I remember when they said the only human-built feature you could see from space was the Great Wall o' China! Now anybody with trees and time can git peeped from space just because space can see better! It's not FAIR!

What you see is about three miles north of Smithville,Texas and 30 miles SSE of austin.I live there.The owner fed-up with with goverment taking the property so he made a deal...As long as he can create something by using what area that can br used.,The goverment will not take it.That's why it's so big an area.On weekend's we go there to party.You can go into the trees and camp there as long as you get permission
from Mr Luecke.

Pete

As an airline pilot, I have been doing PA's for years pointing out "LUECKE" to passengers. Also, west of Phoenix,AZ the Caterpiller Tractor Co. has bulldozed out "CATERPILLER" on the desert floor.

looks intreging for recent Southwest Flight
hope you distressed the EOA types for using
your land your way

I actually found it myself, then searched google and found this site!

Was searching for parks in betw Ft Hood and Houston with Google Earth...saw "LUECKE" spelled out on the aerial photos and said to myself "I have to google this." And this is where I landed.

Same here... googled route from Houston to Austin and saw it. Was like WTF?

Saw it a while ago on Google Earth. Flew from Houston to San Jose, saw it, and was like holy crap! Grabbed the camera and snapped a few pics of it from the plane.

I work with the guy that did the surveying for this. I don't remember how long he said it took to complete or it's dimensions, but he said that he set up his instrument and shot a straight line and communicated with the bulldozer operator to keep him on line. Look closely at the bottom of the letters (or what would be the bottom if you were to turn it 1/4 turn counter clockwise). There is a fairly faint line just below the letters. The entire rectangular area consisted of the same type of vegetation as the letters currently are. If memory serves me, I believe that the green parts of each letter is 300 to 350 thick. The rest of the field is a coastal hay field.

What a fun thing to find. Thanks.

I flew in austin from florida, saw the name spelled with hundreds of trees. That's cool! Just checked on google and found your website! :o)

I flew in austin from florida, saw the name spelled with hundreds of trees. That's cool! Just checked on google and found your website! :o)

Thank you Google! I saw this as we flew into Austin recently. It was bugging me to find out just who or what or why this was done. These posts have been a tremendous help to answering my questions. Now I need to find out why we have strange symbols in the north Arizona, New Mexico area. They Look a little like Indian symbols.

Soon fascist imminent domain laws will prohibit such acts. Opting to do something so completely whacky – so completely outside the bounds of what others would prefer done with the land – will soon be a thing of the past. God bless Texas.

That's my last name......awesome!

Looks like a perfect place for the Luecke family reunion!

I saw this on a United flight from Houston to Austin and I thought it was a fantastic tribute to the ‘Luecke’ name!

The pasture is Coastal Bermuda grass. The pasture land is used for grazing cows. The trees allow the cows and other animals to get shelter. Pete wrote, “I live there.The owner fed-up with with goverment taking the property so he made a deal…As long as he can create something by using what area that can br used.,The goverment will not take it.” Maybe this is true but I think Mr. Luecke would have told me if the government was the reason for doing this. He did it because he wanted to. BTW Mr. Luecke is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

that’s awesome!

That was so cool! I was on the way back from Harlingen flying home to Austin when I saw this name spelled out in trees. What a great idea!

Proves everything is bigger in TEXAS. We are a different breed.

How do you pronounce Luecke? Loo key? Lucky? Leaky? Luke?

Thanks. Just curious.

I was looking at something from the Sat view, and I stumbled across it and then searched the web. That is hilarious.

Obviously there are some people who do things because they can.

Does anyone know when the trees were cut in this fashion.

In German it would be pronounced luke-ah. I’m not sure what the Texified version of it would be.

While flying to San Antonio and looking out the plane window, I was these letters LUECKE on the ground and had no idea what they stood for or meant. After googling LUECKE Texas I now know what those letters mean. Mr. Luecke, thanks for making a long, boring flight interesting! BTW, does anyone know what those large dark circles are that look like various pies with pieces missing are? Saw tons of them while flying over the midwest.

I was looking for ponds to fish in when I came across this huge name. Cool. 30SEP08

To answer the dude above… those circles that you saw so many of were “Crop Circles” you can only find this many of them in Texas. All they are is a different method of planting and production. Sometimes, this even helps increase crop yield (food produced).

I think this is great. I use this as a land mark to know that I am almost back in San Antonio. I travel back and forth to Atlanta from San Antonio and I look forward to the Luecke trees. :)

Bored at work and scrolled around then BAM!! like a brick in the face LUECKE. Just thought I would add myself to the list.

There is nothing you cannot find on the web…I just got back from a trip to San Antonio. I don’t often look out the window, but this time I saw the Luecke site and was intrigued. Amazing.

On a flight from Orlando to Austin the other day, I happened to look out the window just in time to catch the Luecke trees. No one else seemed to have noticed, but I was fascinated by it. Can’t believe I never noticed it before! I must always sit on the wrong side of the plane.

i was looking at an ariel map of lake bastrop while planning some fishing for tommarow and when i zoomed out i saw the word “luecke” spelled there on the map. i thought that it must have been something put there by google maps but then i found this website. thats one of the coolest things ever!

awoke after a nap on the flight from Atl to Dallas and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Very cool-will show it to friends on google earth

Joe
Cumming, GA

My maiden name is Luecke (from Illinois). We say “loo-key”.

I am a native Austinite and noticed it flying home one day. I’ve asked people about it no one seems to know about it around here. I thought it was cool and couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of it before. Thanks for the info.

been living in austin 35 years about 20 years ago it was a big deal in the newspaper i think the statesman picture and all

That’s all well, and good, BUT….. my grand-daughter wrote her name- EMMA on our sidewalk, with a big pink chaulk! You can read it from 100 feet away!

I’m not an enviromentalist or anything, but for some reason, it doesn’t quite sit right with me to clear cut all that land just to spell your name. And even if you just had to do it for some reason, why not do it the other way around….where you cut out the trees to spell the letters….instead of cutting everything around it?

Thank you Mr. Luecke.

I’m glad you all posted comments here. I didn’t know about Mr. Luecke. Was very entertaining to see what he has done. Astonishing how well you can see it and how much work he must have put into this!!!
Charles
Austin, TX

who has found something that cool…you go to the internet and…disappointment rules. haha

Too cool and Typically Texan…everything’s bigger in Texas.

We just bought land slightly SE of Mr. Luecke’s delightful composition. I look forward to making his acquaintance and appreciating the nearness of a good soul. Thanks for putting this up for us inquisitive types and for all the extra info flowing in.

I teach pilots in the Austin area, it’s a lot of fun to take them out to Smithville airport, about a mile southwest of the letters, and then have the students circle while climbing up to a higher altitude, then see their reaction when they finally see it… The name is 2 and half miles long, and you could easily land a plane along the top of them, several times. Always fun to look out for!

I noticed this while on a trip to Corpus for a meeting. The conversation of my co-workers changed from fantsy football to “what the heck is that”. Thanks Mr. Luecke for saving me from football.

Funny find. I was just mapping out quadrangles in TX and found Luecke spelled out in the aerial imagery. Funny how so many people came across this interesting feature. Got to love google <3.

Greetings Earth Ambassador Luecke! We come in peace. We have received your message. Will meet you at end of big E on Jan. 1st 2012. Will bring plenty if iridium to trade for Earth goods such as cigarettes and liquor.