BOONE COUNTY (AP) -- This summer's exceptional drought across the Midwest has taken a toll on a bur oak tree that has survived an estimated 350 years in central Missouri.
Landowner John Sam Williamson said for the first time he can remember he hauled water into the Missouri River bottoms last week for the massive oak tree that sits on his 1,000-acre farm in Boone County. Williamson deposited two loads of about 850 gallons of water that soaked into the ground quickly.
Williamson told The Columbia Daily Tribune the drought has been hard on the prized specimen, which is at least among the largest of its kind anywhere.
The U.S. Drought Monitor said this week that more than 99 percent of Missouri is in extreme drought or worse.
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