MacArthur Pine, WI Paul Jost
April 25-26, 2006

Bob,

Here's the info that you've asked for: 

BVP accurately measured the MacArthur pine to 16'8" x 148' when he lived
here and modeled it's volume to 1400 cubes. When I measured it some thirty
years later, it was down to 101' x 17'6" (210") when I was still measuring
girths at a point slightly higher than the ENTS method.

Since I measured a few inches higher, the real girth would have been 
LARGER. Before ENTS, I used to always average the levels of the high
side and low side of the trunk instead of perceiving "where the seed 
sprouted". As a result, my tape level was boosted by ground raised up 
by root growth.

 

The 17.5' girth was for a topped tree, significantly larger than it was when it
was at it's greatest height. Since it's maximum girth and maximum height
occurred 30 years apart from each other, they are not recorded in the record
for the MacArthur pine as a seemingly instantaneous measurement. 

The MacArthur was still extremely impressive when topped. I've attached a
scan and a picture that Bob Van pelt had sent me in the past, and an article
that I came across at one point in time...

macpine_forest_repub_072188.jpg (370075 bytes) pistr2.jpg (109738 bytes)

It is amusing that the largest height in feet (207) is nearly equivalent to
the largest girth in inches (214). I have several Porkies pines that are
"square" - roughly 144' x 144".

By the way, when they removed the Mac pine after it burned, the Forest
Service reported it's dbh at 214" or 17'10" or 17.8'. 

Paul

   Dean Acheson
28 Apr 2006 


Hi Ed, 

I am Dean S. Acheson, former GM of the Forest Republican. I was there for only the last three years, however. I suspect the source of the information for that article came from the US Forest Service because the remnants (it was struck by lighting, then burned by vandals) rests on federal land in Forest County. Do a web search for the Forest Service and you should come up with names, etc. Slices of the base of the fallen tree were made and distributed to several non-profit groups; one slice is in the Forest County courthouse in Crandon, WI. Hope this helps. It was one hellava pine in its heyday.

Dean S. Acheson
Daily News, Rhinelander, WI
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