 By the spring of 1938 , the Mingo Oak failed to produce leaves , and on May of that year , West Virginia state forester D. B. Griffin announced the tree 's death . The prevailing theory is that the tree died from the release of poisonous gases and sulfur fumes from a burning spoil tip in nearby Trace Gap . The tree was felled with fanfare on September 23 , 1938 , with <unk> being sent to the Smithsonian Institution and the West Virginia State Museum . Under the terms of the Island Creek Coal Company 's lease with the West Virginia Game , Fish , and Forestry Commission , the land 's lease around the former tree reverted to the company following the tree 's felling . 
