The Singing Wildernessto do with the calling of loons, with northern lights, and the great silences of land lying northwest of Lake Superior. It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life which is close to the past. I have heard the singing in many places, but I seem to hear it best in the wilderness lake country of the Quetico-Superior, where travel is still by pack and canoe over the ancient trails of the Indians and voyageurs." Thus the author sets the theme and tone of this enthralling book of discovery about one of the few great primitive areas in our country which have withstood the pressures of civilization. Acute natural perceptivity and a profound knowledge of the relationships to be found in nature combine here in vivid evocations of the sights, the sounds, the vast stillnesses, and the events of the wilderness as the seasons succeed each other. But Mr. Olson is not content merely to "describe; he probes for meanings that will lead the reader to a different and more revealing way of looking at the out-of-doors and to a deeper sense of its eternal values. In each of the thirty-four chapters of The Singing Wilderness he has sought to capture an essential quality of our magnificent lake and forest heritage. He shows us what can be read from the rocks of the great Canadian Shield; he offers a delightful essay on the virtues of pine knots as fuel; he writes of the ways of a canoe, of flashing trout in the pools of the Isabella, of tamarack bogs, caribou moss, the flight of wild geese, timber wolves, and the birds of the ski trails. And much more, with something to satisfy every taste for wilderness experience. Superbly illustrated with 38black-and-white drawings by Francis Lee Jaques, The Singing Wilderness is a book that no lover of nature will want to be without. To anyone who contemplates a vacation in the lake country of northern Minnesota and adjoining Canada, it is the perfect vade mecum. |
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alive ancient aspen balsam beautiful began beneath birch birds blue Boulder River cabin camp Canadian Shield canoe caribou chickadees climb close color creek creel dark deep deer drifts dusk edge feel fish flame flash flock forests frozen gone grass Haystack Rock hear heard hermit thrushes hills islands knew Lac la Croix lake Lake Superior land lichens light listening looked loons mallards miles moon morning moss moved muskeg never night Nina Moose northern pike once open water paddle pine pine siskins pool portage prairie purple finches quiet red squirrel resin ridge riffle river roar rocks rocky Saganaga seemed seen sense shore singing skis slopes smell snow soft sound sphagnum spring spruce squirrel stood storm surface swamp timber timber wolves trail trees trout watched wild wilderness wind windfalls wings woods