As a prominent forester in South Dakota, my Dad Jerry O'Neil was a director of Keep South Dakota Green. One of his projects was delivering the national Christmas tree, a Black Hills Spruce, to Washington in 1970. He took this snapshot, although I guess he didn't stick around for the Pageant of Peace presided over by Nixon, which I think was a couple weeks later. I have a gavel made from the wood of that tree, and a certificate of authenticity.

In 2002 on one of my many trips to Washington, I went downtown and got a couple images of the tree for that year. I scanned this from a large-format slide. Blue skies would have been better.

1970

2002