The Tree in the Middle of the Road
A large cottonwood tree growing in the middle of a county road intersection nine miles northwest of Anita has an interesting history. It is known as the "Four Corners Tree."
It has long been an established fact that the tree was "accidentally" planted by the late Humphrey Parker, a great uncle of Mrs. F. W. Stager of Anita.
Humphrey and his brother, John, were measuring land in the area and the cottonwood stick carried by Humphrey was stuck in the ground to mark a section line. The stick sprouted and grew into a giant tree.
Several years ago, the late Charles Blue of Anita and the state got into a hassle about the tree and Mr. Blue won the argument. A plaque was placed on the tree which noted that the tree could not be removed until it was proven dangerous. As far as is known, no serious accidents have occurred at the intersection.
Mrs. Stager has a letter written in 1941 by C. C. Barham of Hespero, Alberta, Canada, which describes how the tree was planted. The letter was written to Bill Gillpatrick. The "Dosh" Parker mentioned in the story is the late W. T. Parker, father of Mrs. Stager and John Parker was Mrs. Stager's grandfather.
The letter, with words spelled as written:
Your ever welcome letter got here O.K., also the picture of the old cottonwood tree. There is a little history about that tree. John Parker's brother, Umpery Parker, used that tree once for a walking stick. He and John A. Parker was misuring land. Umphery was cripled in one foot so he cut a young cotten wood sprout down by the little creek northwest, west of where the tree stands now and when they come to the corner where the old tree stands, they didn't have nothing to mark the corner with, so Umphery sharpened the stick and drove it in the ground with a stone and it sprouted and growed so that tree was once Umphery Parkers walking stick and that has been about 80 years ago oar about that long ago, so that is how that lone cottonwood tree come to grow there, so the old tree has a little story attached to its growth.
This is the story that was
told me about 55 years ago - well on with my letter, - thanking
you or Miss Parker for the snapshot picture of the cottonwood
tree and you can tell her its history and how it was her great
grand uncle that planted it there. Is she Dosh Parker's daughter:
you said T. Parker's girl, his first name is Theodor, but everybody
called him Dosh for a short name.
Stager's Recollections
Mrs. Stager recalls that her grandfather and his brother came to Anita January 8th, 1880, and started marking off the section lines in Section 35 of Exira Township, Audubon County that spring. The tree used to be located about four feet from the east-west line fence on the south side of the road, but when the road was changed, this brought the tree to its present site - the middle of the intersection.
Mrs. Stager said she used
to play under the spreading branches when she was three or four
years old. The tree is about 15 feet around its base.
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The article above was taken from a clipping
compiled by Iva Milliman, Exira. The main article came from a
scrapbook in the Exira Courthouse Historical Museum reading room.