The hanging tree
BY ASHLEY THORPE
BHG News
A few miles outside of Washburn, Dean and Sonja Bergstedt live on a chunk of land nestled right next to the Missouri River. Hanging on the precipice near their property sits a tree that holds a message of hope. Dean and Sonja, both longtime residents of North Dakota, moved into their house about eight years ago. During one of his frequent walks around the nearby land, Dean was walking in the grass and happened upon the exceptionally unique hanging tree. “You wonder what keeps that tree alive,” Dean said. “That’s all the roots. All the dirt fell away from it; there’s a taproot, there’s a few little fingers in the ground, way down there. The rest of them go clear out and into the side.” Every year, Dean and Sonja watched for what they believed to be an ash tree to leaf out, and every year it did.
