Wawona Tree

Wawona Tree
Wawona Tunnel Tree, June 1918
Species	Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
Location	Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park, California, US
Coordinates	37°30′53″N 119°35′42″W / 37.51470°N 119.59494°W / 37.51470; -119.59494Coordinates: 37°30′53″N 119°35′42″W / 37.51470°N 119.59494°W / 37.51470; -119.59494
Date felled	February 1969 (February 1969)

The Wawona Tree, also known as the Wawona Tunnel Tree, was a famous giant sequoia that stood in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park, California, USA, until February 1969. It had a height of 227 feet (69 m) and was 26 feet (7.9 m) in diameter at the base.

The origin of the word Wawona is not known. A popular story claims Wawō'na was the Miwok word for "big tree", or for "hoot of the owl", birds are considered the sequoia trees' spiritual guardian.

A tunnel was cut through the tree in 1881, enlarging an existing fire scar. Two men, the Scribner brothers, were paid $75 for the job (equivalent to $1,861 in 2016). The tree had a slight lean, which increased when the tunnel was completed. Created by the Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company as a tourist attraction, this human-made tunnel became immensely popular. Visitors were often photographed driving through or standing in the tunnel.

Construction of the Wawona Tree was part of an effort by the Park Service to increase tourism in the age of the automobile. Stephen Mather, the first Director of the National Park Service, was a main supporter of building a tourist clientele for the parks, which would in turn attract increasing appropriations from Congress and establish the Park Service as a legitimate and noteworthy bureaucratic agency. Mather and his chief aide, Horace Albright, who would also be his successor, worked to make the parks as accessible as possible and, with drive-through attractions such as the Tunnel Tree, as memorable as possible. Mather and Albright had already worked on the "See America First" campaign, trying to connect with western railroads to increase visitation to the parks. In the 1920s, the Park Service actively promoted automobile tourism. Roads and roadside attractions bloomed on the sites of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Yosemite. Roads, they believed, would also increase accessibility for "those who are not as strong and agile as you and I, for they too are entitled to their inspiration and enjoyment," as Albright stated in a 1931 letter about roads in the Smokies. Around this time, the term 'scenic drive' became introduced into the national vocabulary. The Wawona Tree may also have served as the inspiration for the 1946 children's book, Big Tree, by Mary and Conrad Buff.