou Vermillion 
near the Intracoastal Canal, has a circumference of 27 feet 1 inch. 

Big Double Live Oak at Parks on the Teche when measured on 
March 3, 1931, showed a circumference of 27 feet. 

Fredericks Point Live Oak (92, p. 77), in Terrebonne Parish, has a 
trunk measuring 32 feet and is a venerable tree. As a result of bat- 
thng for centuries with tropical storms, it is now in a deplorable 
condition, but it is said that funds will be made available for its 
rehabilitation. 

A live oak, known as Grandpere (92, p. 79), in Marrero, Jefferson 
Parish, has a circumference of 29 feet 6 inches, with a spread of 155 
feet. 

Wesley Schriefer Live Oak (92, p. 19) has a circumference of 
26 feet 8 inches. It is located at Perry, near Abbeville. The Stands- 
bury home was built in front of this tree 150 years ago. 

Oak Alley Live Oaks (92, p. 19), a wonderful avenue, situated on 
the Mississippi River, in St. James Parish, has 28 trees, 14 on each 
side, all large, perfect, and healthy. One of them is 22 feet 8 inches, 
and there are others over 22 feet in circumference. The alley from 
the mansion to the highway next to the levee on the south side of the 
Mississippi River is from 700 to 800 feet long. The arch formed by 
the trees is most symmetrical and beautiful. It is said the house 
was built by Governor Roman in 1836, and the oaks were planted 
at that time. (See also De La Ronde Oaks, Trees associated with 
the building of the Nation, p. 27.) 

Hohen Solms pecan (fig. 38), on the west bank of the Mississippi 
River, 36 miles south of Baton Rouge, a tree which, in 1927, the 


FAMOUS TREES 81 


FIGURE 38.—TYPICAL LARGE PECAN NEAR HOHEN SOLMS, LA., WEST BANK OF THE 
MISSISSIPPI RIVER, 36 MILES SOUTH OF BATON ROUGE, LA. (COURTESY OF C. A. 
REED, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY.) 


National Pecan Growers’ Association designated as the largest pecan 
in the United States. At the time it had a circumference of 21 
feet. (Compare with Jumbo, a pecan in San Saba, Tex., p. 94.) 


MARYLAND 


An ailanthus near Carmichael has a circumference at breast height 
of 16 feet 1 inch, according to measurements of the State department 
of forestry reported June 1, 1928. 


165233 °—39——6 


82 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


A basswood with a circumference of 10 feet 4 inches at breast. 
height, a height of 84 feet, and a branch spread of 85 feet, is reported 
by Mrs. John F. Symington, of Rodgers Forge, according to the 
State department of forestry. 

An English beech belonging to Mrs. W. J. Starr, near Easton, 
is 1314 feet in circumference, with a height of 85 feet and a spread 
of 81 feet, as measured by the State department of forestry in 1928. 

A dogwood owned by S. F. Baldwin, near Collington, Prince 
Georges County, measures 514 feet in circumference, 18 feet in height, 
and 35 feet in spread of branches, according to the State department 
of forestry. 

A hackberry near Venton, Somerset County, measuring 12 feet 2 
inches in circumference, 86 feet in spread, and 68 feet in height. 
has been reported by its owner and measured by the State department 
of forestry. 

A hemlock at Swallow Falls, Garrett County, was reported as 
having, when measured by a representative of the State department 
of forestry on June 1, 1928, a circumference of 8 feet 11 inches, a 
height of 108 feet, and a branch spread of 40 feet. 

A red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) on the place of Mrs. W. J. 
Starr, near Easton, is 11 feet 7 inches in circumference, is 52 feet 
tall, and has a branch spread of 43 feet, according to the measure- 
ments of the State department of forestry, reported June 1, 1928. 

A Kentucky coffeetree near Cecilton, 1214 feet in circumference, 72 
feet in branch spread, and 105 feet tall, was reported by the owner, 
Mrs. Kate McLane, and measured by the State department of forestry. 
It was reported by the department on June 1, 1928. 

A black locust measuring 12 feet 11 inches in circumference, 73 
feet in height, and 67 feet in branch spread, near Glyndon, and a 
honeylocust measuring 16 feet in circumference, 88 feet in height. 
and 125 feet in spread of branches, near Centerville, were reported 
by the State department of forestry June 1, 1928. 

Outstanding representatives of red and sugar maples are reported 
by owners from near Forest Hill and Sang Run. A red maple near 
Forest Hill, in 1928 measured 1614 feet in circumference, 68 feet in 
height, and 57 feet in spread of branches. The sugar maple measured 
1614 feet in circumference, 105 feet in height, and 84 feet in branch 
spread. Both of these trees were measured by a representative of 
the State department of forestry. 

On a farm about 1 mile from Hyattstown, Frederick County, there 
is a red oak which has a circumference of 22 feet 114 feet from the 
eround. This tree was reported by M. D. Hyatt, of the Navy Depart- 
ment, Newport News, Va., to the Forester, U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, July 17, 1922. 

A white oak near Landover, Prince George County (/6) has a cir- 
cumference of 25 feet 1 inch at breast height, a height of 85 feet, and a 
branch spread of 96 feet. It was officially measured by a representa- 
tive of the State department of forestry and reported June 1, 1928. 

A white oak owned by James E. Steuart, at Annapolis (76), has a 
circumference of 22 feet 7 inches, a height of 99 feet, and a branch 
spread of 114 feet. 

Wye Mills Oak (fig. 39), a white oak about 9 miles from Easton. 
According to an inscription on a tablet attached to the tree, 1t has a 


83 


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WOYA SATIW 6 LNOEGY MVO ALIHM LNASCISINDSVW V MVO STAIW SAM—'6E 


ayndl4 


S4+ MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 8. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


circumference of about 20 feet and a branch spread of 14014 feet (29). 
In 1930 it was 391 years old. 

Spanish oak is a name used in Maryland and other nearby and 
Southeastern States for southern red oak. An outstanding tree of 
this species is reported by the owner near Sudley, and by the State 
department of forestry (June 1, 1928), as measuring 23 feet 5 inches 
in circumference, 105 feet in height, and 129 feet in spread of branches. 

A giant willow oak reported by its owner near Easton, and meas- 
ured ‘by a representative of the State department of forestry, has a 
circumference of 21 feet, a height of 103 feet, and a branch spread of 
97 feet. 

A loblolly pine near Carmichael, reported by the owner in 1928 and 
measured by the State department of forestry, has a circumference 
of 16 feet 4 inches, a height of 84 feet, and a branch spread of 105 
feet. 

A Carolina poplar was reported by the owner at Preston through 
the State department of forestry, June 1, 1928. That department 
reports that the tree’s circumference is 14 feet, its height 110 feet, 
and its branch spread 106 feet. 

A sassafras at Sandy Springs, measured by a member of the State 
department of forestry, has a circumference of 12 feet 1 inch 414 feet 
from the ground, according to E. N. Munns, Chief of the Section of 
Silvics, Forest Service, in a letter to S. A. Casey, Lebanon, Mo., dated 
November 2, 1931. 

A sycamore near Funkstown, measured by a representative of the 
State department of forestry, when reported June 1, 1928, had a cir- 
cumference of 23 feet 3 inches, a height of 103 feet, and a branch 
spread of 100 feet. 

The Liberty Tree on the campus of St. John’s College, Annapolis, 
has a circumference of 32 feet 4 inches 2 feet from the ground and is 
150 feet tall. The State department of forestry in 1928 reported this 
tree’s circumference as 26 feet, its height as 124 feet, and its branch 
spread as 117 feet. 

A black walnut near Chewsville measured by a representative oi 
the State department of forestry and reported in 1928, had a cir- 
cumference of 19 feet 7 inches, a height of 100 feet, and a branch 
spread of 132 feet. 

A black willow (Salix nigra) near Chewsville was reported by the 
State department of forestry in 1928 as measuring 141% feet in cir- 
cumference, 61 feet in height, and 66 feet in br anch spread, 

A weeping willow (Salix babylonica) reported from near Thur- 
mont is an exotic species native to western Asia, but naturalized in 
a number of localities from the Central Atlantic States westward to 
Michigan and Illinois. This tree, measured by the State department 
of forestry in 1928, had a circumference of 1514 feet, a height of 
53 feet, and a branch spread of 79 feet. 

An English yew, one of the trees on Mrs. W. J. Starr’s estate near 
Easton is 8 feet in circumference and 41 feet tall and has a branch 
spread of 49 feet, as measured and reported by a representative of 
the State department of forestry in 1928. 


MASSACHUSETTS 


A white birch ( possibly Betula populifolia) in Athol, Worcester 
County, is 12 feet 2 inches in its smallest circumference, according 


FAMOUS TREES 85 


to the report made by the American Genetic Association in con- 
nection with its 1915 tree contest (6, 54). 

The Rugg Elm, or Gates Elm, at Framingham (83, excerpt; 84, 
pp: S12), appears to be a rival of the Wethersfield Elm in size and 
age if not in reputation. (Compare with The Great Elm, at Wethers- 
field, Conn.) It has been said of the Rugg Elm: “If, indeed, 
it is a single tree and not two trees springing from a common root 
system, it is without doubt the largest elm to be found any- 
where in New England.” Records of its dimensions give its ¢ir- 
cumference as Qe feet where the trunk divides and as 2814 to 30 
feet at the base, its height as 70 feet, its branch spread as 145 feet, 
and its age as between 300 and 400 years. 

Beeman Oak, Lanes a large red oak, has a circumference of 
20 feet, a height of 75 feet, and a branch spread of 90 feet. (See 
Trees associated with fe building of the Nation, p. 30.) 

Waverley Oaks, along Beaver Branch, at Waverley (10, v. 28, p. 
551), must have been sizable trees when the Norsemen and the Indians 
were rivals for the possession of this region. (See Trees associated 
particularly with writers and literature, pp. 48-49.) 

At Concord, near the famous monument, there is a willow whose 
circumference is 22 feet at breast height, its height 43 feet, and its 


. . = 
branch spread 63 feet, according to Simmons (84, pp. 8-12). 


MINNESOTA 


The largest white pine tree in nine States of the Central West, 
according ‘to the News-Tribune, Duluth, stands near Pike Bay west 
of Cass Lake. It is 130 feet high and 14 feet in circumference, has 
a volume of 5,960 board feet, and is more than 400 years old. This 
tree was reported by E. L. Besley, executive assistant, Chippewa 
National Forest, (fig. 40.) 


MISSISSIPPI 


“A live oak grove of surpassing beauty, 10 miles west of Ocean 
Springs (89), is s reported by Mrs. James R. Leavell, of Chicago, as on 
her place at Doonegate. Speaking of the Doonegate live oaks, Presi- 
dent Stephens, of Southwestern Louisiana Institute, says 

The splendid live oak groves, avenues, and individual trees to be found in 
and near Ocean Springs and Biloxi, Miss., are worthy of a place along with 
the best we have in Louisiana. 

The Confederate Tree, a red oak which stands on North Lamar 
Street in Oxford, is claimed to be among the largest and oldest 
trees of its kind in the South. Its trunk is about 15 feet in cir- 
cumference, and its branches shade an area approximately 600 square 
yards in extent. (See Trees associated with the building of the 
Nation, p. 31.) 


MISSOURI 


A soft maple at Warrensburg, with a circumference of a little 
over 13 feet at 3 feet from the ground, was reported by the American 
Genetic Association in September 1915 (6, 54). 

Big Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) im Mississippi County, 2 miles 
from the river, measured about 20 feet in circumference in 1932. 
This tree stands out among surrounding trees, mostly hickories, 
being noticeably taller, and its crown is thick and spreading. This 


86 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


F—319177 
FIGURE 40.—LARGEST REMAINING WHITE PINE TREEIN THE LAKE STATES REGION, 
NEAR PIKE BAY, LOOP ROAD, MINN. (COURTESY OF GEORGE W. KELLEY.) 


FAMOUS TREES 87 


tree was described by Woodbridge Metcalf, extension forester for 
California, in a report to the Forest Service, March 20, 1986. 

A sassafras tree on the old Casey Farm, Laclede County, has 
a circumference of 15 feet 3 inches 6 feet above ground and is over 
100 years old. This tree was reported by S. A. ‘Casey of Lebanon, 
Mo., in a letter to the Forest Service dated October 22, 19381. 


MONTANA 


According to the report of Forest Ranger H. J. Thol, as of April 
15, 1929, an . Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) on the Flathead 
National Forest, has a circumference of nearly 19 feet. Its top is 
broken off at about 80 feet. 

Another Engelmann spruce on the Flathead has a circumference 
of nearly 19 feet and an estimated height of 200 feet. This tree 
also was reported by Forest Ranger H. J dtholras ot Aypril 5, 1929: 


NEBRASKA 


A cottonwood at Milford, with a circumference of 36 feet 5 feet 
from the ground, a height of 128 feet, and a spread of 78 feet, was 
reported by the American Genetic Association MON (Ono!) 


NEW JERSEY 


The white oak in the Friends’ Cemetery, at Salem (fig. 41), (7; 9; 
23, 35; 57; 69a; 71, p. 14) has a circumference of 1914 feet and 
a branch spread of 117 feet. It is nearly 90 feet tall. One estimate 
places its probable age at 300 years, another at 350 to 400 years. (See 
Trees associated with religion, pp. 52-53.) 


F—349620 
FIGURE 41.--SALEM’S FAMOUS WHITE OAK TREE AND TABLET ERECTED IN ITS 
HONOR. 


SS MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


Tatum Oak (white oak), at Mantua Grove, about 4 miles from 
Woodbury, has a circumference of 2514 feet at 4 feet above ground, 
above all enlargement caused by roots. It is 94 feet tall and has 
a branch spread of 121 feet. Its estimated age is about 1,000 years. 
This information is contained in letters from John A. Whitall, 
president of the Gloucester County Historical Society, New Jersey, 
to the Forest Service, dated August 22. 1916, and January 10, 1917. 
Also Alfred Gaskill, then State “forester, is quoted as claiming that 
this is the largest white oak tree east of the Alleghenies. 

The same letters report a white oak at Mantua (6, 54) on a knoll 
on the bank about 3 miles farther up the creek than Tatum Oak, 
which has a circumference of 20 feet 1 inch 4 feet from the ground. 
The spread of its branches is given as 118 feet. 

A sassafras at Madison has been reported by the owner, Henry 
Hentz, as having a circumference of 1214 feet 614 feet above the 
ground, a height of 75 feet, and a branch spread of 5014 feet. Cor- 
respondence and photograph in files of the Forest Service. 

A black walnut on Hanover Neck with a circumference of 24 
feet has been listed among the largest individual hardwood trees by 
Lamb (6, 54). 


NEW YORK 


New York is represented in this hall of fame by three notable 
elms: The Gowanda, the Elm of Italy Hollow, and the Markham 
Elm. The Gowanda Elm, “New York’s Greatest Tree,” has a cir- 
cumference of more than 30 feet. Simmons (845, pp. 9-12), says: 

The Gowanda Elm is 89 feet in circumference near the ground, and is with- 
out limbs to 50 feet from the ground, at which height its girth is 20 feet. The 
tree is 100 feet tall and contains 17,000 board feet of lumber, sufficient to make 
1,800 barrels. 

Records submitted in a contest for the largest tree in New York, 
organized by the State Coilege of Forestry at Syracuse and the New 
York State Forestry Association, in 1921, gave this tree the prize as 
having a circumference of 34 feet 2 inches, 

Elm of Italy Hollow, near the town of Middlesex, carried off the 
prize in a big-tree contest sponsored in New York State in 1920 by 
the State College of Agriculture. Its circumference is given as 32 
feet and it shades an area of 8,650 square feet. (See Trees asso- 
ciated with the building of the Nation, p. 33.) 

A giant elm, whose long life has almost run its course, 1s the Mark- 
ham Elm (77, pp. 42-43) on the estate of that name 2 miles north 
of Avon. The circumference of the trunk has measured 40 feet, but 
it 1s much decayed and as far back as 1893 a part of the huge tree 
blew down, making it possible to saw a section across and count the 
annual rings, w hich showed that the tree was then about 600 years 
old. (See ‘Trees associated with the building of the Nation, p. 33.) 

At the home of Ellis Parker Butler, at Flushing, Long Island 
(65) there is a white oak with a circumference of 17 feet. It is 
only 54 feet tall and has a branch spread of 90 feet. Its real 
claim to distinction is its age, estimated by the botanist, Asa Gray, 
as 600 years. Since Gray died in 1888, his estimate of the tree’s ege 
inust be increased by about 50 years. 


FAMOUS TREES 89 


A red oak at Lloyds Neck, on the north shore of Long Island (/0, 

v. 28) has been claimed by ive Britton, of the New Yor k Botanical 
Canien, to be the largest and finest specimen of red oak in the East. 
It has a circumference of 16 feet 8 inches at 3 feet from the ground 
and a branch spread of 150 feet. It is thought to be more than 400 
years old. 

Lafayette or Geneva Century Balsam Poplar, on Hamilton Street, 
Route 20, just west of Geneva, is already listed (p. 10). According 
to GB: Sudworth, dendrologist of the Forest tae Ice, Measure- 
ments taken June ii 19D: show that the tree was then 95 feet tall, 
with a branch spread of 110 feet and a circumference of 22 feet 2 
inches 514 feet from the ground. (See Trees associated with notable 
people—Lafayette Trees, p. 10.) 

Balmville, which is within a few miles of Newburgh, obtained its 
name from a huge poplar or balm-of-Gilead tree, measurements 
of which have been taken at intervals since 1782. According to 
latest measurements it has a circumference of 21 feet 8 inches, 2 “feet 
from the ground (71, p. 29; 85). 

Inwood Tuliptree, at the easter n base of Inwood Hill, at the north- 
ern end of Manhattan Island, at the mouth of Harlem River, is said 
to be “the only living thing on Manhattan Island which w as there 
when Henry Hudson came.” This tree has a circumference of 19 
feet and is 123 feet tall (See Trees associated with the building of 
the Nation, p. 35.) 

Wayne Black Walnut, or Black Walnut of Stony Point, near the 
town of Stony Point, has a circumference of 21 feet at 4 feet from the 
ground and is 80 feet tall. (See Trees intimately associated with 
other famous people, p. 138.) 


NORTH CAROLINA 


A chestnut tree on the main range of the Great Smoky Mountains, 
3 miles from Crestmont, was entered in the tree contest of the Ameri- 
can Genetic Association in 1915. This tree then had a circumference 
of 33 feet 4 inches 7 feet from the ground and a height of 75 feet. 
It was then said of it that “after the San Benito Oak of California, 
this is the largest nut-bearing tree submitted” in the contest (6, 54). 
(It is possible that this tree has been killed by the blight.) 

McLaughlin White Oak at Statesville (63), has a circumference 
of 30 feet just above the ground and a branch spread of about 
108 feet. 

The South’s Living Christmas Tree, a magnificent live oak in 
Hilton Park, Wilmington, under whose spreading branches the com- 
munity Christmas festivities are held. 

This unique Christmas tree is said to be between 200 and 3800 years old. 
The spread of its branches is about 110 feet, the circumference of its trunk is 
approximately 15 feet and its height is 75 feet. It is claimed that it would 
take three 2-ton trucks to carry away the moss on the Wilmington Christmas 
tree (42). 

A pine in Coaky swamp, Edgecombe County, has a circumference 
of 31 feet and is 17 5 feet tall. It has been claimed for it that it is 
“the biggest tree in North Carolina,” but this claim should be com- 
pared with that of the Crestmont chestnut, North Carolina (7). 


99 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 8. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


The tallest tree entered in the American Genetic Association con- 
test of 1915 was a tuliptree on Reems Creek, not far from Craggy 
Mountain, about 15 miles from Asheville. This tree was credited with 
a circumference of 3414 feet 4 feet above ground and was 198 feet tall 
(6, 54). The Department of Agriculture (67) found that this tree 
had a breast-high circumference of 28.7 feet and a height of 144 feet to 
a broken top when measured in 1932. According to a report from C. 
A. Abell, assistant silviculturist, Appalachian Forest Experiment 
Station, Asheville, of August 238, 1935, this yellow poplar was burned 
down by unknown persons on April 15, 1935. Apparently the fire 
had been started inside the hollow base. Newspaper reports of the 
burning of the Reems Creek tree said that a group of “Harvard sci- 
entists” had once estimated the age at more than 1,000 years. 

On Cane River, near Blue Sea Falls, there stands a tuliptree with 
circumference at breast height on the contour of 25.3 and a total 
height of 132 feet. The top of this tree has been broken off for some 
time. From the size of the stub at the top, it seems probable that the 
Cane River tree was 200 feet high at one time and taller than the 
Reems Creek tuliptree. This tree was reported by C. A. Abell, as- 
sistant silviculturist, Appalachian Forest Experiment Station. 


OHIO 


Rathbone Elm at Marietta (6, 10, v. 26, pp. 236-237) has a circum- 
Terence of 27 feet 314 feet from the ground. It is believed to be nearly 
700 years old. (Compare with the Logan Elm, Trees associated with 
the building of the Nation, p. 37.) 

A monster cucumbertree (A/agnolia acuminata) is in Gale Woods, 
Morrow County. Its circumference, 9 feet, is not unusual, but it is 
about twice as tall as the average. 

A soft maple in Salem, with a circumference of 111% feet 4 feet 
above ground and a height of 7314 feet, was reported by the Ameri- 
can Genetic Association in September 1915 (6, 54). 

A sassafras near the Ohio River, on a farm 8 miles east of Marietta, 
has a circumference of 13 feet 11 inches 1 foot from the ground but 
above the roots. Its trunk height is 32 feet, the top of the tree hav- 
ing been blown off. The top of the present highest branch is about 
55 feet. This tree was reported by Charles L. McCollum, of Marietta, 
to the National Geographic Society in a letter dated March 4, 1926, 
and the letter was referred to the dendrologist of the Forest Service. 


OKLAHOMA 


A bald cypress 114 miles west of Eagletow n, McCurtain County, 
has been called the “biggest tree in Oklahoma.” It has a cireumfer- 
ence of nearly 50 feet and a height of 100 feet. This grand old cy- 
press stands on the land that was the former seat of government of 
the Choctaw Nation (17, v. 33, ». 544) (fig. 42). 

A cottonwood near Aline, more than 30 feet in circumference, was 
said to be the largest tree of any kind growing in Oklahoma, but since 
that claim was made the record of the Eagletown bald cypress has 
appeared to outrival it (7). 

OREGON 


A black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) 2 miles southeast of 
Corvallis 25 feet in circumference above the main base swell and 


FAMOUS TREES Oj} 


F—321105 
FIGURE 42.—THE BIGGEST TREE IN OKLAHOMA, A BALD CYPRESS, NEAR EAGLE- 
TOWN, MCCURTAIN COUNTY. (COURTESY OF AMERICAN FORESTS.) 


125 feet tall, is “believed to be the largest angiosperm in the West” 
(S87), but compare it with the six California oaks listed. 

There is a Douglas fir near Pawn, on the Siuslaw National Forest, 
which is 295 feet high (60). 

A white fir with a circumference of about 1114 feet, and a height of 
133 feet, in Klamath County, is reported in bigtree statistics compiled 


0? MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


by Ernest L. Kolbe, junior forester, Pacific Northwest Forest Experi- 
ment Station. 

The same list contains a mountain hemlock (7'suga mertensiana) of 
unusual size in Crater Lake Park. Its circumference is given as 
16.6 feet and its height as 156 feet. 

Summer Lake has a western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) 
nearly 12 feet in circumference and 35 feet high, according to Ernest 
L. Kolbe, junior forester, Pacific Northw est Forest Experiment 
Station. 

The Pioneer Walnut, at Salem, is a California black walnut that 
was planted at Salem in the pioneer days of the Oregon country. 
According to the measurements of C. A. Reed of the Department of 
Agriculture, this tree has a circumference of 10 feet 11 inches about 
6 feet from the ground. Several tons of nuts are harvested from 
it every year (10, v. 28, p. 553). 


PENNSYLVANIA 


An American chestnut tree on a farm near Spinnerstown, Bucks 
County, was reported (32) as having a circumference of 33 feet 
2 feet from the ground and a height of nearly 90 feet and being 220 
vears old. It was said then to be the largest chestnut tree in Penn- 
sylvania. (Since most chestnut trees in this section have succumbed 
to the chestnut blight in recent years, this one may be dead now.) 

The W ashineton Horsechestnut, one of the largest horsechestnut 
trees in North “America, may be found on the property of the Bath 
& Portland Cement Co., near Bath, Northampton County. It meas- 
ures 17 feet in circumference 6 feet from the ground (45, ed. 2). (See 
Trees associated with notable people, p. 4.) 

A bur oak at Huntington (44, ed. /), is 29 feet in circumference 
1 foot from the ground. 

A swamp white oak at Bedford (44, ed. 7), has a circumference of 
2714 feet. It was entered in a State bigtree contest in 1925. 

A white oak at Kutztown, Berks County (10, v. 28, pp. 551-453), 
has a circumference of 31 feet at the ground. It is believed to be the 
largest white oak in Pennsylvania. 

Sacred Oak of the Delaware Indians of Oley Valley, Berks 
County, a few miles northeast of Reading, is a chestnut oak 22 feet 
in circumference, with a branch spread of 116 feet. (See Trees that 
have had special protection, p. 58 and fig. 28.) 

A white pine cut near the mouth of Cedar Run, Lycoming County, 
had a circumference of more than 37 feet, was 200 feet tall, and had 
a volume of 6,500 board feet below the branches.° 

A white pine south of Aaronsburg, Center County, has a circum- 
ference of only 1014 feet and is 140 feet high. It is, however, of 
venerable age—235 years (44). 

A sassafras in a quaint old graveyard directly opposite the Friends’ 
meeting house, Horsham, has a circumference of 16 feet at 5 feet 
from the ground. The top is broken off, leaving only 19 feet of the 
trunk standing, Before its decline, the tree was estimated to be 
over 100 feet tall. It is of venerable age also. (See Trees associated 
with religion, p. 55.) 


_8 PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTS AND WATERS. MAMMOTH WHITE PINE. Pa. 
Dept. Forests and Waters. Serv. Letter, ser. 2 (402): 4.  [Mimeographed.] 


FAMOUS TREES 93 


Chipman Sassafras, at Dunwandrin, estate of the late Frank L. 
Chipman, 4 miles w est of Easton, Northampton County, has a circum- 
ference of nearly 14 feet 18 feet from the ground. It is almost 100 
feet high. It lost its crown in 1933. Although its exact age 1s not 
known, it is beheved to have lived through the entire history of the 
United States (72) 

John Goodway Sycamore, 2 miles west of Linglestown, Dauphin 
County, is a remarkably large and sound tree for one of such size 
and age. It is named for the last of the friendly Indians in the 
district about Harrisburg. It has a circumference (May 17, 1937) 
of 21 feet at breast height and a branch spread of 105 by 120 feet. 
(71, p. 37 and fig. 8.) 

A sycamore on the bank of Neshaminy Creek about 15 miles north 
of Philadelphia, was reported in a letter from John G. Whitall. 
Woodbury, N. J., dated January 10, 1917, to the Forest Service. The 
only measurement given was a circumference of 34 feet, but, according 
to the writer, it was “claimed to be the largest tree east of the 
Allegheny Mountains.” (Compare with the Longw ood (Fla.) cypress 
and the Coaky swamp (Edgecombe County, N. C.) ae 

A sycamore 4 miles west of Lancaster, and between Lincoln High- 
way and Marietta Pike, has a circumference of 22 feet 5 feet above 
ground, a en of 102 feet, and a branch spread of 118 feet east to 
west and 138 feet north to south. It is believed to be more than 
200 years old (44, ed. 1). 

Fort Hunter buttonwood. (See Trees associated with the building 
of the Nation, p. 39 and fig. 21.) 


SOUTH CAROLINA 


Angel Oak, Johns Island. This oak has a height of 160 feet. The 
longest branch is 76 feet long. The circumference of the trunk is 
21 feet. 

Middleton Oak, an outstanding live oak, the genius of the estate. 
at Middleton Gardens on the Ashley River, about 17 miles north of 
Charleston (78). Experts have variously estimated the age of this 
oak as being anywhere from five to seven centuries, and ‘vet glori- 
ously sturdy and healthy it stands, braving storms and renewing its 
youth each recurring spring, freshening its mantle with tender green. 
The branches form almost a perfect circle, giving a shade span at 
noon of 180 feet. Its trunk measures 35 feet in circumference, 5 
feet above the ground. 

What is known as the Spy Oak at Hillcrest, near Stateburg, has 
a circumference of a little more than 28 feet, and it is more than 400 
years old. (See Trees associated with the building of the Nation, 
p. 40.) 


TEN NESSEE 


In Washington County is the Daniel Boone “Bar Tree,” a beech 
reported in 1915 to be 350 years old (67). It then had a circumfer- 
ence, breast high, of 714 feet and was 85 feet tall. (See Trees asso- 
ciated with the building of the Nation, p. 40.) 

The Kingsport Elm Gi UA SOOy i ‘1, p. 46), that “veteran giant of 
Kingsport, Sullivan County, Tenn.,” has a circumference of 241, 
feet and a height of 150 feet. It is believed to be between 400 and 
500 years old. 


O4 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


TEXAS 


Bishop Live Oak (97, 92, p. 20), near Rockport in Aransas County, 
is reported by Burtt Potter as worthy of comparison with the best 
in Louisiana. It is credited with a circumference of 25 feet 6 inches 
4 feet above the ground. It ranks eleventh in a list of notable live 
oaks reported by President Stephens of Southwestern Louisiana 
Institute, the 10 that are larger ranging from 35 to 27 feet, all of 
them in Louisiana. 

Jumbo, a pecan tree in San Saba, near the Colorado River, which 
is a claimant to the title “largest pecan in the world,” is 120 feet 
high, with a clear length of 41 feet to its first limb. This pecan 
has a much larger bole than the Hohen Solms pecan in Louisiana, 
but in circumference the latter excels, according to C. A. Reed, as- 
sociate pomologist, Bureau of Plant Industry. The spread of the 
main branches of Jumbo is 100 feet. It is said of this veteran that 
“a thousand years ago it was a hardy sapling” (76). 


UTAH 


A notable white fir (Advzes concolor), pronounced by an ecologist 
“the most magnificient fir in the world,” is on Timpanogos Mountain. 
It has a circumference of 17 feet 8 inches and is 110 feet tall (30). 
This is a specimen of unusual size for the interior of the continent. 
On the California Sierras it attains much greater size, but no individ- 
uals have been reported from there. 

What is believed to be the oldest juniper tree in the world is 
being protected by the Forest Service, according to reports received 
from the Cache National Forest, in northern Utah, near the main 
Logan Canyon Highway. A careful examination of this tree made 
by scientists from “the Utah State Agricultural College and Forest 
Supervisor Carl B. Arentson showed the age of the tree to be not 
less than 3,000 years, thus putting this tree in the age class of the 
redwoods of California. The circumference breast high j is 2314 feet, 
and the height is 42 feet (72, 56, 97, fig. 43.) 


VERMONT 


Veteran rock maple in Vermont’s oldest sugar maple orchard, Pine 
Grove Farm, on Putney Road, one-third of a mile west of the Con- 
necticut River (iE, p. Yet). The tree’s base shows the knotted, un- 
even growth covering scars made by the old boxing method by which 
the tree was made to ) yield its annual crop of sap before tapping bits 
came into general use (fig. 44). 


VIRGINIA 


An arbovitae (northern white cedar) at Natural Bridge, 15 feet 
in circumference, 90 feet tall, and with a branch spread of 33 feet, 
is probably the oldest tree in the East, with the exception of the 
Florida cypresses (48, p. 17). 

A water oak at Toddsbury (48, p. 20), one of the oldest estates in 
Gloucester County, has a circumference of 26 feet and a branch 
spread of 120 feet. Apparently it was a tree of goodly size when 
Toddsbury was established in 1658. 


FAMOUS TREES 95 


F—190205 
FIGURE 43.—OLD UTAH, AGED JUNIPER NEAR LOGAN CANYON HIGHWAY, CACHE 
NATIONAL FOREST, UTAH. 


An oak on Willoughby Bay (48, p. 77), at the summer home of 
J. A. Ridgeville, has a circumference of 19 feet and a spread of 57 
feet. Its distinction is its great age, which is estimated to be between 
500 and 600 years. 

Live oaks at Fort Monroe, near the reviewing stand on the parade 
ground (48, p. 1/9) are among the northernmost live oaks to be found 
in the United States. There is every evidence that these oaks were 
here when the first settlers arrived in Virginia. 

A pecan tree at Brandon-on-the-James, is between 10 and 11 feet 
in trunk diameter, which means that it has a circumference between 
31 and 34 feet. This tree is believed to have been well established 
when the house was built in 1770 (48, p. 14). 


06 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


F—321107 
FIGURE 44.—VETERAN ROCK MAPLE, SOLE SURVIVOR OF VERMONT’S OLDEST 
SUGAR ORCHARD, PINE GROVE FARM, VT. (COURTESY OF AMERICAN FOR- 
ESTRY ASSOCIATION.) 


A sassafras on a farm near Keswick has a circumference of 18 feet 
4 inches, 5 feet from the ground, and is probably the largest sassafras 
in the country. According to Lay (S)— 


some years back this tree was a hollow trunk, broken off at the top and languish- 
ing. Someone built a fire in the interior which was quenched with difficulty. 
It was thought that the fire would finish the tree. Instead, it killed the bugs 
and hardened the interior surface and the old tree stump branched out, like 
a dressy old woman, in a new Easter bonnet, with a crown of strong healthy 
boughs. 


FAMOUS TREES O7 


Martha Custis Yew, an English yew, at Williamsburg. This 
famous tree has a cir cumference ‘of 14 feet at its base, and its branch 
spread is 35 feet in diameter. (See Trees intimately associated with 
other famous people, p. 16.) 


WASHINGTON 


Statistics compiled by Ernest L. Kolbe, junior forester, Pacific 
Northwest Forest Experiment Station, include several western red 
cedars (Thuja plicata), the most notable of which is one at North 
Bend, with a circumference of about 58 feet and a height of 200 feet. 
He reports a smaller western red cedar on the Snoqualmie National 
Forest as more than 1,100 years old. 

A giant arborvitae (western red cedar) in Snohomish County (fig. 
45) is so large that a path has been cut through the trunk. The 
trunk has a circumference of 39 feet 9 inches (10, 08 Fie Dolo) 

According to C. R. Clark, former forest examiner, Kaniksu Na- 
tional For est, there is a giant arborvitae on that forest measuring 36 
feet in circumference and estimated to be 2,000 years old. 

The largest Douglas fir of which there is an accurate record stood, 
until recently, in a grove of giant cedars and firs near Mineral (60d, 
74, 88). This tree, ‘measured in 1924 by a Pacific Northwest Forest 
Experiment Station expert, had a circumference of more than 48 
feet and a height of 225 feet to a broken top. It was estimated to 
be more than a thousand years old (fig. 46.) It was blown down in 
a severe wind storm in 1930. 

Another Douglas fir, near Little Rock, was reported in 1900 (60). 
Its circumference was given as 18.8 feet, which is not remarkable, 
but its height was 330 “feet, which eained it a reputation as “the 
tallest Douglas fir on record.” 

Other Douglas firs in Washington notable for great height include 
one hear Hoquiam, 318 feet high: a second near Little Rock, 310 
feet high; and a third, near Darrington, 325 feet high (60.) 

The oldest Douglas fir of which there is any authentic record was 
found in 1913 by Ranger Hilligoss on the Finney Creek watershed 
about 30 miles east of Mount Vernon. The age count was made on 
a section about 40 feet above the stump, and the age at that point 
was 1,375 years. Since at least 25 years were required to reach the 
height at which the age count was made, this tree must have been 
over 1,400 years old when cut (SS). The next oldest is the tree at 
Mineral. There may be taller, older, or larger trees than these Doug- 
las firs, but the Forest Service has no record of accurately measured 
trees which surpass those described. 

The statistics compiled by Ernest L. Kolbe, junior forester, Pacific 
Northwest Forest Experiment Station, include Douglas firs at Min- 
eral, Little Rock, Hoquiam, and Mount V ernon; and in addition, 
one at Ryderwood, circumference 36 feet and height 303 feet: an- 
other at Lebam Mill, circumference 31.4 feet and height 225 feet ; and 
several others with circumferences of less than 30 feet. 

Statistics for the North Pacific Forest Region in volume-study 
data of the Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment Station, compiled 
by Ernest L. Kolbe, junior forester, include three western hemlocks 


165233 °—89 7 


O8 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DERT. OF AGRICULTURE 


F—32784 
FIGURE 45.—GIANT ARBORVITAE (WESTERN RED CEDAR) IN SNOHOMiISH COUNTY, 
WASH 


(T'suga heterophylla) 210, 254, and 259 feet tall, though not of un- 
usual circumference, in the vicinity of Cathlamet. 

Columbia Forest Methusaleh. This is a ponderosa (western yel- 
low) pine believed to be the biggest yellow pine in the State of 
Washington and the oldest living thing within the Columbia National 
Forest. It is 4 miles north of Peart Take on the road that leads to 


99 


FAMOUS TREES 


--305148 
(COURTESY 


F 


WASH. 


’ 


NEAR MINERAL 


LARGEST DOUGLAS FIR TREE, 


FIGURE 46.— 


OF T. J. STARKER AND AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION.) 


100 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. 8S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


Bird Creek Meadows. At breast height it has a circumference of 
23 feet. It would take four men, each with arms outstretched and 
touching hands, to encircle the tree. Experts estimate its age at 
450 years. This tree was reported by E. P. Cecil, forest supervisor. 

A Sitka spruce near Soleduck River, on the Olympic National 
Forest, has a circumference of 50 feet and a reputation at the time 
it was measured for being “the largest living spruce yet reported” 
in the North Pacific Region. Its top is broken off 150 feet from the 
ground. This tree was “reported August 4, 1919, by Forest Assistant 
N.L. Carey, after a field trip connected with a Sitka spruce study. 

A later field report, part of a similar study, the results of which 
have been published by the Department of ‘Noriculture (28), tells 
of a Sitka spruce in the vicinity of Quinault Lake, with a circum- 
ference of 50 feet and a height variously estimated at 282, 285, and 
296 feet. 

Large Sitka spruce trees on the Olympic National Forest were re- 
ported from the regional office in a letter dated September 19, 1916, 
giving measurements taken by Forest Examiner Hanzlik at Walker 
Brothers operation, about 3 miles from Humptulips, in July 1914. 
The three trees measured as follows: Height, 273 feet, and circum- 
ference (breast high), 25 feet; height 269 feet, and circumference 

(breast high), 29 feet; height, 248 Spee and eirceumference (breast 
high), 28 feet. 

Statistics compiled by Ernest L. Kolbe, junior Forester, Pacific 
Northwest Forest Experiment Station, include the Soleduck River 
end the Humptulips Sitka spruces and others of notable size, among 
them three, respectively, 279, 282, and 285 feet tall, which are located 
in T, 29 N., R. 11 W., in the Olympic National Forest, near the north- 
ern boundary. 

A western yew (Taxus brevifolia) on the Hamma Hamma water- 
shed, Olympic National Forest, with a breast-height circumference 
of over 9 feet, is reported by Floyd L. Otter, instructor in the School 
of Forestry of University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho. 


WEST VIRGINIA 


Mingo White Oak (38) near the head of Trace Fork of Pigeon 
Creek in Mingo County, 10 miles south of Logan, is believed to be 
the largest w hite oak in the United States. The age of this mountain 
patriarch is estimated to be 577 years, and it is 145 feet tall. In 
February 1932 Perkins Coville, of the Office of Silvics, Forest Serv- 
ice, commenting on a report of the characteristics of the Mingo White 
Oak, estimated that its circumference at the ground was 30. feet, its 
over-all height 135 to 165 feet, and its volume 20,000 board feer, 
(Death of this tree was reported by the State for ester, May 4, 1938.) 


WISCONSIN 


A silver maple on the west bank of the Menominee River, near 
soldiers’ home grounds, in the vicinity of Milwaukee, has a cireum- 
ference of nearly 29 feet 1 foot from the ground and an estimated 
height of 70 feet. It has been said of it that it is “probably the larg- 
est tree in the vicinity of Milwaukee” (27). 

Twin white pines in the Nicolet National Forest (fig. 47), are re- 
ported by Forest Supervisor Warren T. Murphy, who states that these 


FAMOUS TREES 101 


F—286247 
FIGURE 47.—TWIN WHITE PINES, NICOLET NATIONAL FOREST, WIS. (COURTESY 
OF TORKEL KORLING.) 


giant individuals in a stand of virgin timber contain at least 7,200 
Boar d feet of lumber. According +6 him, one of the trees measures 
121, feet in circumference and the other 111% feet. 


OUTSTANDING FOREIGN RIVALS 


Many countries have trees notable for great size or age. 

Because of lack of space and often of accurate record, foreign trees 
cannot be included in this list. However, there is one gr eat Gree whieh 
is in such close competition in age, 1f not also in size, with our 


102 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


sequoias, that it should be included, if only by way of comparison 
(S6, 3s. 

The Cypress of Tule (Zaxodium mucronatum) , in the Indian village 
of Santa Maria del Tule, a few miles east of the city of Oaxaca, Mexico, 
is, in the opinion of Herman Von Schrenck, consulting timber engineer 
of St. Louis, Mo., not less than 4,000 years old. According to Dr. Von 
Schrenck (27) the Tule tree is 140 feet high, and 24 men can barely 
span it with their arms, its circumference 40 inches from the ground 
being about 117 feet. He says: 

But the true circumference is hard to measure because of the great unevenness 
of the trunk, which is far from being a true cylinder. This unevenness has 
caused many persons to believe that this tree is really three trunks grown 
together instead of one. But most botanists who have viewed it, admitting that 
this cypress can thus fuse its trunks and even its branches, say that the Tule tree 
is really a single trunk and that such unevenness is a characteristic of the 
species. 

Glassman (36) journalist on newspapers of Cincinnati, Washing- 
ton, Louisville, and New York, said of the Cypress of Tule after a 
special personal study: 

Following the sinuosities of El Tule’s gigantic trunk, one measures its 
perimeter as 108 feet at a height of 5 feet above ground. So far as known, 
no organism ever attained such a vast girth. But El Tule’s girth is out of 
all proportion to its height of 141 feet, which is surpassed by trees in more 
temperate climates. 

In the most recent report on this tree giant, Shamel (79), of the De- 
partment of Agriculture, gives, as his own measurements taken on 
October 4, 1936: Circumference, 113 feet 4 inches; diameter 36 feet 1 
inch; and height, 118 feet 7 inches. He says that ‘while this tree has 
about the same diameter as the General Sherman sequoia, it is not 
nearly so tall,” and that “its age is estimated variously at from 4,000 
to 10,000 years.” 

Reports have been made of Australian trees 400 and even 500 feet 
tall, but the tallest eucalyptus now standing is a giant gum (/ucalyp- 
tus regnans) in Victoria, which is 325 tall (45). 


FREAK TREES 


Strange misadventures sometimes befall trees. Weather, particu- 
larly wind, is one of their adversaries. Various human, plant, and 
animal agencies also make hving difficult for many trees. 

Freak trees are interesting not only as curiosities but also as 
illustrating a remarkable capacity for adaptation. A thrifty tree may 
have grown in an unnatural environment—out of its element, as it 
were—or have overcome some serious handicap. There is both sur- 
prise and satisfaction in the study of the way in which it has dealt 
with its difficulties. 

Thus, the tree with roots embracing stone or ironwork, growing 
from an old stump or in the crevice of a rock, the Siamese twin trees, 
G-trees, multiple trees, the prayer-book pine tree and others listed 
have special interest for students of nature, 


CALIFORNIA 


“A maple tree on a redwood grows,” at Scotia. This curiosity of 
the tree world is admired by all tourists who pass along the Redwood 


FAMOUS TREES 1038 


Highway, which runs from San Francisco to Crescent City. When 
the highway was being built, the president of the Pacific Lumber 
Co., at Scotia, would not permit the destruction of this unique land- 
mark, and the sidewalk was swerved to preserve it. 

Multiple tree—freak pine growth. A yellow pine on the Plumas 
National Forest is really four complete trees growing from the same 
stump. ‘The oe was undoubtedly bent “and broken by heavy 
snows, and certain of the branches on the upper side grew upward. 
Where the sapling touched the ground, another br ranch started 
skyward. 

Prayer-book pine tree, Blochman Ranch in Cathey Valley, Mari- 
posa County. In 1924 a small sear near the base of the tree at- 
tracted the attention of a student of the University of California. 
A few probes of a knife blade brought to hght tiny bits of paper. 
By means of a sharp ax which cut ‘through several inches of new 
growth, a small leather-covered Bible or prayer book was disclosed. 
In growing over the wound, the tree had completely covered the 
volume with a coat of pitch, so that the leather was still somewhat 
flexible. The paper was found in good condition and the print legi- 
ble, but because of the pressure on : the top and bottom of the book, 
it is impossible to turn the pages. This 1s a splendid example of the 
prowess of tree growth in closing a wound. Ring counts have not 
been made on the cut, but it seems hkely that the ‘tree had the little 
volume in its keeping for more than half a century. 


CONNECTICUT 


A magnificent old elm stands on the property of Rutherford Pratt 
at Hamburg. It has grown around a gravestone bearing the name 
Jasper Gray and the date 1782. Asa sapling the tree was evidently 
planted at or near the head of the grave. 

About a mile below Winchester, a maple tree 8 or 10 feet in cir- 
cumference has grown upon a split rock apparently drawing its 
sustenance up thre ough the cleft. 

A hollow oak, said to be the oldest tree in Derby, stands at the 
southwestern end of the Colonial Cemetery there. In the hollow of 
the trunk are two old gravestones. 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


An alianthus embracing an iron fence grows in front of 616 Sixth 
Street, NW. This tree of heaven has grown around an upright as 
well as the horizontal frame of the fence. 


FLORIDA 


Nature’s symbol of the “Gator State.” The root of a banyan tree 
has taken the form of an alligator at Fort Lauderdale. 

Live Oak with roots exposed so that the tree appears to be growing 
on a table of its own manufacture in the Ocala National Forest 
(fig. 48). 


GEORGIA 


Double pine grows on Pine Mountain in Harris County near 
Columbus. This is a longleaf pine, starting as two trees 6 feet apart 


104 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U.S: DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


at the ground, crossed but not joined 7 feet from the root. At a 
height of 30 feet the two trees are joined together, forming one 
complete tree: 

ILLINOIS 


Near Norris City is the Vaulting-Pole Cottonwood. In the spring 
of 1815, two boys returning from a log rolling on a farm near Norris 
City, made a wager as to who could vault the farther, using their cot- 
tonwood handspikes as vaulting poles. They left their handspikes j m 
the soft earth, and during the spring rains of 1815 the handspikes 
both took root and lived. One has since died, but the other, when 
last reported, had passed the century in age and had grown to more 
than 30 feet in circumference and 175 feet in height. 


F—314512 
FIGURE 48.—LIVE OAKONA‘‘TABLE’’ BUILT OF ITS OWN ROOTS. OCALA NATIONAL 
FOREST, FLA. 


INDIANA 


A remarkable example of tree adaptation is reported from Greens- 
burg. On the courthouse tower there is thrftily growing a large- 
tooth aspen which is about 20 years old. Sev eral other trees have 
grown on this tower, which is built of blocks of limestone. Seem- 
ingly the trees draw their nourishment from the mortar between the 
stones. There is no way to get to the tree except by a scaffolding 
or by employing a steeple jack. Therefore the belief that Greens- 
burgers have some secret way of watering it is clearly in error. It is 
sustained by the sun and the rain and the persistence of its root 
system. 

Naturally grafted beech trees are to be found 414 miles south of 
Salem. These two trees were united when first discovered nearly 
100 years ago. The connecting limb is about 20 feet from the ground 


FAMOUS TREES 105 


and was at that height when the joining took place. The common 
branch did not originate in both trunks. It sprang from one and, 
after pressing against the other for a time, grew fast to it by a 
process of erafting. 

Wayward White Oak grows near Laporte. This tree is 9 feet 
in cireumference at the base. Fifteen feet from the ground the bole 
divides into a number of limbs. Two limbs leave the trunk about 20 
inches apart, and 12 feet from the body of the tree unite again, form- 
ing a perfect oval. Six feet from the base, another white oak less 
than half the size of the Wayward Oak, meeting one of its circle 
of branching limbs, grows into it and is absorbed. 

A paulownia tree 2 feet in diameter at Rockport, was dehorned at 
18 feet above ground 11 years ago, having grown unsightly. <A seed 
of the tree lodged i in the top of the stump, “germinated, and sent a root 
down the trunk of its parent to the eround. It has since split the 
old trunk from a few inches to nearly a foot (fig. 49). 


IOWA 


“A tree that is committing suicide,” Cedar Falls, The roots com- 
pletely encircle the tree at its base and are oradually choking it to 
death. 

Twin Elms are found in Iowa County in the Iowa River bottom 
timber. They stand 7 feet apart at the base and 30 feet above the 
ground unite, forming a common trunk 38 feet in diameter for at 
least 10 feet. In total height and spread of branches, this tree is 
comparable with normal elms. 


KANSAS 


“The tree that would not die” is a baid cypress on the campus 
of Saint Benedict’s College at Atchison. Father Boniface—Kansas 
pioneer, monk, educator, and naturalist—when a young man, planted 
a little cypress halfway down the slope of a deep ravine on ‘the then 
new campus. The growth of St. Benedict’s and the necessity for 
filling in the ravine twice buried more than half of the cypress in 
the new-made land. To see this tall, healthy, well-shaped tree stand- 
ing by the monastery wall now, one would never suspect that its trunk 
runs downward through the earth 30 feet or more. 

Near Chandler there is a live grapevine growing through the 
solid trunk of an oak. The swaying of the tree and vine has kept 
a loose hole worn through the living tree. The grapevine is more 
than an inch in diameter, reaches the top branches of the tree, and 
bears luscious fruit. 

The Windmill Tree is on the road to Maplehill, just a few miles 
west of Topeka. The silhouette of this cottonwood bears a marked 
resemblance to a Dutch windmill. 


KENTUCKY 


A unique illustration of the adaptability of plant life to unusual 
conditions in environment is found in the base of a sycamore tree 
growing at right angles from a bridge pier near LaGrange (23). 
‘According to the story: 


Shortly after the tree reached a diameter of an inch, either the shearing 
effect of gravitation or the upward swing in heavy winds would have snapped 


106 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


FIGURE 49.—A PAULOWNIA TREE HOUSING A HUSKY OFFSPRING, ROCKPORT, IND. 
(COURTESY OF C. A. REED, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY.) 


FAMOUS TREES 107 


it off close to the pier. The tree spread out a broad base, forming a truss 
with a compression member to overcome downward and lateral pulls. It 
also sent roots upward through the vertical seams between the masonry, 
thus forming the tension members of a truss. It is doubtful whether any 
tree rooted in the soil is more effectively anchored against all the stresses 
and strains the elements can exert. 


MAINE 


O Elm near Fryeburg is so named because of a twisting branch 
which forms an almost perfect O. 


MARYLAND 


An oak with a gold ring in its heart. While workmen were cutting 
railroad ties near Willoughby, Queen Annes County, they discovered 
a gold ring in the heart of an oak tree. It is supposed that the ring 
had been lost in the woods many years before it was found in its 
strange hiding place and that when the tree was the sprout of an 
acorn the ring became encircled around it. 


MASSACHUSETTS 


Wishing Elm is near the State highway in Bridgewater. This tree 
was formed by the binding and growing together of four saplings, 
giving the appearance of a single tree on stilts. It is known as “the 
wishing tree” because small boys and girls of the locality believe that 
if one walks in and out among the four legs of the trunk while mak- 
ing a wish the wish will come true. 

A 4-foot tree 120 feet high in downtown Boston. High up on 
Tremont Temple, rooted in a tiny crevice, is a small tree which can be 
seen from the street. It has been growing several years, and clings 
so tenaciously to its airy perch that attempts to pull it out have been 
unsuccessful. It is believed that the seed from which it grew was 
carried to the crevice by a pigeon. (From Fancy This, No. "137, Bos- 
ton Herald, May 25, 1935.) 


MICHIGAN 


The Mill Wheel Tree grows near Owosso. More than a hundred 
years ago, a mill wheel was left standing against a young tree in 
Owosso= No one bothered to remove it, so >the tree grew around it. 

The Stump Mother, a tree within a tree stump, grows near Alger, 
about 10 feet from the highway. 


MISSISSIPPI 


The G-trees of Biloxi are pines famous for their freak growth 
which cannot be caused, as many believe, by the breaking over and 
continued growth toward the light, of an ‘individual tree, because 
there are a considerable number of trees in different eroups, all of 
which, small as well as large, have developed the same peculiar shape. 
According to a forester, the explanation lies in the death of the central 
terminal shoot and the subsequent effort of the tree to replace it by 
substituting one of its laterals or side branches. 


MISSOURI 


An elm, an oak, and two sycamores grow from one common trunk, 
4 miles from Pineville. McDonald County, on the bank of the Elk 
River. The trunk itself is a homogeneous whole. Above the union 


108 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


of the common trunk are two large divergent trunks of an elm and a 
sycamore respectively, and two smaller one ycamore. 
Each tree—in leaf, branch, and bark true to its type—leads a nor- 
mal life. 


NEW JERSEY 


Lyre Tree, an elm of freak growth, at the corner of Northfield 
Avenue and Falcon Street, Liv ingston (fig. 50). 

A “tree on stilts”, on the Delaware River near Philipsburg, is an 
elm tree about 200 years old. Its roots are exposed to a depth of 
about 10 feet. The rushing waters of the Delaware in the spring 
freshets have carried the soil away until the great tree is left on 
stilts. The oldest residents in the neighborhood say the tree was 
on stilts when they were small boys. 

Siamese Twins, two monster holhes about 65 feet high, are grow- 
ing a few miles from Sea Isle City, on the island of Five Mile Beach. 
About 15 feet from the ground, a branch now nearly a foot in di- 
ameter grew out from one of the trees and in some unknown manner 
forced its way through the trunk of the adjoining tree, thus solidly 
joining the two trees. These trees are of the same thickness and 
height. Both are thrifty 

Rainbow Tree is a wild cherry within a stone’s throw of the 
Wildwood station of the island of Five Mile Beach, a few miles from 
Sea Isle City. The trunk of this tree, more than 2 feet in diameter, 
after describing an arch or rainbow, rises as straight as an arrow 
to a height of 30 feet. 


NEW YORK 


A publication of the New York State College of Forestry (70), 
contains descriptions of nearly 50 freak trees in the State. Among 
these are: 

Twin beeches, in the Morrisville swamp and in Peterboro swamp. 

Elm lyre trees, near Prattville, and at Oswego. 

Apple tree with five distinct trunks at Fulton. 

Hemlock growing in the crevice of a high cliff of trap rock near Tuxedo. 

Locust trees forming a gateway at Saugerties. 

Eight cedar trees growing from one stump, Putnam. 

An elm tree growing from old stonework. Auburn. 

The Lonesome Pine, which grows in a small tuft of moss and huckleberry 
bushes on top of a boulder. 

OKLAHOMA 


Affection Elms, at Shawnee, are trees that were twined together 


when young. 
OREGON 


Cannibal Tree. A Douglas fir entirely enclosing an Oregon white 
oak, was reported by the director of the Pacific Northwest Forest 
Experiment Station. A cross section of the Cannibal Tree at the 
experiment station verifies the story. 

An elm tree, planted upside down 15 years ago, is flourishing in 
Portland. From the gnarled roots grow leaves larger than those 
on normal elm trees. This tree was “reported in the Sunday Star, 
Washington, D. C., March 22, 1936, with a photograph, by the Asso- 
ciated Press. 

Tillamook County, in the Coast Range Mountains, has a freak Sitka 
spruce. Sitka spruce is ordinarily one of the stateliest, most symmet- 


FAMOUS TREES 109 


S \ 


F--335117 
FIGURE 50.—LYRE TREE, AT LIVINGSTON, N. J. (COURTESY OF C. L. WALLACE, 
EAST ORANGE, N. J.) 


110 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


rical trees and is the largest of the spruces. The freak is a deformed 
spruce growing among its faultless fellows. Some distance above 
ground, but apparently while the tree was still in the sapling stage. 
some accident of growth caused the sending out of two emergency 
stems horizontally in opposite directions. These horizontals, turning 
upward after a few feet, form a U which extends to the natural 
height of the tree. 
PENNSYLVANIA 


Old Elephant Tree is a peculiar remnant of a grand old catalpa 
tree, in Bristol. This is a gigantic stump more than 25 feet high, 
which, from one viewpoint, looks like an elephant standing on its 
hind legs. It stands in front of an old homestead and attracts the 
curious attention of all passers-by. 

The swamp white oak and red maple twin tree, one-half mile south 
of Doylestown, is a voluntary union of two trees of widely dissimilar 
families, so rare that it is worthy of record. The first union in growth 
is about 10 feet from the ground, and the upper and much smaller 
union is about a foot above the first. The trees are slightly united 
at other points, and other junctions are in process of forming. 

Siamese Twin white oak is near the village of Gardenville, about 
4 miles from Doylestown. Except at the base and again a few feet 
farther up where they again join, there are two perfect trunks. The 
oval-shaped opening was not produced by disease or insects. 


RHODE ISLAND 


The Little Old Man in the Tree is a curiously formed English oak 
on an estate at Newport, so-called because of the twisting of the 
branches just where the branching begins. 


TEN NESSEE 


The Tree With a Handle is near Madisonville. A small limb of 
this tree has practically completed a circle and grown back through 


the trunk. 
VIRGINIA 


Jamestown Churchyard Sycamore, which separates the tombs of 
James Blair, founder of William and Mary College, and that of his 
wife, Sarah Harrison, has attracted attention for many years because 
of the havoc it has wrought. Today the sycamore holds within its 
hollow trunk one fragment of a marble slab while another may be 
seen embedded in the base of the trunk. 

Octopus Tree, Charles City County, is a tuliptree or yellow poplar, 
271% feet in circumference 6 feet from the ground and is thought to be 
more than 500 years old. Some hundreds of years ago, the limbs 
were probably broken or bent by savages or wild animals, so that 
they have been distorted into the semblance of a writhing octopus. 

A cedar tree growing in the fork of a locust tree at Rectory has 
reached such size that it is splitting the locust in two, as reported in 
the Washington Post, August 1, 1935. 


WASHINGTON 


Armed Oak, at Chehalis, has grown around an old rifle laid in the 
fork years ago. 


FAMOUS TREES jE 


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19 MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


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(24) 
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FAMOUS TREES 113 


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U. 8S. Dept. Agr. Tech. Bull. 356, 58 pp., illus. 
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1935. PREHISTORIC TREE-TRAVELS ... Amer. Forests 41: 162-164, 198- 
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(63) McLAvUGHLIN, RICHARD B. 
1918. A NORTH CAROLINA WHITE OAK. New Country Life 33 (5): 92, 94, 
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(64) MaAppox, R. S. ; 
1920. A VETERAN GIANT OF ELMS. Amer. Forestry 26: 611, illus. 
(65) MARTIN, EVERETT P. 
1915. FLUSHING’S OLDEST TREE. Amer, Forestry 21: 614-615, illus. 
(66) MATTHIES, KATHARINE, compiler. 
1934. TREES OF NOTE IN CONNECTICUT. Compiled ... for the Connecticut 
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(67) MaTrroon, WILBUR R. 
1915. DANIEL BOONE’S “BAR” TREE. Amer. Forestry 21: 1105-1106, illus. 
(68) Merrtes, Mrs. MarGcArer WISTER. 
1933. TRUE TALES OF FORT HUNTER. 16 pp., illus. Philadelphia. 
(69) MiIrcHELL, J. ALFRED. 
1918. INCENSE CEDAR. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull., 604, 40 pp., illus. 
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1937. NOTEWORTHY TREES OF NEW JERSEY. 63 pp., illus. 
(70) New YorK STATE COLLEGE OF FORESTRY, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY. 
1926. FREAK TREES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 16 pp., illus. Syracuse. 
(71) NICHOLSON, KATHERINE S. 
1922. HISTORIC AMERICAN TREES. 104 pp., illus. New York. 
(72) Parkers, Jor R. 
1934. THE HALL OF FAME FOR TREES. THE CHIPMAN SASSAFRAS. Amer, 
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(73) PARLER, JOSIE PLATT. 
1930. FOREST PEOPLE. A WOMAN POINTS THE WAY. ... Amer. Forests and 
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MISC. PUBLICATION 295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 


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1926. [LARGEST DOUGLAS FIR TREE IN THE WORLD.] Forest Leaves 20: 
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1933. DEDICATION OF HISTORIC OAK TO DR. DRINKER. Forest Leaves 28: 
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PORTER, JUDITH. 
1924. THE LARGEST PECAN TREE IN THE WORLD. Amer. Forests and Forest 
Life 30: 126, illus. 
RUSSELL, Mrs. M. D. 
1924. THE HISTORIC TRIBAL TREE. Amer. Forests and Forest Life 30: 
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SHAFFER, HH. IT. H. 
1926. THE ASHLEY RIVER AND ITS GARDENS. Natl. Geog. Mag. 49: 525-550, 
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SHAMEL, A. D. 
1937. EL TULE—A PLANT IMMORTAL. Jour. Heredity 28: 35-38. 
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1902. THE STORY OF A GREAT CALIFORNIA ESTATE. RANCHO DEL ARROYO CHICO, 
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1931. LET’S KNOW SOME TREES. U. S. Dept. Agr. Misc. Circ. 31, 16 pp., 
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SHRIGLEY, ETHEL AUSTIN. 
1899. HISTORIC TREES OF PHILADELPHIA. Forest Leaves 7: 42-44. 
SIMMONS, JAMES RAYMOND. 
1919. THE HISTORIC TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 139 pp.. illus. Boston. 
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1927. HISTORICAL TREES IN MASSACHUSETTS. Jn Illick. J. S.. Common 
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1927. HISTORIC TREES OF NEW YORK STATE. Jn Illick, J. S.. Common Trees 
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1920. TAxopIUM. Jn his Trees and Shrubs of Mexico. U. S. Natl. Mus. 
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STARKER, T. J. 
1924. A BIG HARDWOOD IN THE WEST. Amer. Forests and Forest Life 30: 
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1935. GIANT GROWERS OF THE GLOBE; THE WORLD'S OLDEST, LARGEST, AND 
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1935. WHAT ARE THE LARGEST TREES IN THE WORLD? Jour. Forestry 
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1932. THE TREES OF YOSEMITE; A POPULAR ACCOUNT. 133 pp. illus. Stan- 
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FAMOUS TREES 1S) 


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1934. SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK. 42 pp. illus. 
1934. YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA. 48 pp. illus. 
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WHITTEMORE, MARGARET E. 
1928. KANSAS AND HER HISTORIC TREES. Jn Kansas State Board of Agri- 
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WILLIAMS, E. S. 
1908. NOTABLE AMERICAN TREES. Country Life in Amer. 14: 590, illus. 
WILSON, ERNEST H. 
1930. ARISTOCRATS OF THE TREES. 279 pp. illus. Boston. 


ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
WHEN THIS PUBLICATION WAS LAST PRINTED 


SeCrelany Of Agriculluncase = .8 = 2s eens Henry A. WALLACE. 
WTVers SCCHEE GTI] at epee eet ee oe gee ee CuaupE R. WIcKaRD. 
TANOSUSONE TICS AOL U ae ay ee A Be os GROVER B. HItu. 
Director ofeinformation= 22 25a) = ie eens M. 8. EISENHOWER. 
Director-of atensvonaW Oni sees ae ee M. L. WIitson. 
DiReClors Opp Ha OIiCes ss ey he Se eee W. A. JUMP. 
Dar CChOTA OP EZCESO RAVE! ae ttre cpap eo em Roy F. HENpRICKSON. 
DR RECKOP Opi THOSOTI AC see ee eed ae OS JAMES T. JARDINE. 
Director of Manketingqua 2a san eae Mito R. PERKINS. 
Solicitor gh ENaC pg ONE i a, 2 Mastin G. WHITE. 
BandwWise Coon ginatore ss see aie M. 8S. ErisENHOWER. 
Ovjiccojp lant and. Operations: 22 ea sane ArTHUR B. TuHatcuHeEr, Chief. 
OfjiccropC a Cas Alciuitics as ene ere FreD W. MorreE Lu, Chief. 
Office of Experiment Stattons_______________ James T. JARDINE, Chief. 
Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations______ LESLIE A. WHEELER, Director. 
Agricultural Adjustment Administration ____ R. M. Evans, Administrator. 
Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and Engi- Henry G. Kwnicut, Chief. 

neering. 
Bureau of Agricultural Economics_______-_-- Hs Rey Lorumy. Chive. 
Agricultural Marketing Service____________- C. W. KitcHeEn, Chief. 
BUCA Ofs ANIMAL LNOUSIYaoee= ae ee ee JOHN R. MouusEr, Chief. 
Commodity: Credu-Corponatton=22- 2 = 3222 Cart B. Rospsrins, President. 
Commodity Exchange Administration_______- JosEPH M. Ment, Chief. 
BS UGEGU Of AD COTY ML AUGUSEL YS = ee ee O. E. REEp, Chief. 
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. LEE A. StronG, Chief. 
Harm Cred Administration. 2s. oases A. G. Buack, Governor. 
Farm Security Administration________-___- C. B. Batpwin, Administrator. 
Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. _____ ~~ Leroy K. Situ, JJanager. 
Surplus Marketing Administration_________ Mito R. PERKINS, Administrator. 
PROT ESU IS ChUtCOm Bite Cy tae te ee es a ane EaRLE H. Cuapp, Acting Chief. 
Bureau. oj Lome HConomics= =) a == =e LovuisE STANLEY, Chief. 
ALO sree oe I A a pe ee Peleg ne CLARIBEL R. Barnett, Librarian. 
BuneauzOpeelantelndustiny as == 25 es aa ene KE. C. AucHTER, Chief. 
Rural Electrification Administration___-___- Harry SuaTTeRY, Administrator. 
SOUL CONSERVATION AS ChUUCE Mes ean amine  ay ee H. H. Bennett, Chief. 

116 


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