treehouse

PIONEER ESTATE John Spiller of Mackay started the Pioneer Estate in 1882 named after a property that he held on the Pioneer River in the Mackay district. Henry Brandon had selected the adjoining block of land and soon joined in with Spiller. When the two partners had sufficient land planted with a cane, they placed an order in the Old Country for milling machinery. Mr. George Russell Drysdale, a Scot who reached the Burdekin in 1883 went to Mackay and negotiated with Mr. Brandon who was the manager of the Joint Stock Bank there, for the purchase of the Pioneer interests, and he acquired them for Drysdale Bros. Mr. David Donald who had been connected with Mr. MacKenzie at Seaforth joined Mr. Drysdale with whom he had traveled from Melbourne. Mr. Donald's first job was to receive the milling machinery and see it erected, and it commenced crushing in 1884. the sugar manufactured was carted to the landing at Baratta Creek by horse and bullock teams, where it was shipped by lighter to Townsville. Mr. Donald took over the management of the factory and Mr. Louis Hoey, father of Mr. L. W. J. Hoey, at present chairman of the Ayr District Canegrowers Executive tendered to the plantation work and cane cultivation. Mr. Donald later retired from the mill to become an accountant at Townsville and an agent there for Pioneer. Source: Townsville Daily Bulletin 01 Sep 1938 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/62169472

This was the General Noble Redwood Tree House – a 50-foot section of a 2,000 year-old giant sequoia tree. This idea was conceived as an impressive government exhibit for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The tree was cut in the General Grant National Park – which is now Kings Canyon National Park in California. A team of twenty cutters worked for seven days, fifty feet above the ground, to cut the 26-foot diameter tree.

Workers then hollowed out the stump, and cut the tree into some 2-3 dozen sections, which would be reassembled on the site of the exposition – complete with an interior circular staircase!

In 1894 the tree was moved again to the grounds of the Agriculture Building, on the Mall in Washington, DC. It was then that the structure was made waterproof with the addition of a peaked roof and four dormer windows, and covered with redwood shingles.

The tree house remained on the mall until 1932, when it was placed in storage at the Agriculture's Experimental Farm in Arlington, VA. In 1940 the Farm was transferred to the Army for part of the Pentagon grounds, and the tree was likely burned at that time.

Like many government stories, this one has it's irony: the tree was named to honor General John Willock Noble (1831–1912) who served as Secretary of the Interior from 1889-1893. Noble worked diligently to assure the passage of an 1891 law to preserve millions of acres of western forests owned by the federal government. (Perhaps the loss of this tree used for a "trade show" (exposition) can be excused. ;)


"Workers hollowing out the tree to build a
circular staircase on the inside of the tree."

    Click image to see it full size.

Click Here (and scroll down) to see other related construction photos of this tree house.

Reference: Works in progress by Alvin Rosenbaum, Diane Maddex, and Gretchen Smith Mui. Edited by Diane Maddex. Pomegranate, 1994, 208 pages

It's too bad they didn't have the foresight to realize a lot more people would have gotten to see it if they didn't chop it down doh!

If it can be fished, hook it. If it can be killed, hunt it. If it can be worn, skin it. If it can be cut...chop it down. The mentality of the European settlers, so sad.