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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781938486104 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Fulcrum Publishing |
| Publication date: | 04/01/2014 |
| Series: | Conservation Pioneers Series |
| Pages: | 112 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d) |
| Age Range: | 9 - 12 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Breath of Wilderness
The Life of Sigurd Olson
By Kristin Eggerling
Fulcrum Publishing
Copyright © 2014 Kristin EggerlingAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-938486-10-4
CHAPTER 1
Daniel Boone Days
Sigurd Olson loved the forests, lakes, streams, and wild creatures more than anything else in the world. Born in Chicago on April 4, 1899, to Lawrence J. and Ida May Cederholm Olson, Sigurd later said, "I should have been born in a log cabin."
When Sigurd, or Sig, as most people called him, was five years old, his mother took him to Lincoln Park just north of downtown Chicago. As they walked through a grove of maple trees, he was struck by the blazing colors of the leaves, vivid with fall oranges, reds, and yellows. It was a memory that stayed with him throughout his life.
Around the age of six, Sig moved with his family to northern Wisconsin, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. The Olsons first lived in the community of Sister Bay on the Door County peninsula. Life there was full of adventure for a boy who loved the outdoors. Sig ran free exploring the woods, shore, swamps, and orchards. At night he listened to the foghorns moaning in the harbor. Later, the family moved to Prentice, a logging and farming town in the north-central part of Wisconsin, and then finally to Ashland, in the far northern part of the state along Lake Superior, where he attended high school and college.
When they were young boys in Sister Bay, Sig and his older brother, Ken, often walked to school together. As Sig shuffled down the path in the early morning, his black lunch pail swinging on his arm, he heard the meadowlarks singing from the fence posts and the trilling of the frogs in the swampy grass.
Forgetting about the time, he knelt to touch the wildflowers that covered the ground. He marveled at the delicate sky blue petals before pressing his nose into them to breathe in their subtle fragrance. He thought to himself, "I love the music of the frogs, the birds, and the smell of wildflowers."
Just then his brother Ken reminded him to hurry up or they would be late for school. Sig ignored him and grinned broadly as he picked a few of the flowers to give to his teacher.
"These will make Mr. Yates as happy as they make me feel," he murmured. He didn't care that his thoughtfulness would encourage his classmates to call him "Teacher's Pet."
Even at school he spent more time yearning for the outdoors than studying spelling. Mr. Yates, a strict teacher, conducted regular spelling bees by lining up all the students in a row along a crack in the floor and giving them each a word to spell. When a child misspelled a word, a look of displeasure crossed Mr. Yates's stern face, followed by a whack across the student's hand with a ruler.
More than once, Sigurd spelled a word wrong because he was distracted, staring out the schoolroom window and daydreaming about afternoon fishing plans. Mr. Yates, with the threatening ruler in his hand, would point first at the dunce cap, then at the corner. Seething, Sig grabbed the cap, shoved it on his head, and trudged over to the corner to sulk. "I wish I was outside," he grumbled to himself. Still, even though he struggled with spelling, Sig was drawn to words, feeling their beauty and poetry.
No one in Sig's family understood his love for nature, except for his grandmother, who lived with them. Sig and Grandmother shared a special bond because of their passion for the outdoors. She often waited for Sig to return from fishing to admire the trout he caught.
Grandmother listened intently to his stories while frying the catch. Then they would sit together at the kitchen table and eat the feast with freshly baked bread and glasses of cold milk.
During these years, a time in his life he called his Daniel Boone Days, Sig liked to pretend he was Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone and escape by himself to the woods near his home in Prentice. It felt like stepping into another world. There he would create a bed of balsam branches to lie in and watch the birds above and the creatures around him. He found the wilderness mysterious and exciting, and he couldn't stand to be away from it for long. He later explained that he felt "at one with the great trees, with the birds and squirrels and trout and the sound of the wind in the branches."
One day, twelve-year-old Sig ventured into the woods, sat down on a log, and watched as a big doe appeared out of the shadows to drink from the bubbly creek for several minutes before leaping back into the darkness of the forest. As if a spell had been broken, Sigurd's stomach growled. Wanting to be a true wilderness man and live off the land, he hadn't brought along any food. He began to search for something to eat. Leaning over, he peered into a shallow spot of water next to the creek and discovered some clams. "Clams are supposed to be good to eat," he recalled, so he reached in and dug them out, gathered some sticks, and built a fire. He placed the clams on top, roasted them over the coals, and inhaled the smoky aroma. Once they were cooked, he used the shells for plates. Hot juice ran down his chin as he devoured his meal. His heart filled with admiration and love for the nature that surrounded him. He ate until his belly was full, then curled up on his bed of fragrant balsams. "I am as secure as a bear in a cave," he thought as he fell asleep, perfectly content.
Sig fished for trout or bass most days and hunted or trapped every chance he got. He especially enjoyed hunting for mallards or rabbits. Later, he skinned, prepared, and cooked the animals before eating them. Each step provided a greater connection with wildlife and was part of the adventure. One day the school janitor, Mr. Johnson, invited Sig to join him and his beagle hound to go rabbit hunting. Sig's excitement grew each time he saw a rabbit jump up in the alder thicket. The beagle sang as he chased the rabbits round and round before the boom of the shotgun rang out.
One afternoon, Sig grabbed a bucket and set off to pick cranberries. When he found the tart, red fruit hidden among the greenery, he filled the bucket to the brim and then started for home, eating a few along the way. As he wandered, a stirring caught his attention, and he turned to see what was making the noise. He couldn't believe it. Right in front of him was a bear. He tore off running faster than ever, tripped, and fell, dumping his berries into the bushes. Scared for his life, he shot up and bolted home. Even though the bear had frightened him, Sig couldn't stay away from the wilderness for long.
Young Sig was especially fascinated with squirrels and longed to have one as a pet. He thought that if he caught one he would be capturing a part of nature, making his life complete. Sig sat for hours and watched them gather nuts and chase up and down the trees, chattering constantly. He learned from an older boy how to construct a box trap and set to work to build one. He planned to catch a pair of squirrels and keep them inside the screen porch of his house.
One day he placed the trap on the end of a log and filled it with a handful of hazelnuts he had gathered. He lurked at the base of a great pine tree, noticing the brown and green needles that covered the forest floor. He listened to his heart pounding as he held his breath. Wishing he could become invisible, he imagined that he was a hunter waiting for his prey. He spied a squirrel peering into the trap. Then, in a flash, it scurried in and the trap door crashed down with a bang. He rushed over to make sure the latch was tightly shut, hastily grabbed the trap with the squirrel inside, and ran for home lickety-split. A few days later he returned and repeated the process, capturing its mate.
Sig cared for his pair of squirrels with complete dedication. He fed them the finest nuts and pinecones and lined their cage with the greenest, softest hemlock branches he could find. He unraveled an old sweater to make a comfortable nest. The squirrels adjusted to their new home and began to wait patiently for their meals. Sig grew mesmerized by their antics and loved studying the white rings around their eyes, the black stripes down their sides, and especially their bushy tails.
In the spring he noticed that the female had begun to line the nest with her fur, a telltale sign that she would soon have babies. Sig hovered around the cage like an anxious parent. One day he peered into the nest and found three soft, pink baby squirrels snuggled there. He was so excited, he couldn't eat or play and spent every moment he could near the cage. Later Sig reached down and picked up the babies one by one. He gently stroked their fur and fed them out of his hand. It was a dream come true for him, but it would be short lived.
The next day he returned home to discover the squirrels missing and a neatly gnawed hole in the screen. Frantic, Sig scoured the forest nearby and the woodpiles in his yard, but there was no sign of his beloved squirrels. He was grief stricken by what he felt was the desertion of his companions. His mother sat down with him and explained that squirrels are not pets. "They are wild creatures and belong in the wilderness," she told him. Sig still missed them, but he realized that she was right. The squirrels were better off in the wild.
Sig spent hours lying on the ground, listening to the sounds of the earth. He could hear the rustling of fall leaves and pine needles, but also the chick-a-dee-dee of chickadees, the conk-la-ree! of redwinged blackbirds, the hoot of an owl, and the wild, alarming scream of an osprey hunting for its dinner. The soaring birds made Sig jealous. "I wish I could fly and play hide-and-seek with the clouds," he thought. Frogs croaked and insects buzzed from a nearby pond. Suddenly, the honking of geese crowded out the other noises. "Where are they going and why?" he wondered as they flew by. And then he realized that he might not be the only one who was curious. "Boys all over the world could be seeing the same thing right now and wondering the same thing," he thought.
The little pond was also home to ducks, minks, and weasels. A muskrat house, built out of sticks, sat just above the water to keep the nest dry. Sig marveled at the animals and the green scum that produced bubbles on the pond's surface. As he watched all these forms of life interacting and coexisting, the realization hit Sig that all life is connected.
At the local library, Sig read about famous painters and admired their art. One day he bought some tubes of paint, a paintbrush, a palette, and a canvas. He grasped the brush, dipped it in the paint, and applied the colors to create the masterpiece he saw in his mind, but it looked nothing like he had envisioned. The images were crude and unrecognizable. How frustrating! He kept trying, but the painting only looked worse. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to express what he was feeling. Then he thought perhaps he could paint pictures with words instead.
Like other kids, Sig didn't always listen to his parents. When he was a young teenager, he and some friends saw men smoking in front of a nearby saloon. Sig's father, L.J., a strict Baptist minister, always told him that "smoking was a great sin," but Sig wanted to try it. He didn't have any tobacco or money to buy a pipe, but he'd heard that pipes could be made from corncobs and filled with dried bark and leaves, what some American Indians called kinnikinnick. He and some friends gathered corncobs and bark from a red willow tree and created their pipes. Later, the boys crawled under a big box, lit their pipes, and inhaled the bitter smoke. When they heard L.J. walking toward them, they rushed to extinguish and hide the pipes and began singing gospel songs they had learned in Sunday school. Sig's father peeked underneath the box and smiled as the boys sang louder. L.J. went into the house and told Sig's mom that the boys were so good, he expected they would become elders in the church.
CHAPTER 2Decisions, Decisions
After high school, Sig attended Northland College in Ashland for two years. He wasn't sure what career he wanted to pursue, but he discovered that he enjoyed playing football and in no time became a talented athlete on the football team. One late October day, the sky was dark, and he sensed a storm brewing. He knew these weather conditions were perfect for forcing flocks of bluebills to take shelter in a nearby swamp. His heart began to beat faster in anticipation. Unfortunately, one of the biggest football games of the season, against Superior State College, was also that day. "What am I going to do?" he worried. "I can't let down my team." He heard the sound of the bluebills in his mind and imagined them riding the wind. He could almost see the flocks sailing in from the north out of the clouds.
Although he knew that he'd be in big trouble with his coach and the team, he couldn't bear to miss the birds. He quickly grabbed some gear and headed for the woods. When he returned to school on Monday, he learned that his team had lost the game. He felt like a criminal when his teammates glared at him. The coach kicked him off the team, even though he was one of the best players. "You should never play football again," the coach told him, ending his football career. While Sig felt shame, he knew in his heart that following the birds had been the right decision for him.
During Sig's first year of college, his friend Andrew Uhrenholdt invited him to the hospital to visit his sister, Elizabeth, who was recovering from pneumonia. When Sig stepped in the hospital room, he felt awkward and couldn't say a thing. He grabbed a pillow and threw it at Elizabeth before leaving. She was not impressed. Later, Andrew invited Sig to come home with him to his family farm near Seeley, Wisconsin, over the Easter holiday. Sig hit it off with Andrew's father, Soren, who suggested that Sig live and work at the farm that summer. Sig quickly agreed.
Sig flourished on the farm. He thoroughly enjoyed his time outdoors working on the land. Soren was easy to talk with, and Sig admired his strong conservation values. Sig also made a better impression with Elizabeth. The next fall Sig traveled to the farm regularly to work and to see Elizabeth.
Back at Northland College, Sig considered becoming a missionary. He knew this would please his father immensely. In L.J. Olson's eyes, there were only three worthwhile professions: the ministry, farming, and teaching. After agonizing over the decision, Sig realized his heart wasn't in the ministry. He contemplated farming but decided that didn't feel right either. After he finished his second year at Northland, Sig attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison to earn a degree in agriculture and biology.
After graduation, Sig decided to try the only other option his father would accept: teaching. He moved to Nashwauk, a small town on the Mesabi Iron Range in northeast Minnesota, to teach high school. At the end of each school week, he packed some supplies and headed out camping for the weekend.
In the spring of 1921, Sig received an offer from a gold prospector to travel to Flin Flon in the far north of Manitoba, Canada, to pan for gold. He ached to go, but Elizabeth had had enough. She calmly and firmly told him that if he took the trip, she would not wait for him. It was the wilderness, or her. Sig would have loved the adventure, but he loved Elizabeth more, and the couple set a wedding date for that August.
CHAPTER 3The Meaning of the Outdoors
In June 1921, another wilderness opportunity arose, and this one Sig couldn't pass up. With Elizabeth's support, Sig set out with two friends on a month-long trek east of Rainy Lake and north of the rugged shores of Lake Superior. It was during this canoe trip to the Superior Roadless Area along the Canadian border that the real meaning of the wilderness became clear to Sig.
Sig and his friends stood on the shores of Fall Lake, ready to head north, all the excitement of the adventure before them. They could hardly wait to explore the wild, unspoiled lake country and its thousands of miles of canoe routes. As Sig described the journey later, "And so we traveled through hundreds of lakes and rivers, drunk in the beauties of countless waterfalls, rapids and virgin forests." He had never encountered a world so remote and untouched and yet so full of life. One night after they'd finished a long portage, he sat under the spruce and Norway pine trees next to the lake. He was bewitched by the clear water, smooth as glass, and the glow of the sun reflected there. Rocky islands floated in the distance; loons laughed their wild, screaming call; the smell of balsam filled the air. "Everything is so exquisitely beautiful that I cannot help wonder if this is not a fairyland," he mused. He was enchanted by the splendor that surrounded him, a feeling that would change the course of his life forever. "I have fallen in love with a beautiful wilderness of lakes and rivers and forests known as the Quetico-Superior Country. I discovered ... an emotional and spiritual significance that was not with me before."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Breath of Wilderness by Kristin Eggerling. Copyright © 2014 Kristin Eggerling. Excerpted by permission of Fulcrum Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
1. Foreword,2. Daniel Boone Days,
3. Decisions, Decisions,
4. The Meaning of the Outdoors,
5. National Wilderness Scene,
6. The Power of Words,
7. Never Give Up,
8. Listening Point,
9. Passing the Torch,
10. Afterword,
11. US Conservation Time Line,
12. Glossary,
13. Places to Visit,
14. Take It Outside,
15. To Learn More,
16. Major Sources,