The question had become, “How many Deam oaks are there?” But I was also asking myself, “How many people care?”
I am referring to the Charles Deam oak and the lengthy treatise in the N-B today. It all started a couple months ago when Wells County’s newly titled and official Tourism Coordinator — Audry Dudley —asked if I’d write something up for this year’s tourism guide about this (it’s always been assumed) one-of-a kind tree and its history. I knew Alan Daugherty would be a good place to start and indeed, he soon sent me a raft of information and implored me to point out something that he believes has long been misunderstood — that while the tree was named after a remarkable local botanist, it was not he who discovered the new, natural hybrid.
“But I also want it known that the tree is beginning to show some signs of not being too healthy,” he added. And since it is (or has been) commonly believed that the acorns will only produce either a chinquapin oak or a white oak, “grafting will be necessary and someone needs to work on that.”
If you’ve waded through the story of how indeed that’s been done, then you may be one who cares. At least a little bit. It is another little bit of a story on how that has come to light. And then another bit of a story about Deam and his place in history, particularly our local history.
Hmm. Another lengthy Saturday morning read. Sorry.
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Whenever I start down the rabbit-hole of a story, I’ve learned enough to know to expect the unexpected. This is a case in point.
In the course of putting the tourism story together, I submitted a first draft that mentioned the question of the tree’s health and a need for some sort of propagation. Audry mentioned I might want to talk to Doug Sundling, but instead I focused on getting the story done as deadline approached and figured I’d do a story for the N-B on the tree’s health.
As it turned out, Audry was one of the few people in on the “secret” of Doug’s work, although she knew not when nor where any grafted seedlings had been planted. She was part of the “in crowd” because she had sought Sundling’s assistance while completing a Girl Scout Gold Award project in high school a “few” years ago, about the time he was doing the grafting. Two lessons there: The perks of living in a small community. Time flies.
Ouabache State Park naturalist Jody Heaston had no knowledge at all, although she’d heard some rumors that someone was doing something. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Several weeks passed as life got in the way; I finally got around to calling Doug and immediately regretted not doing it sooner. He found it humorous that word had finally found its way to me.
“Yes, I had hesitated to make it known,” he explained, fearing that someone might try to steal or vandalize the young trees. While that’s still a possibility of course, he feels they’re doing well enough now and besides, “you and I won’t be around here forever and the story needs to be shared about the trees.”
Jody was excited to hear the news and said she’d be working on a new “FAQ” to give to tourists who do ask about the tree. Alan was thrilled as well to hear that new trees will continue the Deam legacy.
However, an article written in the Harvard University-associated arboretum’s magazine raises new questions about whether a true Deam oak can grown from its acorns, and how many Deam oak trees there are in this world. Both Alan and Doug are adamant in their understanding that naturally-occurring hybrid trees’ acorns will not grow the hybrid — grafting was needed. Their enlightened skepticism remains.
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The story also shines a renewed light on one of Bluffton’s celebrity scientists that are most likely better known outside of Wells County than they are in. (Which makes Deam’s inclusion — and another story about the historical links of our downtown murals — in our tourism guide most appropriate. Kudos to Audry for thinking of that.) We have written fairly extensively in the past few years about Bruce Williamson, his daughter Mary and Paul Cook. They put Bluffton on the map for their iris hybrids work. As reported earlier, two of the annual major awards presented by the Amercian Iris Society are named after them.
Charlie Deam is also memorialized in perhaps a more significant way. A portion of the Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana was designated as the “Charles C. Deam Wilderness,” a 12,953-acre federal property — the only one of its kind east of the Mississippi River, Sundling believes.
According to the history on the property’s website, “The Charles C. Deam Wilderness was designated by Congress in December 1982. It was named for the first State Forester in Indiana, who was a pioneer in forest conservation and an author of books on the trees and flora of Indiana.” Nuts. No mention of his hometown. Perhaps we can lobby to have that included.
It is noted that the Wilderness has a fire tower that looks familiar and was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which played a huge role in developing what is now our local Ouabache State Park.
Speaking of which, the local volunteer “Friends” group of the state park raised enough money to renovate that fire tower and have a statue commissioned and completed to commemorate those CCC workers.
Sundling has had a thought — indeed a hope — that a similar effort might be launched to have a statue of Deam commissioned and completed. Perhaps it could be placed on that triangle-shaped property where two of the Deam oak trees are growing. Or perhaps across the street in Pickett’s Run park next to the plaque that commemorates Deam’s work.
My phone call a couple weeks ago inspired Doug to get out all of his notes and clippings of the grafting process and organize them into a “book” that he will present to the Wells County Public Library to be made part of the “Indiana Room,” the library’s collection of local history.
Our discussions raised some entertaining questions.
— Might there be more of these natural hybrids out that way? If two were found, might there have been more amorous crossbreeding along what was then known as “Lover’s Lane”?
— “So Bruce Williamson and his dad were walking through the woods along Lover’s Lane looking at the trees,” Doug postulated. “Who does that? And then they came across this tree and actually recognized that the leaves were a little different than any other oak trees they’d observed. Who does that? Who can do that?”
Well, my answer is, “A couple of nerds.” But hey, they’re our nerds.
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So how many people care? How many of the 3,600 cars that typically drive by the Deam Oak Monument Forest every day even notice?
You may notice that there had been a sign identifying the site and the tree, but the state removed it last year while replacing the fence; a new one is reported to be in the making. “But that seems to be coming along at typical government speed,” Alan Daugherty remarked at one point. But I digress.
Turns out, methinks, a lot of people care, including the neighbors of the site, Chuck and Cindy Petty, who take the time and effort to keep the “forest” looking nice. The state park pass they get in return surely doesn’t pay for the gas for their mower and their time, but that’s OK, he says. It bothers them not that those who do stop have to utilize a stone parking area they own and maintain.
Inevitably, their home will have a new owner. I hope they care as well.
miller@news-banner.com
