|
The Mingo Oak (also known as the Mingo White Oak) was a white oak (''Quercus alba'') in the U.S. state of West Virginia. First recognized for its age and size in 1931, the Mingo Oak was the oldest and largest living white oak tree in the world until its death in 1938. The Mingo Oak stood in Mingo County, West Virginia, in a cove at the base of Trace Mountain near the headwaters of the Trace Fork of Pigeon Creek, a tributary stream of Tug Fork. The tree reached a height of over , and its trunk was in height. Its crown measured in diameter and in height. The tree's trunk measured in diameter and the circumference of its base measured . Assessments of its potential board lumber ranged from to . Following the tree's felling in 1938, it was estimated to weigh approximately . While the tree had long been known about for its size, the unique status of the Mingo Oak was not recognized until 1931, when John Keadle and Leonard Bradshaw of Williamson took measurements of the tree, and found it to be the largest living white oak in the world. Various estimates place the Mingo Oak's seeding between 1354 and 1361 AD. Using borings from the tree, the Smithsonian Institution determined that the Mingo Oak was the oldest tree of its species. The Island Creek Coal Company, the North East Lumber Company, and the Cole and Crane Real Estate Trust leased encompassing the tree to the West Virginia Game, Fish, and Forestry Commission for it to be managed as a state park for the life of the tree. The commission cleared the surrounding land and made improvements such as seating and picnic accommodations for visitors. By the spring of 1938, the Mingo Oak failed to produce leaves, and on May of that year, West Virginia state forester D. B. Griffin announced the tree's death. The prevailing theory is that the tree died from the release of poisonous gases and sulfur fumes from a burning spoil tip in nearby Trace Gap. The tree was felled with fanfare on September 23, 1938, with transections being sent to the Smithsonian Institute and the West Virginia State Museum. Under the terms of the Island Creek Coal Company's lease with the West Virginia Game, Fish, and Forestry Commission, the land's lease around the former tree reverted to the company following the tree's felling. == Geography and setting == Prior to the arrival of European American settlers and explorers, the Allegheny Plateau region of West Virginia, lying to the west of the Allegheny and Cumberland mountain ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, was overlaid with old-growth forests consisting predominantly of deciduous mixed oaks and chestnut trees. The cove forests of the Appalachian Mountains were undisturbed for approximately 300 million years, and the ample moisture and deep soils of cove topography allowed for the proliferation of temperate broadleaf and mixed forest species. The largest of the tree species in this virgin timbershed was the white oak (''Quercus alba''), which often exceeded in height and in diameter.〔 While the white oak's range encompasses most of the Eastern United States, the most favorable environments for its growth are on the western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. According to botanist Earl Lemley Core, the species flourishes on northern mountain flanks, and in coves, which are small valleys or ravines between two ridge lines that are closed at one or both ends.〔 White oaks also thrive in moist lowlands and in upland topography, with the exception of extremely dry ridges with shallow soil.〔〔 The Mingo Oak, known alternatively as the Mingo White Oak, was a white oak that stood in such a cove at the base of Trace Mountain on a shelf near the headwaters of the Trace Fork of Pigeon Creek, a tributary stream of Tug Fork.〔 〕 The tree was located near the census-designated place of Holden, from Logan and from the Logan County line in Mingo County, from which it took its name.〔 The county was in turn named for the Mingo Iroquois peoples, of which Native American war leader Logan was affiliated. Holden was the base of operations of the Island Creek Coal Company, which leased the land where the tree was located.〔 == Dimensions and age == The Mingo Oak was the largest specimen of these giant white oaks that dotted the old-growth forests of pre-settlement West Virginia.〔 The tree was found to be the largest living white oak in the United States, and in the world, following a survey of white oaks throughout the country. The Mingo Oak's nearest competition was a tree that was identified in Stony Brook on Long Island with a larger circumference, but a shorter height of .〔〔 Together with its uppermost branches, the tree reached a height of over , and its trunk (or bole) towered to a height of where the trunk forked into branches that spread in all directions.〔〔 Its crown measured in diameter and in height.〔 The tree's trunk measured in diameter.〔〔〔 The tree's circumference measured at the base and at from the ground.〔 As the virgin forest around it had been lumbered, the tree towered over the surrounding secondary forest.〔 An initial estimate by lumbermen in 1931 stated that if the tree were to be cut for lumber, it would produce between and of board lumber, with a value of $1,400.〔 〕 In February 1932, Perkins Coville of the United States Forest Service Department of Silvics estimated the tree's volume to contain of board lumber.〔 In 1938, engineers of the Island Creek Coal Company estimated that the tree's trunk contained of board lumber.〔 Following the tree's felling in 1938, it was estimated to weigh approximately .〔 〕 Various estimates place the tree's seeding sometime between 1354 and 1361 AD.〔〔〔 Using borings from the tree, the Smithsonian Institution determined that the Mingo Oak was the oldest tree of its species. In September 1932, West Virginia state forester D. B. Griffin and Emmett Keadle, president of the Mingo County Fish and Game Protective Association in Williamson, used an increment borer to estimate the tree as having begun its growth around 1356, with a margin of error within 25 or 30 years.〔〔 〕 Blueprints and boring samples were given to the West Virginia State Museum in Charleston and to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mingo Oak」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|