The Nov. 15 Nevada Appeal presented an article entitled “Sculpture recommended for South Carson City.”
The article describes the city’s award of a contract to an artist to create a sculpture for the roundabout at South Carson Street and Stewart streets. The artist is required to incorporate “Carson City symbols, culture and history.” The proposed sculpture does not address these requirements.
A dominant feature of the proposed “Sense of Place” sculpture is a Great Basin bristlecone pine tree. Unfortunately, the bristlecone pine has little significance to Carson City. The nearest naturally occurring bristlecone pine is more than a 100 miles from Carson City. This is not a symbol, not part of the culture, and not relevant to the history of Carson City.
Carson City’s signature tree is the Fremont cottonwood. It is named after John C. Fremont, an early Nevada trailblazer. Fremont’s scout was Kit Carson, Carson City’s namesake. The cottonwood was important to the area’s original residents, the Washoe. The tree provided them food, medicine, cordage, shelter and heat.
The best cottonwood tree to portray in the “Sense of Place” sculpture for southern Carson City’s roundabout would be the Fremont cottonwood at the corner of Washington and Division Streets… i.e., the “Nevada Bicentennial Tree.”
This would make “Sense.”
Ed Smith
Carson City
Former University of Nevada Cooperative Extension natural resource specialist