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Giant sequoia slice moving to new home on UA campus

Posted: Oct 19, 2012 11:06 AM by Ian Cross
Updated: Oct 19, 2012 11:10 AM

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TUCSON - It's moving day for a huge piece of history at the University of Arizona.

Right now, crews are transporting a section of a giant sequoia across campus.

It all started when the sequoia fell in 1915 during a storm in northern California. It was then cut into sections for educational purposes, and the UA got a piece of that ancient tree.

The tree rings reveal its age: 1701 years old.

The tree slice was a gift from the Sequoia National Park to the Arizona State Museum on the UA campus. The museum put the section on display in 1938 but it has not been displayed since 1998.

The Laboratory of Tree Ring Research on campus has a new home big enough for the section, which spans 10 feet in diameter.

To move it, the slab has been cut into manageable chunks; it will be wheeled out of its old home, down several blocks through the university, and into its new home.

Beth Grindell, director of the Arizona State Museum says when people first see it they are in awe. "What it does when they start to think about it is to really serve as a tangible link to history," she said.

"What happens for me, and I think a lot of other people is, you look at it and you realize that we are all, each of us individually, just small parts of something much bigger, and that tree ring represents that much bigger part," Grindell said.

Several other sections of the sequoia were sent around the world when it fell.

Tune in to News 4 Tucson at Noon for more video of this massive move.

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