” ‘On Thursday, January 16, 1902, at one o’clock p. m., one of the largest poplar trees in western Ohio fell to the ground. It was bought by E. L. Fields, of Union City, Ind., for which he paid $160, also $11 more for extra timber to place under the same to prevent it from splitting or breaking in falling to the ground. It belonged to Jacob Ware, section 10, German township, Darke county, Ohio. It stood about two hundred yards east of Crout creek, which is a branch of Greenville creek, noted by Judge Wharry in his early surveys as one of the finest and most fertile tracts of land from its source to its mouth to be found in Darke county. The tree was six feet across the stump, 18 feet in circumference, 74 feet to the first limb, attained a height of about 144 feet. By a careful count of the annual rings it was found to be over 400 years old.’  ”

Reference Data:

History of Darke County, Ohio, From Its Earliest Settlements to the Present, by Frazer Ells Wilson, 1914, page 45