page_title: Mingo Oak
section_title: Dimensions and age
hierarchical_section_title: Mingo Oak / Dimensions and age
caption_attribution_description: English: Mingo Oak Cross-section/Slice. At the time this tree was cut in Mingo County, West Virginia, it was the oldest white oak in the United States. This slice currently resides in the West Virginia Davis College. When it was cut in 1938 it was estimated to be around 584 years old. This image is a close-up view of the growth rings.
context_page_description: The Mingo Oak was a white oak in the U.S. state of West Virginia. First recognized for its age and size in 1931, the Mingo Oak was the oldest and largest living white oak tree in the world until its death in 1938.
  The Mingo Oak stood in Mingo County, West Virginia, in a cove at the base of Trace Mountain near the headwaters of the Trace Fork of Pigeon Creek, a tributary stream of Tug Fork. The tree reached a height of over 200 feet, and its trunk was 145 feet in height. Its crown measured 130 feet in diameter and 60 feet in height. The tree's trunk measured 9 feet 10 inches in diameter and the circumference of its base measured 30 feet 9 inches. Assessments of its potential board lumber ranged from 15,000 feet to 40,000 feet. Following the tree's felling in 1938, it was estimated to weigh approximately 5,400 long tons.
  While the tree had long been known about for its size, the unique status of the Mingo Oak was not recognized until 1931, when John Keadle and Leonard Bradshaw of Williamson took measurements of the tree, and found it to be the largest living white oak in the world. Various estimates place the Mingo Oak's seeding between 1354 and 1361 AD.
context_section_description: The Mingo Oak was the largest specimen of these giant white oaks that dotted the old-growth forests of pre-settlement West Virginia. The tree was found to be the largest living white oak in the United States, and in the world, following a survey of white oaks throughout the country. The Mingo Oak's nearest competition was a tree that was identified in Stony Brook on Long Island with a larger circumference, but a shorter height of 86 feet (26 m).
  Together with its uppermost branches, the tree reached a height of over 200 feet (61 m), and its trunk (or bole) towered to a height of 145 feet (44 m) where the trunk forked into branches that spread in all directions. Its crown measured 130 feet (40 m) in diameter and 60 feet (18 m) in height. The tree's trunk measured 9 feet 10 inches (3.00 m) in diameter. The tree's circumference measured 30 feet 9 inches (9.37 m) at the base and 19 feet 9 inches (6.02 m) at 4.5 feet (1.4 m) from the ground. As the virgin forest around it had been lumbered, the tree towered over the surrounding secondary forest.
  An initial estimate by lumbermen in 1931 stated that if the tree were to be cut for lumber, it would produce between 35,000 feet (11,000 m) and  40,000 feet (12,000 m) of board lumber, with a value of $1,400. In February 1932, Perkins Coville of the United States Forest Service Department of Silvics estimated the tree's volume to contain 20,000 feet (6,100 m) of board lumber. In 1938, engineers of the Island Creek Coal Company estimated that the tree's trunk contained 15,000 feet (4,600 m) of board lumber. Following the tree's felling in 1938, it was estimated to weigh approximately 5,400 long tons (5,500 t).
  Various estimates place the tree's seeding sometime between 1354 and 1361 AD. Using borings from the tree, the Smithsonian Institution determined that the Mingo Oak was the oldest tree of its species. In September 1932, West Virginia state forester D. B. Griffin and Emmett Keadle, president of the Mingo County Fish and Game Protective Association in Williamson, used an increment borer to estimate the tree as having begun its growth around 1356, with a margin of error within 25 or 30 years. Blueprints and boring samples were given to the West Virginia State Museum in Charleston and to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
caption: The Mingo Oak's growth rings
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