MINERAL — Nothing lasts forever, or so they say, and so it was for Mineral Township’s 250-year-old Witness Tree. The familiar landmark was felled on Feb. 9.
Spreading mold and fungus as well as hazards posed by falling limbs had numbered the days of the mostly hollow burr oak which stood on a curve along County Highway 10 between Mineral and Neponset. Its mammoth size — an 80-foot branch spread and trunk 14 feet around — caught the attention of Native Americans, township surveyors, railroad engineers and, until its last days, was a beloved and well-known part of the community.
Susan Carlson, whose ancestors Eli and Caleb Moore, homesteaded land just west of the tree in the mid-1800s, said “On my uncle’s last trip back before he died, he asked to be driven past the Witness Tree.” Carlson said every time she drove past the tree she thought of how previous generations of her family had done the same thing.
Always grand in scale, witness trees are rare but not uncommon in the United States. Some mark specific events in history “witnessed” by the tree, others simply refer to the centuries of history “seen” by the tree over the span of its life. Mineral Township’s Witness Tree probably falls into the latter category.
To put the tree’s age in perspective, it is not far from, and at one time may have been a part of a native prairie timber known as Barren Grove, The huge, pre-settlement forest stretched from western Bureau County southwest to Kewanee. When the men selected the site for Wethersfield in 1836 at the south end of Barren Grove, the Witness Tree would already have been around 60 years old. A product of nature, likely planted by one of the acorns from a burr oak that are reportedly big enough to fill the palm of your hand.
Because of its size, the tree became an instant landmark for early settlers both here and those heading west. Before that, Native Americans were said to use the tree as a tribal gathering place along the Great Sauk Trail. Surveyors used the tree as a reference point in laying out township sections and the nearby Rock Island Railroad tracks. In later years, engineers passing by on the “Rock Island Line” used the tall tree, visible from miles away, to get their bearings as their locomotives crossed the prairie lands.
According to a 1994 Star Courier story by Correspondent Thetis Sims, Merl Heise, who owned the surrounding farmland, donated the tree and a few acres on which it stood to the Bureau County Natural Area Guardians, a subcommittee of the Bureau County Soil & Water Conservation District.
The conservation district still owns the site. Natural Area Guardians is an organization devoted to protecting and preserving natural areas, encouraging preservation, and providing education, which made it an ideal caretaker for the Witness Tree for the past 30 years. A white picket fence was erected around the tree and a sign placed identifying the landmark.
But, age, drought, fire and vehicular collisions over the years, took their toll on the once-majestic oak which had witnessed the passing of so much history in its time. “Truthfully, I was upset,” said Dennie Packee, who owns land across the road which once included the tree site. “Then I heard how hollow it was, and some other issues, and I understood what they had to do. Even trees only live so long.”
As for the future, according to a statement from, the Bureau County SWCD, “We plan on salvaging some remnants from the tree for a memorial and for some keepsakes for the public,” which is being asked to refrain from removing wood from the site so it can be used for the keepsakes and memorial. Plans call for planting and dedicating a new Witness Tree later this year, according to the statement.
