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A Wilderness Within: The Life of Sigurd F. Olson
By David Backes
Published by U of Minnesota Press
1997 387 pp with Illustrations.
ISBN: 0-8166-2842-4
Review by MICHAEL PEAKE --
Che-Mun Editor
Canoelit Home Page
Sigurd Olson, remains an icon of wilderness conservation nearly two decades after his death.
David Backes, an associate professor at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, provides us with a detailed look at the rich and interesting life of Sig. Backes had the co-operation of the Olson family and was provided access to many private journals and correspondence, He was also able to speak with family members and friends.
Canadian canoeists know Sig Olson as the leader, or Bourgeois, of the famed canoeing group The Voyageurs, about whom we have written much in Che-Mun over the years. Sig was also widely known for his beautiful writing in such books as The Lonely Land and The Singing Wilderness.
It was very surprising to read about the long battle that Sig had to get published and the great amount of work he put into his writing - it seemed so effortless. Was it ironic or perhaps fateful that he began his serious writing career in 1953, the same year he started canoeing regularly with The Voyageurs. I do not think it is a coincidence. As someone who has studied the group closely, I believe they had an incredible bond and great sense of oneness with themselves and the land. This was no doubt the catalyst for Sig to put on paper what he felt and experienced.
Backes also details the tremendous amount of pioneering work done by Sig, and others, to get a good sized area of land preserved in northern Minnesota - the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It was a big struggle and Backes thorough style captures it all.
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