The Fallen Tunnel Tree - formerly known as the Wawona Tunnel Tree, was a famous giant sequoia that stood in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park. It had a height of 227 feet (69 m) and was 90 ft (27 m) in circumference.
A tunnel was cut through the tree in 1881, enlarging an existing fire scar. Two men were paid $75 for the job. The tree had a slight lean, which increased when the tunnel was completed.
The Wawona Tree fell in 1969 under an estimated two-ton load of snow on its crown. The giant sequoia is estimated to have been 2,300 years old. Its collapse is seen as a turning point in the preservation program in National Parks in the United States. So grave was the shock of the tree's collapse that the result was a greater awareness of the sensitivity of ecosystems, even for a living thing as massive as the Giant Sequoias.