Landmark Watson Mile Tree will be saved

WATSON -- A landmark tree near Watson will be spared the ax.

Kylene Olson, former mayor of Watson, received word this morning that engineers have instructed contractors to avoid cutting down the tree.

Olson has been leading the effort to save the "Watson Mile Tree'' along Minnesota Highways 7/59 near the Chippewa County community. She believes the towering cottonwood could be 150 years old.

It was slated to be felled as part of a project to build a sanitary sewer line from Watson to Montevideo.

Engineers for the project, Widseth, Smith and Nolting and Associates, have instructed contractors to use directional boring in the area of the tree so the line can be installed without the need for excavating and removing the tree, according to Olson.