Tree in the Rock

The bronze tells the plainest version: the tree was already growing from its crevice when the first main line went past fifty feet south in 1868. The better stories, of builders jogging the rails toward it and firemen stopping to give it a bucket of water, are left to the panel nearby, which offers them as what is said. What the bronze records is protection, a fence and cable the Union Pacific supplied at the Landmark Commission's request. The railroad left in 1901, and Interstate 80 later split around the boulder.

What the plaque says

This tree was growing out of a crevice in the rock when the Union Pacific Railroad built its original main line fifty feet south of this rock in 1868. The fence and cable were provided by the Union Pacific Railroad Co. at the request of the Historical Landmark Commission of Wyoming.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Vedauwoo — 2.3 mi
  Knobs of 1.4-billion-year-old granite between Laramie and Cheyenne, rough as sandpaper and famous among climbers for its wide cracks.

More markers nearby

• Lonetree on the Laramie Range — steps away
• Tree Rock — steps away
• Telephone Canyon — 8.5 mi
• Abraham Lincoln — 8.5 mi