Cloquato Pioneer Fir- A Tree of Trees

You have to visit the cemetery to see it. A quiet and reverent place is apt for a tree that has seen so much.
Not catalogued as the biggest tree, but it sure seems like it when looking up into the branches. Branches that are TREES themselves! As of 2018, the circumference measures 28.5 feet around. What makes the tree unique, other than its size, is its “octopus” shaped growth where branches grow out from lower on the trunk and then upwards. Being centuries old, these octopus arms stretch out to a width of 100 feet.

This massive and unique fir tree was once a place for settlers to gather under as a cover from weather. It was on the land that belonged to Lewis Davis who came to Washington from Missouri, and it was he that offered it as refuge. He later offered the land around the tree as the town’s first graveyard when the community lost one of its youngest citizens. The tree still stretches its protective branches out over many of Cloquato’s early settlers in their final resting places.  (below, another part of Cloquato Cemetery)