Palo Alto’s famed tree: How its ‘facts’ are totally wrong

For centuries, the famed redwood tree El Palo Alto has towered over the birth and growth of its namesake city, a witness to prosperity.

But something’s wrong: its official history.

New research by Palo Alto resident Jeff Watt, an electrical engineer with a dogged devotion to facts, is separating truth from fiction.

His findings — based on old newspaper clippings, photos, translated diaries and ephemera stored in the deep recesses of libraries — detail the tree’s long-mysterious past...