Sunny day on the University of Montana campus along Memorial Row, with tall pine trees lining the left side and a paved walkway with street lamps on the right.

Memorial Row

Some Trees Lost

Three of the original 32 Memorial Row trees have been lost, and the university has planted replacements. The most recent loss came on November 22, 2010, when a strong wind storm pushed over one the trees in front of McGill Hall.

Ponderosa Pine

UM chose the Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) for Memorial Row because it is the Montana state tree.

A column of ponderosa pine trees in Memorial Row.Alternate names:

  • silver pine
  • western pitch pine
  • western red pine
  • western yellow pine
  • yellow pine
  • Yosemite pine

Description:

  • Ponderosa pine trees live 300 to 600 years and usually grow 100 to 165 feet tall, with a diameter of two to four feet.
  • The oldest trees can exceed 230 feet and more than six feet in diameter.
  • The bottom one-half of the trunk is typically without branches.
  • The bark is characteristically orange-brown with a scaly plate-like appearance.

Native American Uses:

  • Native Americans used various parts of the ponderosa pine for food and building materials.
  • The wood was used to fabricate snowshoes and single logs became dugout canoes. The bark was used to cover houses and the boughs were used in sweat lodges.
  • Needles and pitch became medicine to treat skin problems, sores, cough, fever, backaches, rheumatism and earaches.
  • The roots were used to make blue dye.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service.