Famous Trees of Texas: Texas A&M Forest Service Centennial Edition
188
Famous Trees of Texas: Texas A&M Forest Service Centennial Edition
188eBook
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Overview
For the 100-year anniversary of TFS, the agency presents a new edition of this classic book, telling the stories of 101 trees throughout the state.
Some are old friends, featured in the first edition and still alive (27 of the original 81 trees described in the first edition have died); some are newly designated, discovered as people began to recognize their age and value. All of them remain “living links” to the state’s storied past.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781623492403 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Texas A&M University Press |
| Publication date: | 02/15/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 188 |
| File size: | 69 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Famous Trees of Texas
Texas A&M Forest Service Centennial Edition
By Gretchen Riley, Peter D. Smith, Stephanie Foresythe-Sword
Texas A&M University Press
Copyright © 2015 Texas A&M Forest ServiceAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-62349-240-3
CHAPTER 1
In Their Footsteps
By the time Spanish conquistadors first arrived in 1519 into what we now call Texas, numerous Native American tribes had called the area home for thousands of years. In many ways, Native Americans determined the fate of early explorers and settlers. Friendly tribes taught newcomers the ways of the often inhospitable land. More aggressive tribes often made life difficult for settlers.
Settlement was inevitable, though, and with it, Texans—native and naturalized—developed the dogged determination necessary to thrive. Native American tribes, explorers, and settlers, each in their own way, broke ground for others. These early people groups and individuals set the example for future residents, developing and refining the reputation of Texas tenacity. Certainly, those already here influenced newcomers. This influence continues today as we follow in their footsteps.
Goose Island Oak
The Goose Island Oak is often referred to by another moniker, The Big Tree—an apt name since it was designated Texas State Champion Live Oak in 1966. It retained this title until 2003 and is still one of the largest of its kind in the United States. It was even featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not. Its statistics remain impressive: The Big Tree is 44 feet tall with an 89-foot crown spread; its trunk is 11 feet across and 35 feet in circumference.
So how many years does it take for a tree to grow that big? Experts gauge the Goose Island Oak to be ancient. Although an exact age cannot be determined without counting the tree's rings, the colossal live oak is estimated to be about eleven hundred years old. On the north side of Goose Island State Park, nestled amongst lesser oaks distorted and bent by persistent onshore breezes, its coastal location—the preferred habitat for this species of live oak—has certainly aided its longevity.
A tree spanning so many lifetimes also comes with a lot of history. It has survived destructive hurricanes, deadly disease, and man. Legend has it the Goose Island Oak was a meeting place for the Karankawa and Comanche tribes (and possibly the Lipans and Tonkawas) for hundreds of years, and that it was used as a hanging tree by Anglo settlers.
Other visitors included Spanish explorers Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1528, and French explorer Sieur de LaSalle in 1684. Spanish Governor Alonso de León, while leading a mission to expel LaSalle's French colonists, discovered LaSalle's abandoned settlement in 1689. Frenchman François Simars de Bellisle, who set out for Louisiana but inadvertently sailed past it, managed to survive in the area between 1719–1721, thanks, in part, to becoming a slave of the Atakapan Indian tribe.
Just how many names does the Goose Island Oak have? In addition to being called "The Big Tree," it has been referred to as the "Mighty Oak;" the "Bishop's Oak," after the early bishops of Corpus Christi; and the "Lamar Oak," after the nearby port town of Lamar, which was burned down by Union troops during the Civil War. The tree is also called "Grandfather" by Native Americans. One name just isn't enough for a tree this size.
A plaque acknowledging this special tree pays homage to the longevity of The Big Tree and those who have long protected it:
Welcome to my home ... For most of my life I belonged only to myself. Now I belong to you, or so I'm told ... Some years ago someone came and patched my cracks, trimmed my dead branches, killed my pests and healed my fungus rots. Was that you? I'm feeling much better, thank you ... Please leave my home as you found it ... The seasons are changing again and I must get ready.
Treaty Oak
Of all our famous Texas trees, perhaps none are better known than the Treaty Oak. This renowned live oak has attracted the attention of many people over the years—Indians, settlers, tourists, historians, arborists, a US presidential candidate, and a vandal who nearly killed it in 1989. But this unique icon of history lives on, well loved by Texans who connect the tree's tumultuous life story with the story of Texas itself.
The majestic Treaty Oak was revered by Native Americans long before Anglo pioneers ever laid eyes upon it. It's easy to understand why, with its massive spreading crown and powerful branches, the Indians respectfully called it "the father of the forest." It was then at the center of a large grove of fourteen live oaks growing just north of the Colorado River in what would become Austin. The Native Americans believed the grove to have mystical powers, and often gravitated toward them for prayer and worship, special ceremonies, and to hold important meetings. These meetings gave the grove its name, the Council Oaks.
It was here that the "Father of Texas," Stephen F. Austin, a skilled diplomat who first saw the grove during a mapping tour of the area in 1821, signed the first boundary line agreement with the local natives. Legend has it the signing took place directly under the Treaty Oak, and the so-called boundary line between the settlers and the tribe was based simply on where the tree stood.
One hundred years later, the Treaty Oak continued to hold sway in Austin. As other Council Oaks fell victim to the city's development push in the 1920s, outraged members of the public refused to let the lone-standing Treaty Oak be cut down. The ruckus brought it to the attention of the American Forestry Association. In 1927, the Treaty Oak won the distinguished honor of being the only Texas tree included in the association's Hall of Fame, which proclaimed it "the most perfect specimen of a North American tree." In the 1930s, Poets' Scroll magazine dedicated an entire issue to promoting the historic tree's preservation. By 1937, the city of Austin had raised enough public and donated funds to purchase the one-quarter acre lot so the tree could "stand as a living and fitting symbol of the mighty state it has watched develop." As a stipulation of the purchase, the city could not destroy the tree or use the property for any other purpose while the tree was alive.
Having lived for more than 500 years, enduring storms, drought, boundary disputes, and encroachments, many people thought the ancient tree was indestructible. That view changed in 1989, when the tree was poisoned by a disturbed man taking out his misery on the tree.
The Treaty Oak was not expected to survive. But due to the quick action of tree experts and the immense outpouring of public support, about one quarter of the tree was saved. The tree's rescue team included experts from the State Department of Agriculture; Texas A&M University; the University of Texas; private and public corporations; and businessman, financier, and one-time US presidential candidate Ross Perot—a native Texan who wrote a blank check to save the state's beloved tree. "Texas has always been my home, and when the historic Treaty Oak was poisoned I knew I had to do whatever was possible to save it," he said. "There were many people who worked tirelessly to rescue it in 1989—it was a team effort. None of us were going to let that majestic tree die that way."
Saving the Treaty Oak required innovative measures: soil injection of activated charcoal to bind chemicals, microbes to digest them, "an irrigation system in the sky" to cool the crown with donated spring water, screens to reduce heat stress, garden sprayers filled with diluted potassium chloride salt to flush the poison, aeration, fertilization, and—eventually—soil replacement.
Even though it's no longer in the spotlight, the tree continues to soldier on. In 1997 it produced its first crop of acorns since the poisoning—many of them collected and planted across the state. Today, you can find not only its offspring, but also objects made from its trimmed wood; and the name itself is tied to numerous Texas businesses. So it seems our beloved Treaty Oak is destined to live on.
Indian Marker Tree
Historians estimate that before the year 1900 more than fifty Indian tribes, or nations, made Texas their home. The state's trees provided them medicine, food, shelter, weaponry, utensils, and transportation, not to mention art and inspiration. Native American tribes have long had a close connection with trees, and trees were a valuable natural resource on the Texas Plains.
Indian populations were often migratory, relocating from one territory to another. The Comanche were relative latecomers to Texas, moving in from the southern Rockies and forcing the expulsion or movement of other established tribes, including the Tonkawas and Lipan Apaches—both early inhabitants of what is now Burnet County. Comanches spent their summers camping in the high plains of Texas and used several well-defined trails running alongside the creeks and rivers intersecting the Colorado River.
One way these nomadic people marked their favorite campsites was with marker trees, such as this live oak in Burnet near Hamilton Creek. Also called "trail trees," or "trail marker trees," they have been described by experts as "early road maps" for Native Americans. These "maps" consisted of young trees bent into unique shapes to visually mark trails and other important landmarks. By creating these markers, tribes were able to permanently signify food, shelter, and water sources. Typically, a sapling was bent low to the ground with a strap, thus forcing it into a specific shape that could be recognized as man-made and seen at a distance. Different tribes used different techniques, however, which today make accurate identification as a marker tree somewhat difficult. How many remain is unknown.
In 1852, when the town of Burnet was founded, Indians were still coming to the area, setting up teepees and camping on the site of the Indian Marker Tree. The tree today is surrounded by modern-day encroachments, and signs of it being an Indian marker tree are not evident to the untrained eye.
Kissing Oak
How powerful is a kiss? Powerful enough to give a tree a name. It was Senator Sam Houston's spontaneous decision to kiss a number of women on Friday, July 24, 1857, that forever connected him to this tree in San Marcos. The day was a typical one for Houston, who was busy campaigning for governor of Texas. This stop before another large, attentive crowd would be one of more than forty he would make that year as he covered fifteen-hundred buggy miles. His speeches were famous for their grandeur and length—his oration in San Marcos reportedly ran four hours long. Despite winning the popular vote in Hays County, Houston was ultimately defeated by Hardin R. Runnels.
Houston's reputation preceded him wherever he traveled. When word arrived he would be campaigning in San Marcos, settlers from far and wide came to see him in person. Many preparations were made for his visit; some brought picnic baskets, and a number of young women joined forces to create a Texas state flag as a special gift for the respected statesman. They presented the homemade flag to Houston just prior to his speech, which he delivered under a large oak tree. When he finished, he made a point of kissing the women as a thank-you gesture. It was a memorable day for all in attendance, and it gave a tree its name.
But which tree is it? When residents learned in early 2012 that a large bur oak on the site would be removed due to internal decay, some balked. "What if that tree is the real Kissing Oak?" Concerns over the tree's health arose a year prior, and its possible removal led to hard questions about the true identity of Sam Houston's Kissing Oak. Texas A&M Forest Service foresters calculated the age of the remaining trees on the site (now owned by Texas State University) and concluded that both the largest live oak and the bur oak were likely present at Houston's appearance. The critically decayed bur oak was subsequently removed.
This situation highlights the fluid nature of so-called historic trees. Over time, their stories—and even the trees themselves—may be reinterpreted, reinvented. At one point, the Kissing Oak was mentioned as the Kissing Oaks, a reference to the grove of trees on the banks of the San Marcos River, where citizens gathered to hear Houston's address. Today that grove has been reduced to just two live oaks near the River House, so determining conclusively which of the trees is the true Kissing Oak may never be possible. But to recall Houston's own words after his electoral defeat: "The fuss is over, and the sun yet shines."
Ranger Oaks
"Uncouth costumes, bearded faces, lean and brawny forms, fierce wild eyes, and swaggering manners ..." was the description applied to the Texas Rangers by author Samuel Chamberlain, a New Englander who served in Texas as a US Dragoon soldier during the Mexican-American War. But to those with closer ties to the Lone Star State, the Texas Rangers have long been revered for their bravery and skill while defending the fledgling Republic of Texas. Seguin's historically significant trees—particularly this centrally located grove of live oaks—sheltered the men who became Ranger legends of the crucial early years of the Republic.
One such legend is Hays County namesake John Coffee "Jack" Hays (1817–1883). Appointed a Ranger by Sam Houston, Hays initially joined a Ranger company at San Antonio under frontiersman Erastus "Deaf" Smith—a name connected to another Famous Tree, the Deaf Smith Oak (discussed in chapter 3). Relocating to Seguin, Hays joined forces with Capt. Mathew Caldwell (one of the original signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence) and Capt. James Hughes Callahan to organize the Gonzales-Seguin Rangers in 1839. This local ranging company provided essential protection from the area's Mexican and Indian raiders—most notably the highly feared Comanche tribe. A grove in Seguin provided a shady and safe campground for the men. So, under the Ranger Oaks, Hays and other Rangers would strategize and recruit. The Rangers habit of congregating in Seguin led to it being called "the cradle" of the Texas Rangers.
Hays became one of the great heroes of the Texas Rangers. Among the many successful campaigns he commanded were the Battle of Plum Creek in 1840 and the Battle of Monterrey in 1846. Hays is honored as a member of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, a state-designated commemoration of the service and sacrifices of Texas Rangers.
The Texas Rangers are the oldest state law enforcement body in the United States, and the Ranger Oaks, still standing, remain witnesses to the past.
Bailey's Oak
"Bury me standing, facing west, with my gun by my side. All my life I have been traveling westward, and I have never looked up to any man, so I do not want it said, 'Here lies old Brit Bailey,' but 'Here stands Bailey.'" So were the words of James Briton Bailey, a North Carolina native who settled on land near the east bank of the Brazos River, near Brazoria, around 1818. His unusual request to be buried standing, which was included in his last will and testament, was realized under the giant Bailey's Oak.
Bailey received his original league of land in a grant from the Spanish government. When Mexico gained its freedom from Spain, the land became part of Stephen F. Austin's colonization grant. Austin, staking his claim, visited the property and ordered Bailey to leave. The "squatter" refused, and on July 7, 1824, the contested ownership was legalized in Bailey's favor, ironically making him one of Austin's "Old Three Hundred" colonists. The property was from then on known as Bailey's Prairie.
Bailey died December 6, 1832 and was buried on the land he loved under the Bailey's Oak, in a grove of trees near the family's former home. The grove also sheltered the graves of the Bailey children who had preceded their father in death. Bailey was buried in an unmarked grave, standing, with his face to the west.
For years after his death, residents of the two-storied house claimed they were visited at night by Bailey's ghost. The encounters were described in the story "Bailey's Light" by Gloria Swanson in Backwoods to Border: "Sometimes when the family would gather on the front porch after supper, a ball of fire would rise out of the ground and wander over the country ... usually near daylight they would see it return to the spot from which it had risen and sink into the ground."
The flash of light became known as Bailey's Light. Legend claimed it was the ghost of Bailey searching for a jug of whiskey (Bailey was known to drink "spirituous liquors"). Other tales claimed the light was the flash from Bailey's gun, hunting on his land in the afterlife. As for Bailey's Oak, it died years ago, but the story of Brit Bailey—and the legend of Bailey's Light—persist to this day.
Freedmen's Bois d'Arc
Family history is sometimes Texas history, and the Freedmen's Bois d'Arc story weaves both together.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Famous Trees of Texas by Gretchen Riley, Peter D. Smith, Stephanie Foresythe-Sword. Copyright © 2015 Texas A&M Forest Service. Excerpted by permission of Texas A&M University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword, by Bruce Miles,Introduction, by Tom Boggus,
1. In Their Footsteps,
2. Settling the Frontier,
3. The Republic,
4. Battle Lines,
5. Religious Freedom,
6. Crime & Punishment,
7. 254,
8. Crossroads,
9. Our State Tree,
10. Everything is Bigger,
Epilogue,
Acknowledgments,
Credits,
Index,