Luecke

Thursday April 14, 2005 @ 05:49 PM (PDT)

While playing with the new satellite view feature of Google Maps the other day, I came across this. Smack-dab in the middle of Texas some enterprising landowner has spelled “LUECKE” (his name) using hundreds and hundreds of trees.

A little more Google searching told me that I wasn’t the first person to stumble across it. As a matter of fact, NASA noticed the oddity a long time ago and has been using it to calculate the ground area represented by a single pixel in photographs taken from space.

Some people have entirely too much time on their hands.

Comments

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!

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Eilonwy
Thursday April 14, 2005 @ 06:50 PM (PDT)
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
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pete
Sunday June 26, 2005 @ 10:01 AM (PDT)

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.

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Peter
Saturday September 02, 2006 @ 07:30 PM (PDT)

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

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peter
Sunday September 03, 2006 @ 06:15 PM (PDT)

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

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aaron
Saturday January 20, 2007 @ 09:41 AM (PST)

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.

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Andrew
Monday February 26, 2007 @ 05:15 PM (PST)

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

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D.W.
Thursday March 29, 2007 @ 12:12 PM (PDT)

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.

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Monday April 16, 2007 @ 07:25 PM (PDT)

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.

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TheBig 'Nowski
Friday June 15, 2007 @ 08:08 PM (PDT)

What a fun thing to find. Thanks.

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Jeff X
Saturday June 23, 2007 @ 02:21 PM (PDT)

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)

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Raquel
Friday August 03, 2007 @ 01:26 PM (PDT)

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)

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Raquel
Friday August 03, 2007 @ 01:33 PM (PDT)

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.

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pat
Thursday October 11, 2007 @ 08:23 AM (PDT)

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.

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Clim
Sunday January 20, 2008 @ 06:44 AM (PST)

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

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Sheila Luecke
Saturday February 16, 2008 @ 07:54 AM (PST)

Looks like a perfect place for the Luecke family reunion!

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Ms. Luecke
Friday April 25, 2008 @ 07:02 AM (PDT)

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

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Port_Wing
Saturday April 26, 2008 @ 04:47 PM (PDT)

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.

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Friend
Tuesday May 06, 2008 @ 03:10 PM (PDT)

that’s awesome!

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Tuesday July 01, 2008 @ 12:43 PM (PDT)

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!

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Rhonda Bozeman
Wednesday July 09, 2008 @ 06:29 AM (PDT)

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

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Ed
Monday July 21, 2008 @ 03:23 PM (PDT)

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

Thanks. Just curious.

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Monday July 28, 2008 @ 01:31 AM (PDT)

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.

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Sandy
Saturday August 09, 2008 @ 10:54 AM (PDT)

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

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lauren Hanson
Thursday August 21, 2008 @ 06:59 PM (PDT)

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.

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May
Sunday September 21, 2008 @ 08:16 AM (PDT)

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

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Tuesday September 30, 2008 @ 12:27 PM (PDT)

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).

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Friday October 17, 2008 @ 05:22 AM (PDT)

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. :)

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SAT to ATL
Wednesday November 05, 2008 @ 05:21 PM (PST)

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

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Jeremiah Mercer
Thursday January 22, 2009 @ 11:17 AM (PST)

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.

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Delta Flyer
Saturday April 04, 2009 @ 06:22 PM (PDT)

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.

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Jet-setter
Tuesday April 07, 2009 @ 12:30 PM (PDT)

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!

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chris m
Saturday April 18, 2009 @ 06:26 PM (PDT)

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

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Joe Schuster
Thursday May 28, 2009 @ 11:51 AM (PDT)

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

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Kitty Knapp
Saturday June 06, 2009 @ 10:34 AM (PDT)

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.

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E Iverson
Saturday June 06, 2009 @ 11:04 AM (PDT)

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

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mark luecke
Wednesday July 22, 2009 @ 02:47 PM (PDT)

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!

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marc
Monday July 27, 2009 @ 06:18 AM (PDT)

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?

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Nick West
Monday August 03, 2009 @ 07:50 AM (PDT)

Thank you Mr. Luecke.

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Michael W.
Tuesday August 11, 2009 @ 03:03 AM (PDT)

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

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Charles W.
Thursday August 27, 2009 @ 03:10 PM (PDT)

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.

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Wayne Fisher
Tuesday September 01, 2009 @ 10:14 AM (PDT)

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.

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Grace
Monday September 21, 2009 @ 11:19 PM (PDT)

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!

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T
Tuesday November 10, 2009 @ 03:04 PM (PST)

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.

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CODY
Wednesday November 18, 2009 @ 08:01 PM (PST)

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.

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er
Friday November 20, 2009 @ 08:27 AM (PST)

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.

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Max
Wednesday December 09, 2009 @ 09:46 PM (PST)
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