Hooker Oak

Hooker Oak was an extremely large valley oak tree in Chico, California. Amateur botanist and local socialite Annie Bidwell, whose husband had founded Chico, named the tree in 1887 after English botanist and Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. It was featured in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. The tree fell in 1977 and portions of the wood was later milled for use by local artisans.DiscoveryUpon first seeing the tree in 1872, Hooker declared the tree to be the largest of its species in the known world. Since then other valley oaks have been found of similar size. On January 7, 1958, the Sacramento Bee reported that in 1921 the Hooker Oak was over 110ft tall and estimated that 7,885 people could stand under its canopy assuming 2sqft per person.DeathWhen it fell on May 1, 1977, it was nearly a hundred feet tall and at 8ft from the ground, 29ft in circumference. The largest branch measured 111ft from trunk to tip and the circumference of outside branches was nearly 500ft. Its age had been estimated at a thousand years, but on its demise it was found to be two trees, of 325 years each which had long ago grown into one.DispositionFor three years after falling, the tree lay on the ground while city leaders struggled to finally determine its fate. In the spring of 1980, the City of Chico commissioned Cal Oak Lumber Company to remove and reclaim sound portions of the tree at Cal Oak's Oroville hardwood plant. They were allowed to retain some of the wood as compensation. After milling the oak, Cal Oak arranged for the lumber to be dried at the University of California's Forest Products Laboratory.