Based on the Guy Rocha article I found a few weeks ago, I’ve written up my own article and taken some pictures of the Nevada Bicentennial Tree. This tree sits at the corner of Washington and Division, and somehow got swept up in the bicentennial celebrations of 1976. The plaque is still there, calling it a Fremont Cottonwood (Populus Fremontii). This is supposedly because explorer John C. Fremont camped out underneath it in 1844. Just one problem – Fremont never entered the Eagle Valley, and the tree isn’t that old! Okay, two problems.
Wrong about the age. This tree is easily 5-6 feet in diameter and well over 300 years old .
We found the tree and one sign remains though partially covered. What a beautiful old cottonwood. Now I am very confused, did Fremont never come here and has nobody done a core sample to figure out the actual age of the tree?
I would love to know the answers. It’s a cool tree whatever the answers are.