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The inside story of how a Nevada fir became the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree

As a tiny seedling began sprouting in the forest along Mount Rose Highway west of Reno, the Vietnam War was ending under President Gerald Ford, the price of gas was 53 cents per gallon and the Kool-Aid man made his first television commercial appearance. Today, 50 years later, that seedling has grown into Silver Belle, a 53-foot-tall red fir that is the first Capitol Christmas tree to be harvested from Nevada.

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