Placerville’s Christmas tree has quite a story

Doug Noble Former Mountain Democrat columnist

Editor’s note: This article has been updated from the original published in 2009.

Each holiday season the city of Placerville installs lights on the tall redwood tree that stands on the northeast corner of Bedford Avenue and Main Street, next to a building that was the post office and once housed the El Dorado County District Attorney.

Over the years this tree has been damaged by wind and weather and even had its top cut off because the fire department’s equipment could not reach above that height to decorate, but it gallantly survives. It has apparently been at this location almost 100 years, but how it got there is somewhat a mystery.

The story starts just before Christmas in 1918 when the American Forestry Association began to encourage the use of living trees for community Christmas trees, instead of the normal routine of cutting down a large tree each year for that purpose. Over the next few years the campaign began to gain supporters and in December of 1924 the association donated a 35-foot, nursery grown Norway Spruce to President Calvin Coolidge.

Warzecha

White House tree

The donated tree was planted in Sherman Plaza, south of the Treasury Building and close to the east entrance of the White House. On Dec. 24, 1924 President Calvin Coolidge, known to be a man of few words, stood before a microphone and said, “I accept this tree and I will now light it.” He then flipped a switch and 1,200 red, amber and green incandescent lights, installed by the Society for Electrical Development and the Electric League of Washington, brightly lit up the tree. This was

Continued from A1 dreams of becoming an astronaut, he studied aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan and mechanical engineering at the University of Washington. And although he hasn’t made it on a spaceship yet, he has made a career in aerospace, having worked on the Artemis program, the Boeing 777 and other commercial rocket vehicles.

“The wonderful part of that dream is that if you don’t become an astronaut, your plan B is a good thing,” Warzecha said. “I have no complaints. My plan B worked out really well.”

He has also met more than his fair share of astronauts, including Jim McDivitt, George “Pinky” Nelson, Anthony England and Jack Lousma as well as Apollo 13 flight director Gene Kranz.

Warzecha has channeled his passion for outer space through not only his career but teaching as well, doing outreach work in elementary schools even as a college student. Earlier this year Warzecha became El Dorado Hills’ first NASA Solar System Ambassador.

The program, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary last fall, communicates information on real missions and updates from the leading edge of NASA’s solar system exploration. Funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, it is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and now has more than 1,100 volunteers.

“They want people from all walks of life,” said Warzecha. “Not just engineers or astronomers like me, but artists, school teachers — they even had a Catholic nun at one point and there was a composer in my training program.”

Warzecha’s first gig as an ambassador was at the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society where he spoke on the life of Edwin Hubble and the Hubble Space Telescope. It happens to be a subject he presented several years ago at Holy Trinity School, where he is now a children’s minister. He hopes to connect with more local schools to bring what he dubs “hands-on astronomy,” helping people look through a telescope and showing them stars or nebulas and why they are important.

“Just watching kids get wowed by seeing something that you would only see in photographs, seeing the the first use of a living tree as the United States National Community Christmas Tree.

National tree

In 1926 the late Charles E. Lee, then secretary of the Sanger Chamber of Commerce, wrote President Calvin Coolidge requesting that the General Grant Tree in Kings Canyon National Park be officially designated as the “Nation’s Christmas Tree.” Lee had visited the majestic 267 foot tall sequoia in 1924 and when standing in front of it heard a little girl actual object with your eyes,” he said, his enthusiasm palpable. “My favorite part is seeing the kids get really excited about science, about nature. And having them ask me these awesome questions. I love it when they actually stump me.”

One subject Warzecha is keen to discuss is the leveraging of aerospace technology. “We have a lot of technology that we take for granted that came from the space program,” he said, explaining that hydrogen fuel cells have powered American spacecraft from Gemini and Apollo to the space shuttle. He is currently developing hydrogen fuel cell powered semi-trucks.

“If you have a spaceship, you have to have computing power. NASA worked with MIT to figure out a way of miniaturizing computers. That technology wound up being leveraged into the Silicon Valley boom of the 1970s and ’80s,” he said, going on to list other spin off technology such as mirrors developed for the James Webb Space Telescope now being used for eye surgery, solar cells developed to power space craft and satellites and composite materials used for rocket tanks now used for hydrogen-powered vehicle storage tanks.

Warzecha is looking forward to his next presentation on the Apollo moon landing program which will be held on April 29 at the Community Observatory in Placerville. He plans to look at the moon afterward to show where they landed. A summer presentation on the evolution of stars is also in the works.

Until then, Warzecha will be putting in miles on his road bike, catching up on some science fiction and history reading or exploring Yosemite as an avid mountaineer. Warzecha lives with his wife Maribelle and his father Richard. His twin daughters, Amelia and Natalia, both graduated from Ponderosa High School and his son Andrew is a senior there.

“I’ve been a space nerd for my whole life,” he said. “This way I can start volunteer work now and have something to do when I retire.”

The views expressed by Warzecha are not necessarily the views of NASA or JPL. For more information about the Solar System Ambassadors Program visit jpl.nasa.gov/ ambassador. Find Warzecha on Twitter at michal@aeromarmot.

Tree Continued from A6 exclaim, “What a wonderful Christmas Tree it would be.” Remembering the little girl’s comments, the next year he organized a Christmas program in front of the General Grant Tree at noon on Christmas Day.

Excited by the success of the program, he and the president of the Sanger Chamber, R. J. Senior, came up with the idea of an annual Christmas ceremony at the tree. To give it more significance Lee wrote President Coolidge and on April 28, 1926 the General Grant tree was officially designated the “Nation’s Christmas Tree.”

Placerville tree

As time went on, more and more places around the nation, especially in California, began to plant and use living trees as community Christmas trees and in a Dec. 1, 1928 article in the Placerville Republican and Nugget, Placerville Fire Chief O. N. Hirst announced his intention to ask the Placerville City Council for permission to plant a living Christmas tree on the Moyle lot, which is where the present tree stands.

In the event this permission was granted, he indicated that the Shakespeare Club, Parent Teachers’ Association, Lions’ Club, 20-30 Club, American Legion and other local organizations would be asked to assist in financing the decorations and lighting of the tree.

According to the same article the idea of a living community Christmas tree in Placerville was not new. A similar idea had been rejected by the Lions’ Club the previous year, and the 20-30 Club earlier in 1928, but it was hoped that with community support a living Christmas tree could be planted at this location.

After all, it was pointed out, Grace Moyle had transferred this parcel of land to the city specifically for public use and that was exactly what was being proposed.

The city council agreed to allow Hirst to plant the tree and on Dec. 7, 1928 he announced in the Republican that the State of California had donated a seven foot “Giant of the Forest” to the city and that he would be going to Sacramento to pick it up.

At the same time it was announced that the American Legion had endorsed the idea of the tree being planted at the designated site and strung with lights as the community Christmas tree.

On the same day a story in the Mountain Democrat also indicated that a tree had been approved. It was not a redwood, but a 20-foot-high fir tree that the volunteer firemen were going into the forest to get and plant in the Moyle lot.

“We’ll have to move approximately a ton of dirt with the tree in the transplanting,” Hirst said. “It will take three or four days to get the tree out and it will be a real job to move it.”

Which tree

Apparently there was some confusion between the newspapers as to what tree the fire chief wanted to be the “community Christmas tree.”

The Dec. 12, 1928 issue of the Republican stated that the sequoia for the Moyle lot had been picked up in Sacramento and brought to Placerville. The details of the planting had not been worked out and would be announced shortly. The same article indicated that the Placerville Lions had pledged aid to the tree and the upcoming Christmas program at the site.

Everything seemed to be in order at this point and the Republican indicated that the sequoia would probably be planted before or during the Christmas program. When the program was held at the court house on Dec. 20, 1928 the 20-foot fir tree there was decorated, but there is no mention of the sequoia the state had donated.

The Jan. 9, 1929 edition of the Mountain Democrat adds a bit of clarity to this confusing issue with a story titled, “Sequoia Washingtoniana ‘Resident’ of Placerville.” It then goes on to say, “Miss Sequoia Washingtoniana has been a Placerville resident since Christmas Day. Her presence has been noted but it seemed that other matters assumed greater importance in our memory and Miss Sequoia Washingtoniana arrived unheralded. The redwood, gift of the state, was planted on the Moyle lot by Fire Chief O. N. Hirst.”

More confusion

Now the story could stop there but Sequoia washingtoniana is the scientific name for a giant sequoia and, according to people who should know, the present tree is not a giant sequoia, but a redwood, a tree found along the coast.

Adding new light to the mystery, in 1953 an article appeared in a still unidentified local newspaper.

Authored by a Gene Macel, and titled “City Landmark Glows Again with Yule Spirit,” it placed the year of planting as 1926 and said that “the tiny redwood was planted by Mrs. Lena Rantz in memory of her husband, Dr. Stephen H. Rantz, a beloved country doctor.” The story then traces much of the history of the property from its original mining claim up through its purchase by Thomas Moyle.

Moyle owned a saloon on the property for many years and, according to the story, “There was an old wine cellar below where beer was stored and served ice-cold to customers.”

The saloon was torn down after a group of citizens raised the money to buy the property with the intention of widening Bedford Avenue. The story then adds, “(Mayor) Albert Simons acquired title to the property for the city of Placerville on April 9, 1926 and the redwood tree was planted in the same year.”

The story then points out that in 1937 one Ernie Oppenheimer decided that the tree had acquired enough stature and beauty to deserve Christmas decorations.

“Oppenheimer bought a good supply of lights and Andy Anderson and his helpers from the city hall, strung them that year and every year since.”

Confirmation

This 1953 story seems quite reasonable and confirms another story that appeared in the September 9, 1940 issue of the Mountain Democrat. It states, “(The City) Council voted $50 to be donated to the businessmen for Xmas decorations and voted to place an appropriate marker by the Dr. S. H. Rantz memorial tree, planted a dozen years ago in the city park at the junction of Main and Bedford.”

As to the “appropriate marker,” there is neither a marker nor any indication there was ever a marker on or near the tree regarding Dr. Rantz. There are other markers nearby, but nothing makes reference to the tree or Dr. Rantz.

More questions

Around the early 2000s the Placerville Department of Recreation was cleaning up around the tree and uncovered a loose plaque that stated, “Presented by the American Legion Auxiliary, 1934.” There seems to be no connection between this plaque and the tree and nothing in the park seems to be missing a plaque. However, there were the remains of a base of an old flagpole a dozen feet to the east of the tree where the plaque may have been placed.

If all this isn’t confusing enough, there are other stories around Placerville regarding the tree. One story is that the tree was planted by hotel owner Lloyd Raffetto and local government official John Winkleman in honor of the former Moyle’s saloon. Former El Dorado County Supervisor and county native Joe Flynn said that his mother Alice Flynn owned the Hangtown Café, near the hotel, and was involved with the planting, but often remarked that she thought it was planted too close to the building.

A second story is that the tree may be one of the small redwood trees that a member of the Blair family brought back from Santa Cruz where he and his new bride had spent their honeymoon. Apparently they were planted not only on the Blair property but other places around Placerville.

There are no exact dates for the above stories but they were in the correct era and could both be referring to the “Rantz” tree, supposedly planted in 1926.

If today’s tree is the 1926 Rantz Memorial Tree, the tree obtained by Fire Chief Hirst or another tree, nobody seems to know. But, as interesting as it is, it probably doesn’t matter. It is a magnificent tree and when lit each Christmas season, adds even more beauty to the city.

One answer

As a final note, if you are wondering what happened to the 20 foot fir tree planted for the 1928 Christmas ceremony and supposedly intended to be the “community Christmas tree,” the May 21, 1929 issue of the Mountain Democrat clears that up. “Lost! One fir tree, which last Christmas served as a community Christmas tree, has disappeared from the Moyle lot. Who removed it? Nobody knows. However, the tree had died and ceased to be the beautiful city ornament it was intended to be, so that its removal constitutes somewhat the same improvement on the corner that was made when the tree was planted.”

n SHOE by Jeff MacNelly

n TUNDRA by Chad Carpenter

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, these are adjectives that describe a polar bear! Can you think of other adjectives that would describe this animal?

Polar bears love sh! How many sh can you catch on this page?

Each hair shaft is transparent with a hollow core that scatters and re ects visible light, much like what happens with ice and snow, giving it a bright white appearance.

Polar bears live on ice near the North Pole in the Arctic, which is covered in ice and surrounded by very cold water. But that doesn’t bother a polar bear.

In each box, write the letter that comes before the letter at the bottom of each box to find a couple of cool ways these fluffy fellows stay warm.

In January, the average temperature in the Arctic ranges from a chilly 0°C to -34°C (32°F to -40°F).

In July, the average temperature range is from –10°C to 10 °C (14°F to 50 °F).

Color the graph to show the temperature range in each month using Celsius.

Very Special Fur

Polar bears have two types of fur: long oily guard hairs and short insulating hairs.

Polar bear paws can grow to be 12 inches across (31 centimeters) and help distribute weight when treading on thin ice.

When swimming, their broad forepaws act like large paddles and the hind paws serve as rudders for steering.

Black footpads on the bottom of each paw are covered by small, soft bumps known as papillae Papillae grip the ice and keep the bear from slipping. Tufts of fur between their toes and footpads may help with purchase as well as can their claws.

The long, oily guard hairs are tiny, hollow tubes that trap warmth and hold it close to the skin. Their oily surface keeps polar bears dry.

Under the guard hairs is a layer of dense, short, soft hairs that trap heat close to the skin, like thermal underwear.

What’s another name for a polar bear’s layer of fat?

The letters along the correct ice path reveal the answer.

Verbs and Adjectives

Look through the newspaper and find five adjectives that describe a polar bear. Then find five verbs that describe how a polar bear moves. Write one or more sentences about a polar bear using your adjectives and verbs.

Write bear young are called cubs.

These statements are either all true or all false. Check your answers by adding up the numbers next to each of your answers. If the total is 33, you’ve got it right!

Apolar bear’s nose can smell a seal on the ice 20 miles away!

Polar bear cubs are born without hair and are blind and deaf.

Cut out an article from the newspaper. Cut the article into four pieces. Give the pieces to a friend to see if he or she can put the article back together in the right order.

A polar bear starts its life in a den or ice _________ that its mother _______ into the snow. The den protects the mother and the cubs from _________, cold and predators. The den stays warm inside as heat from the mother bear warms the tight ___________ and the frozen walls trap the warm air.

A polar bear cub weighs only about one __________ when it is born and are about 12 to 14 inches long.

These little guys grow up to be BIG. A male polar bear can grow to be 1, 200 pounds. A female about 650 pounds. They start to get ________ at about eight weeks. They stay in the den drinking mama bear’s nutritious milk for about three to four ___________.

Young polar bears stay with their mothers until they are around 30 months old. By then, they have learned how to ____________ in the cold and find food on their own.

Movies and books sometimes show polar bears and penguins together. But they actually live on opposite ends of the earth. Polar bears only live in the Arctic and penguins live in the Antarctic.

This week’s word:

Thermal

The adjective thermal means relating to or saving heat.

The thermal layer in Jane’s jacket helped her stay warm while skiing.

Try to use the word thermal in a sentence today when talking with your friends and family.

This little cub has taken some of the words out of this article. Can you nd where each one belongs? Have a parent check your work. Write