Nevada Focus: Tale of shoe tree tangled in knots

"I guess I had it all screwed up," Fredda's husband, Rus, says. "She wants to set it straight."

The tree has grown into a legend since the first pair of shoes landed in its branches eight years ago. The giant cottonwood, decorated with hundreds of boots, high-heeled shoes, sneakers, sandals and a pair of roller skates, sits on U.S. 50 between Fallon and Austin and three miles east of Middlegate Station, a roadside bar at the junction with Nevada 361.

Rus and Fredda own the bar. But the first story of the tree is told by Rich Moreno, who got it secondhand from a friend who stopped for a drink at Middlegate.

"There was a guy and a girl. They were camping there, and they were going to get married," says Moreno, publisher of Nevada Magazine. "They got into an argument. The girl grabbed his shoes and threw them in the tree."

The guy and the girl made up and got married.

"A year later, they came back and saw the shoes and threw another pair in the tree," Moreno says. "People have been coming from all over and throwing shoes in the tree."

Well, that's sort of what happened.

There is a tree. There are shoes. There was a guy and a girl.

Rus Stevenson, after making change for a bar customer, tells a slightly different story.

The couple already was married when the fight started.

"It was quite a few years ago," Stevenson says. "They were newlyweds. They guy came in to have a beer. He said, 'My new wife and I had an argument."'

The guy drove to Middlegate Station after leaving his wife at the tree to cool off, according to Stevenson. After about 30 minutes in the bar, the guy left for the tree to fetch his bride.

"She was still mad," Stevenson said.

"She was barefoot. He said, 'Here are your shoes.' He threw them up in the tree. He drove back down here and left her again."

After another half-hour in the bar, the guy returned to the girl and the tree. There was a happy ending.

"He went back," Stevenson said. "They got to laughing. They couldn't get the shoes out of the tree. They told us about the shoes. She had a beer. They drove on their way."

Stevenson didn't get their names. They'd gotten married in Colorado and were headed for California, Stevenson thinks. It all happened about four years ago.

No, it didn't.

"Just like a husband to get the story wrong," Fredda Stevenson says.

The guy and the girl tossed their shoes in the tree eight years ago. They were from Oregon, not Colorado. They were married in Reno and were headed back to Oregon, not California.

"They were camping out along the way," Fredda says.

"They camped by the tree. They had their first big fight."

The girl threatened to walk to Oregon.

"He took her shoes, tied the laces in a knot and threw them up in the tree," Fredda says.

"He said, 'If you're going to walk home, you're going to have to climb a tree first."'

With that, the guy headed for the bar.

"He came over here," Fredda says. "Then he went back and they made up. She said she wouldn't make up unless he threw his shoes in the tree, too."

He did and they did.

"A year after, they came back and visited their shoes," Fredda says.

Shoes have been flying ever since.

"Everybody has added shoes to it," Fredda says.

"There have been shoes taken down and used, with others put in their place. Anything that goes on people's feet is up there."

A plaque on the tree invites people to add to the collection, which includes a pair of skis.

"They were a nice couple," Fredda says of the first shoe throwers. "That's the true story."

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