200-Year Old Sugar Maple cut down after dying

Trees are cut down every day in Michigan, but not all of them have the rich history of a sugar maple that was removed from Rapid River Township in Kalkaska County on Tuesday. According to Department of Natural Resources foresters who examined the rings of this particular tree — an original “witness tree” from the 1850 resurvey of northern Michigan — the tree is believed to have been more than 200 years old.

Witness trees serve as reference points, or accessories, used to locate land corners in surveying. In rural areas, trees are often used as witnesses. This tree, which died last year, was originally marked by a U.S. government surveyor named Lucius Lyon on Sept. 26, 1850. Lyon served as Michigan surveyor general from 1845 to 1850. The tree was 10 inches in diameter at the time of that marking, and was 36 inches in diameter when it was cut down. Read more