History: Christmas Trees

It is almost Christmas, and nearly everyone has a Christmas tree, either a live one or an artificial that can be stored and used year after year. One can even purchase potted trees, decorate them for the season, and then plant them outside and beautify their yard, possibly adding outdoor decorations the following years.

But, through the years, a natural Christmas tree continues to be a popular choice. Christmas trees can be purchased at Christmas Tree Farms, at many farm stores or other local stores. Some organizations sell them as fund-raisers. Those living near a forest area can get Christmas Tree Permits and are allowed to cut their own tree, a great family outing during the Christmas season.

The Casper Herald, December 25, 1919

However, at one time some people felt that the cutting of Christmas trees might be detrimental to the forests. However, the Forestry Department did not agree.

The Sheridan Post, December 20, 1907 – The Cutting of Christmas Trees Approved by the Forestry Department. Trees Are for Use. No Other Purpose Found to Contribute So Much Happiness as Use of Trees on Christmas Day. Washington, Dec. 20 — This Is the time of the year when hundreds of thoughtful people feel it their duty to ask Gifford Pinchot, the United States Forester, what he thinks about the Christmas Tree question.

With the approach of the Christmas season, the letters coming into the forest service began to multiply and the mail clerk works overtime and wishes for the passing of the season as earnestly as the tired out express man or the nerve wrecked shop girl.

The running capacity of the elevators in the red brick building on F Street, which Uncle Sam rents for the service, is also severely taxed, for many make a personal visit to plead for the governments intervention in the “needless destruction of the nations forest by the cutting of Christmas Trees.”

The reply of the man who, for ten years has been in the thick of the fight for the conservation of the county’s forest resources is often as great surprise to those who would do away with the custom of taking an evergreen from the hillside to contribute to the festivities of a single day.

“I have thought a great deal about this Christmas tree matter,” the forester said to a caller yesterday. “And have finally reached this conclusion. Trees are for use. There is no other use to which these trees could be put which would contribute so much to the happiness and good of mankind as their use for the children and family on Christmas day.

“So far as endangering the future life of our forests is concerned, the effect is infinitesimal, compared with the destruction caused by forest fires and wasteful lumbering. It is estimated that 4.000,000 Christmas trees are needed in this country each year, one in every fourth family. If planted four feet apart, these could be grown on less than 1,400 acres, a good-sized farm. You see, the amount is utterly insignificant when compared to the other great drains on the forests.

Tree at Kendrick Mansion, Sheridan

“Trees suitable for Christmas trees do not grow in the old forests, where reproduction is most important, but in the open. Even if serious denudation were threatened, the proper remedy would be not to stop using the trees but to adopt wiser methods. There is no more reason for an outcry against using land to grow Christmas trees than to grow flowers. While up holding the custom, the government’s foresters recognize that indiscriminate cropping of evergreens for Christmas trees has in many sections produced a bad effect upon the timber supply of a number of merchantable species.

“Americans have been as wasteful in cutting Christmas trees as they have in their search for other products and foresters say that harm may always be expected when the woodlands are not under proper forestry management. That the use of Christmas trees is perfectly compatible with the welfare of the forest is fully proven in Germany where, with a highly developed forest policy, the per capita consumption of Christmas trees is the greatest. The cutting of small trees for Christmas trees is not there considered in the least a menace to the forest, but, on the contrary, as a means of improving the forest. There is scarcely a hut in Germany that has not a tree at Christmas time.”

Practically all conifers can be and are used as Christmas trees in this country, but the most popular ones are the firs, spruces, pines and the cedars. The pines are in great demand for Christmas trees when fir and spruce are not available……

The lodge pole pine is also popular In Wyoming and other Rocky Mountain states. In California, it is not uncommon to find the incense cedar and young coast redwoods used as Christmas trues.

The wholesale use of spruce for Christmas trees in some sections is more or less question able in view of the fact that this is the best and and most widely used wood for the manufacture of pulp for white paper….

Foresters consider it most fortunate that fir is a more popular species for Christmas than spruce, because the wood of it is not so valuable.

The sizes of Christmas trees vary from five to thlrty-five feet, but the popular heights are seven to ten feet. Prices vary from .25 cents for smallest sizes in a dull market, to $35 for the largest and most shapely trees in New York…. Government Forest officers say that is is not by denying oneself the pleasure of having a bit of nature in the home as Christmas that the forests are to be preserved, but by learning how to manage them wisely.

Modern Christmas trees originated in Central Europe, particularly in Germany. Christmas trees were first recorded to be used during the 16th Century by German Lutherans. Since there was no electric lights, candles were used to light the tree, sometimes a dangerous practice. However, enterprising inventors found a way to make them safer.

Tree at Kendrick Mansion, Sheridan

The Sheridan Post, January 25, 1900 –Christmas Tree Made Safer. The fatalities and accidents that attend the decoration of Christmas trees with lighted candles can now be in a large measure avoided by the use of the convenient handle-holder, just patented.

This little device is so designed that the candle is always maintained in an upright position no matter what the position or movement of the limb to which it is attached. This is accomplished by means of a candle holder and an accompanying drip cup, provided with a weight suspended on a universal joint. As will be readily observed by an inspection of the illustration, when the candleholder is placed on the limb of a tree by means of the hook, the weight falls free, and being heavier than the candleholder and candle, it keeps the latter in an upright position.

Anyone who has had experience with the disagreeable melted candle grease all over floor covering and tree hangings will appreciate the value of this little device, which though effective, is simplicity itself.

Unlike today, when most of us keep the tree lighted with bright, yet cool lights, Christmas Trees of yore were often lit for a few days at a time, to help avoid fires. One tradition was to decorate the tree in secret, and then, on Christmas Eve, light the candles, and throw open the door for the children to see it for the first time.

Christmas trees are a big business in the United States, even in 1920.

The Laramie Republican, December 11, 1920 – Trees For Christmas; Millions Will Be Felled This Year to Make Children Everywhere Happy Washington, Dec. 11. — Between four and five million Christmas trees will be felled this year to brighten American homes, churches and community centers, and delight the hearts of the children. This is the estimate of the forest service, which says that the total of trees used in this country each yuletlde season equals approximately the combined consumption of England, Scotland and Wales and is about 25 per cent greater than that of Germany.

Forest service officials are opposed to any movement to discourage the use of these trees for Christmas purposes. To the argument that the cutting and use of the trees is a great waste, they say that the custom is so old. so well grounded, and so venerated that even if it were economically somewhat indefensible, these aspects will and should continue to out weigh economic considerations.

Loss Not Harmful. Placed all together, the four or five millions of trees used annually would make a mighty forest, but forest service officers point out that many of them come from fields which are being cleared for farming purposes or from forests which need thinning to protect the more sturdy trees. They also argue that trees are for use and that there is no other use to which they could be put that would contribute so much to the joy of mankind as their use by children on this one great holiday.

Of the total of Christmas trees consumed In this country, 1,500,000 are used in New York state and New England, the forest service says. Black and red spruce are very commonly seen in New England Christmas celebrations and in New York and Philadelphia. In Illinois and Ohio the local demand Is supplied partly with nursery grown Norway spruce. Pines are in great demand for Christmas trees when, fir and spruce are not available. Throughout Maryland, Virginia and in Washington, D. C, the scrub pine finds a way into many homes, while in southern Wyoming the Lodge Pole Pine is almost the only species available.

Hemlock is often used but only in the absence of other varieties, Red Cedar, says the forest service, is not despised where better trees can not be had as in the treeless states and often in Tennessee and Pennsylvania. In California, Red Cedar and Incense cedar are not uncommon.

The swamps of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota furnish the markets of Chicago, St. Paul and the cities of the plains states, while Maine, Now Hampshire, Vermont, the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts and the Adirondacks and Catskills in New York are the sources of supply for New York, Philadelphia and Boston and even Baltimore and Washington.

Christmas trees, the forest service says, vary in size from 5 to 35 feet and prices run from 25 cents to $35 or $50. Where the 25-cent trees are available is not stated.

Decorations on Christmas trees run the gamet depending on ones taste. Multi-colored lights verses all white, all blue, all green or red strings of lights. Sparkling decorations or old fashioned Christmas cards and strings of popcorn? While live trees come in one color, green, artificial trees came in many colors that were never seen in nature. White trees, green trees, blue, red, and silver trees are purchased for Christmas. Some people feel it is wrong to cut down a tree and bring it inside for the season, so they buy artificial trees instead. During the 1970s, a population decoration was a silvery tinsel tree with a light wheel that changed its color.

The Christian faith has also embraced the Christmas Tree, and to some it represents the Light of the World bring hope; the act of resurrecting a tree to adorn it with lights represents Christ’s gift of light; It is said that Martin Luther was inspired by seeing the beauty of the starry sky through the branches of the trees.

Wyoming has a lot of forest land, and many people each year take the family outdoors into the fresh mountain air to find the perfect Christmas tree and bring it home to add a delightfully fragrant and beautiful addition to the Christmas season. One needs a permit, and there are certain rules and regulations for cutting the tree, but overall, it is a great experience for youngsters.

Wyoming trees can also go a long distance. In 2010, a 67-feet-tall Engleman Spruce from Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest was chosen to represent Wyoming on the west lawn of the United States Capitol. The state motto, Forever West was the theme for the decorations, 5,000 ornaments made by Wyoming school students.

What speaks more to the heart of Christmas than a Christmas Tree, celebrating the spirit of the season with lights and Christmas decorations.