"Old Glory" - the John Quigley Tree's Original Location

USA / California / Santa Clarita / Pico Canyon Road, 26099
 tree, historic landmark, historical layer / disappeared object
This tree was replanted 500 yard futher east, in Pico Canyon County Park.

On 10 January 2003, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and firefighters used an aerial ladder and chain-breaking tools Friday night to remove tree sitter John Quigley from the old oak tree he had occupied since the first day of November, 2002.

Holding a folded American flag in one hand, Quigley smiled and waved to bystanders as he rode the ladder to the ground. Sheriff's deputies said he would be escorted off the property, but not arrested.

"I said they'd have to come and drag me out, and they did," Quigley said.
The action came just hours after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered Quigley to end his months-long effort to save the tree that stood in the path of the Santa Clarita Valley's suburban development boom.

As protesters booed and children sang "This Land Is Your Land," a firetruck hoisted a platform ladder near Quigley's temporary home high in the branches shortly before 9:00 p.m.

An official on the ladder maneuvered through the foliage and handed him the judge's court order, but Quigley had chained himself to branches to make it more difficult for officials to remove him. Sheriff's deputies clambered from the ladder into the tree, carrying with them tools they used to cut through chains and a locking device that Quigley had used to secure himself to the oak. The process took more than an hour. Quigley could be seen chatting with the deputies as they cut him loose.

At about 11:00 p.m. the deputies placed him in a large basket attached to the end of the ladder and he was lowered to the ground.

Judge John P. Shook had ordered deputies to evict Quigley for trespassing. The judge's ruling came after a hastily arranged morning showdown in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom between Quigley's attorney and lawyers for developer John Laing Homes, who requested a temporary restraining order to remove the activist from the tree. The homebuilder argued Quigley was trespassing.

The experienced protester tried his best to remain in the tree that residents had nicknamed "Old Glory." Arborists estimate the oak is 150 to 400 years old.
The tree was moved one early morning in January 2004, its hulking, 460-ton body mounted onto a 128-wheel trailer and, like an upright Gulliver tugged by Lilliputians, Old Glory was hauled a quarter mile to its current home.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_sitting
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°22'37"N   118°35'23"W

Comments

  • Apparently 400-year-old oak trees are only worth saving when they aren't inconveniencing anyone. The tree was named Old Glory.
  • The tree was moved down the road to Pico Canyon County Park.
  • I remember that. What year was it? From the looks of the map, it looks like the major thorofare they just had to move the ancient oak for doesn't go anywhere.
  • The developer should have consulted with a qualified arborist to locate trees of this significiance before master planning this community. Having failed to do so, they should have realigned the road and corresponding roads and housing to spare that tree and any other trees of significance. A 400 year old oak would certainly have enriched a banal and characterless tract neighborhood and given it a sense of legacy...at least until it developes some of its own.
This article was last modified 7 years ago