Medina, Minnesota — A line of severe storms swept through Minnesota and Wisconsin on Thursday, bringing down countless trees.
However, for one Minnesota family, the loss of a white spruce was too great to measure.
“We’re going to miss it tremendously,” said Jessie Altringer, as she measured a large limb that had split from the tree but still towered over her. “That is seven feet, three inches around, and that’s just the limb.”
The massive tree, which had stood along Pioneer Trail for generations, began to split on Sunday due to the extended hot, dry weather.
“When that first limb fell, it went that way and took out the power line,” Altringer told the reporter. “And it started two fires, one on our property, and then a bigger fire, down on our neighbors.”
Fortunately, she says the fires were quickly extinguished, but quick-moving storms took down the tree on Thursday.
“I thought my husband was underneath it,” Altringer explained. “He had been planting in our garden only minutes before it fell. I was terrified for a moment before screaming and yelling for him, and he emerged from the barn.”
Following their initial relief, the couple began to mourn a tree that had been beloved for generations.
Altringer: “It was an excellent climbing tree, and our grandchildren enjoyed playing in it. It had a good life, and we’ll remember it in different ways.”
Erdahl responded: “It sounds like you’re saying it was part of the family.”
Altringer says, “It is definitely part of the family.”
That applies to more than just their own family.
When Altringer bought the property in 2011, the previous owner informed him that the tree was listed on the Minnesota Native Big Tree Registry.
“This is the Minnesota big tree application form for a white spruce,” Altringer told KARE11, displaying the application filed by the Peppin family 25 years ago.
The tree measured 117 inches around, stood 57 feet tall, and had a crown length of 51 feet from branch tip to branch tip. Though it wasn’t as tall as the state’s largest white spruce, its broad base and massive limbs set it apart.
“They told us it was the second largest (white spruce) in Minnesota at the time,” Peppin explained. “It was a showpiece.”
A showpiece they attempted to preserve.
“It’s the only big tree we watered,” she explained. “We had the water spikes, which were approximately four feet long. You put them in the ground and connected them to a hose, so the roots received water.”
Everything looked good and green, and she claims they were told the tree was healthy when an arborist came to trim some branches in March.
But there was obviously something wrong beneath the surface.
“It’s dry rot, you can just pull pieces out,” Altringer explained. “There’s nothing there, there’s no moisture in the tree.”
Which is why she realizes how fortunate they were to have it for so long.
“It stood for at least 150 years,” she said. “I don’t know for sure, but we’ll find out when we get to the bottom (stump).”
When it comes time to count the rings, they will also count their blessings.
“My husband’s a woodworker so he’s going to make some stuff out of that… little reminders,” she informed me.