The Lone Tree

The stake the seedling replaced was a corner of the federal land survey, and the bronze puts it on the wrong side of its meridian. This is the northeast corner of Section 20, Township 106 North, Range 49 West of the Fifth Principal Meridian, whose initial point was set in an Arkansas swamp on November 10, 1815 to survey the Louisiana Purchase. That one line governs all of North Dakota and roughly the eastern half of South Dakota. The county-line bronzes call the 1869 surveyor Eli P. Drake; this one calls him Levi.

What the plaque says

The Lone Tree Here on the Highway, in front of this marker, stood the "Lone Tree" for more than two generations. It was planted, a mere cottonwood seedling, in the hole left by pulling out the original survey stake (surveyed in September 1869 by Levi P. Drake and crew) at the corner of the NE quarter of Section 20 Township 106 N Range 49 E, which was homesteaded by George Cameron in 1880, Mrs. Cameron planted the seedling in 1881, little thinking that this tiny seedling would grow into a stately tree, which would be a beacon signal in a blizzard to save the life of a teacher, Emma Clancy, and her little flock of twelve children; nor did she think its existence later would provoke a terrific controversy as to its pres- ervation as a landmark when a paved highway came under the shelter of its wide-spreading branches. Emaciated by this concrete-created drought about its roots, causing the tree to die, this marker is dedicated to preserve the memory of a famous landmark. Erected 1956 by the M. W. C. Club and the State Highway Commission

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Lake County / Moody County — 7.9 mi
• Governor Bill Janklow — 7.9 mi
• Flandreau Indian High School — 9.2 mi
• Flandreau Christian Indian Community — 9.4 mi