The Election Tree Still Stands, or Does It?

Trees have played an important part in Tulare County history, and as a result many have achieved celebrity status, including the Douglass Tree that stood in downtown Visalia, the General Sherman Sequoia in Sequoia National Park, and the Election Tree located along the Kaweah River about seven miles east of Visalia.

One of the oldest, the Election Tree, sometimes called the Charter Oak or Witness Tree, dates back to the very beginning of the county, and was part of the county's first election. The story has it that many of the county's earliest pioneers looking for shade, voted under its branches.

Tulare County was created by the California State Legislature in April 1852 by lopping off the huge southern section of Mariposa County, creating a new county comprising nearly 25,000 square miles of land. The only settlement of note in the new county at the time was Woodsville, so it was designated the county's first seat of government.

Woodsville had an interesting beginning. In 1850, John Wood and a group of men came to a wooded area along the Kaweah River about seven miles east of what is now Visalia. Wood built a log cabin and had plans for other structures as well. Chief Francisco, the leader of the local group of Yokuts Indians, visited Wood and gave him and his men 10 days to leave or face fatal consequences.

The white men stayed beyond the deadline and they were killed. Word of the "massacre" traveled quickly but even so, more white settlers arrived, occupying the area. The settlement of Woodsville was named after John Wood.

On July 10, 1852, the new county's first election took place. Grand Island in the Kings River was one polling place and Woodsville became the other. July 10th was a typical hot summer day and so election officials at Woodsville decided that voting inside of Wood's cabin was unbearable, so they moved the voting to shade under a nearby large oak tree - a tree that would eventually be called the Election Tree.

Early on, the significance of the tree was recognized by the settlers and many wanted the historic tree marked as such. Even though there was general agreement to mark the tree, there was debate over which tree it was.

First of all, the area was covered with oak trees. Secondly, Wood's cabin was gone, and many of the rivers and channels had changed their course. Adding to the identification challenge, Woodsville had become a ghost town in the middle of private property.

Determining the exact tree became difficult if not impossible. But history buffs were determined to recognize the historic tree. Some old timers swore that they could identify the tree, but memories faded and over time they were not sure.

According to Annie R. Mitchell, Tulare County's pre-eminent historian, in 1905, several men who had voted under the famous tree went out to the site and identified an oak tree on the north side of the Kaweah River "about a mile from the obliterated site of Woodsville." However, Mitchell questioned their identification. Why would the early voters walk a mile or so from Woodsville to find shade when there were other oak trees closer to the polling place?

But the early settlers won over the doubters and in 1905, a wooden historical marker was placed on the tree that the pioneers had identified. Some openly speculated the tree was chosen because it was adjacent to a public roadway making visits to the historic site more convenient. For many years, historians openly questioned whether the tree was the actual one.

For 120 years, the giant oak tree located east of Road 168 on Charter Oak Drive, about seven miles east of Visalia, has been designated Tulare County's Election Tree. But is it the tree that provided shade for the county's first voters in 1852?

Most historians say probably not.

Well-respected historians Joe Doctor and Alan George believe the "real Election Tree" toppled over in 1995 on private property about a half mile south of the "plaqued" tree, closer to the site of Woodsville.

Solving the mystery of the actual election tree will probably never happen, but for now at least, we need to be satisfied that the old oak tree that has the marker, symbolically at least, represents the location of the election of 1852. Go out and take a look. It's worth the short trip and easy to find along Charter Oak Drive. Know that the spot you are in is in the heart of where Tulare County began.