William O. Douglas s wilderness politics: Public protest and committees of correspondence in the pacific northwest

Western Historical Quarterly

Volumn 37, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 21-42

  Sowards, Adam M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 67650851259     PISSN: 00433810     EISSN: 19398603     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/25443282     Document Type: Article

References (114)

1. William O. Douglas [hereafter WOD], My Wilderness: The Pacific West (Garden City, NY, 1960), 199.
2. WOD, My Wilderness: East to Katahdin (New York, 1961), 179.
3. WOD, "America s Vanishing Wilderness," Ladies' Home Journal 81 (July 1964): 37-41, 77.
4. Stephen Fox, The American Conservation Movement: John Muir and His Legacy (Madison, 1980, 239.
5. I treat Douglas as a westerner in "William O. Douglas: The Environmental Justice," in The Human Tradition in the American West, ed. Benson Tong and Regan Lutz (Wilmington, DE, 2002), 155-70.
6. WOD, Of Men and Mountains (1950; reprint, San Francisco, 1990), xi.
7. For Douglass professional rise, consult his Go East, Young Man: The Early Years: The Autobiography of William O. Douglas (New York, 1974);
8. James F. Simon, Independent Journey: The Life of William O. Douglas (New York, 1980);
9. Bruce Allen Murphy, Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas (New York, 2003).
10. Paul S. Sutter, Driven Wild: How the Fight Against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement (Seattle, 2002);
11. WOD, East to Katahdin, 181-211;
12. WOD, The Pacific West, 32-49;
13. Fox, American Conservation, 239-44;
14. Simon, Independent Journey, 326-33;
15. Murphy, Wild Bill, 330-6;
16. T. H. Watkins, "Commentary: Justice Douglas Takes a Hike," in "He Shall Not Pass This Way Again": The Legacy of Justice William O. Douglas, ed. Stephen L. Wasby (Pittsburgh, 1990), 249-53.
17. Richard West Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History (New Haven, CT, 1997), 177-81;
18. Mark W. T. Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness: Echo Park and the American Conservation Movement (1994; reprint, Seattle, 2000);
19. Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind, 3rd edition (New Haven, CT, 1982), 209-19;
20. Hal K. Rothman, The Greening of a Nation?: Environmentalism in the United States since 1945 (Fort Worth, 1998), 34-48.
21. Byron Fish, "Olympic Wilderness Hikers Hope to Chill Coast-Road Plan," Seattle Times, 19 August 1958, p. 30
22. and Carsten Lien, Olympic Battleground: The Power Politics of Timber Preservation (San Francisco, 1991), 299-320.
23. WOD, "My Favorite Vacation Land," The American Magazine 154 (July 1952): 38-41, 94-9, quotation on 41.
24. WOD to Conrad L. Wirth, 9 March 1957, in The Douglas Letters: Selections from the Private Papers of Justice William O. Douglas, ed. Melvin I. Urofsky (Bethesda, MD, 1987), 241-2;
25. "Justice Douglas, 70 Hikers to Begin Wilderness Trip," Seattle Times, 18 August 1958, p. 10;
26. Louis R. Huber, Invitation and Press Release, 4 August 1958; Press Re
27. lease, 9 August 1958, folder 9, box 5, John Osseward Papers, University of Washington Manuscripts and University Archives [hereafter JOP];
28. Sally Warren Soest, ed., Voice of the Wild Olympics (Seattle, 1998), 36. Dyer s recollection places the invitation to Douglas in 1956. The first reference to the beach hike in the Douglas Papers, however, is in 1957 from Douglas asking Zahniser if a field trip would be feasible.
29. Polly T. Dyer, e-mail message to author, 27 September 2004;
30. WOD to Howard Zahniser, 3 October 1957 in Howard Zahniser (misc. correspondence) folder, box 383, William O. Douglas Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC [hereafter WODP]. Citations for the Douglas Papers are organized by item, folder name, box number, and subject series.
31. "Justice Douglas, 70 Hikers" and WOD, Pacific West, 40.
32. Fish, "Olympic Wilderness Hikers," p. 30
33. and August Slathar, Letter to the Editor, Port Angeles (Washington) Evening News, 29 November 1958, p. 2.
34. Huber, Invitation and Press Release; Clayton Fox, "68 Footsore Hikers Wind Up Beach Trek near LaPush," Olympic (Port Angeles) Tribune, 22 August 1958, p. 1;
35. Press Release, 9 August 1958;
36. Louis R. Huber, Press Release, 21 August 1958, folder 9, box 5, JOP, 4, emphasis in original;
37. Soest, Voice of the Wild Olympics, 36.
38. "Beach Hikers Getting Late Start on Three-Day Trek to LaPush Area," Olympic Tribune, 29 August 1958, p. 3.
39. Clayton Fox, "First Day of Beach Hike Easy, Only One Point to Climb Over," Olympic Tribune, 19 September 1958, p. 3.
40. and Harvey Broome, Faces of the Wilderness (Missoula, 1972), 128, 137, 126.
41. Broome, Faces of the Wilderness, 126-37.
42. See also, the following works by Samuel P. Hays: in collaboration with Barbara D. Hays, Beauty, Health, and Permanence: Environmental Politics in the United States, 1955-1985 (Cambridge, ENG, 1987), 120;
43. "The Structure of Environmental Politics since World War II," in Explorations in Environmental History: Essays (Pittsburgh, 1998), 318;
44. "Comment: The Trouble with Bill Cronon s Wilderness," Environmental History 1 (January 1996): 30.
45. Fox, "68 Footsore Hikers" and "Hikers Glad to Reach Cedar Creek after Rugged Day on Rocks," Olympic Tribune, 19 September 1958, p. 3.
46. Lien, Olympic Battleground, 303;
47. Seattle Times, "Justice Douglas, Party, Finish Protest Hike";
48. Fox, "Last Night of Hike Happy Affair";
49. Fox, "68 Footsore Hikers";
50. Soest, Voice of the Olympics, 36-7, emphasis in original.
51. L. V. Venable, Letter to the Editor, Port Angeles Evening News, 28 January 1959, p. 2
52. and William Cronon, "The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature," in Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature, ed. William Cronon (New York, 1995), 69-90.
53. Watkins, "Commentary," 252
54. WOD, "Vanishing Wilderness," 77. Committees of Correspondence formed in the revolutionary era to keep American colonists informed of British activities affecting the colonies.
55. Sutter, Driven Wild, 60-73, 84-9, 252-4;
56. Harold K. Steen, The U.S. Forest Service: A History (Seattle, 1976), 152-62, 209-13, 278-307;
57. C. Frank Brockman, Recreational Use of Wild Lands (New York, 1959), 166-8;
58. Craig W. Allin, The Politics of Wilderness Preservation (Westport, CT, 1982), 60-95, quotation on 94;
59. Paul W. Hirt, A Conspiracy of Optimism: Management of the National Forests since World War Two (Lincoln, 1994), 171-92.
60. WOD, Pacific West, 199-200. Samuel P. Hays has argued postwar environmental concerns focused on consumption, distinguishing them from earlier concerns over production. Paul Sutter and others have begun challenging the timing of this shift. Hays, Beauty, Health, and Permanence and Sutter, Driven Wild.
61. Isabelle Lynn and Kay Kershaw to WOD, 14 January 1958, folder 41, box 1, Double K Mountain Ranch Papers, Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, [hereafter DKMRP];
62. Hirt, A Conspiracy of Optimism, 226-9;
63. Michael McCloskey, "Wilderness Movement at the Crossroads, 1945-1970," Pacific Historical Review 41 (August 1972): 347-50.
64. WOD to Lawrence Barrett, 12 June 1954, Conservation 1951-1959 folder, box 548, Environment series, WODP. Please note that Douglas inconsistently spelled Barretts first name; I have followed Douglass usage.
65. All of the following 1960 correspondence is located in folder 42, box 1, DKMRP: WOD to David R. Brower, 3 October;
66. WOD to John Osseward, 3 October;
67. WOD to Pauline Dyer, 3 October;
68. quotation from WOD to Laurence O. Barrett, 3 October.
69. For jeeps in Blankenship Meadows, see Kay Kershaw and Isabelle Lynn to WOD, 25 October, WOD to L. O. Barrett, 29 October;
70. WOD to L. O. Barrett, 2 November.
71. WOD to Barrett, 3 October 1960.
72. Jackson s voice was a powerful one in the Senate on matters of land management, but it took time before he gave it much attention, despite his claim to Douglas: "You may be sure I am never too busy to look into a matter which you believe conflicts with the principles of good conservation." Jackson to WOD, 18 October 1960, folder 1, box 1, DKMRP.
73. See also, WOD to Henry M. Jackson, 15 November 1960, folder 42, box 1, DKMRP.
74. WOD to Barrett, 22 December 1960, folder 42, box 1, DKMRP.
75. WOD to Barrett, 7 September 1961, folder 1, box 1, DKMRP
76. and WOD to L. O. Barrett, 12 October 1961, Conservation (June-December 1961) folder. Environment series, box 548, WODP.
77. WOD to David R. Brower, 7 September 1961, Conservation (June-December 1961) folder, Environment series, box 548, WODP
78. and WOD to Charles A. Reich, 3 March 1962, Conservation (January-April 1962) folder, box 549, Environment series, WODP.
79. Michael Frome, Battle for the Wilderness, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City, 1997), 145. The Wilderness Act, Public Law 88-577, is reproduced in Frome, 213-25.
80. WOD to Orville Freeman, 8 December 1965, Cougar Lakes Wilderness Area, WA (1962-1971) folder, Environment series, box 553, WODP. [Hereafter, materials from this folder will be cited by item name and CLWA, WODP.]
81. Henry M. Jackson to WOD, 23 February 1971, in folder 1, box 1, DKMRP;
82. North Cascades Study Team, The North Cascades Study Report (Washington, D.C., 1965), 14-5.
83. One member of the study team, Owen S. Stratton, dissented from the proposal to declassify Cougar Lakes, see Study Team, North Cascades Study Report, 127-8.
84. WOD to Edward C. Crafts, 4 November 1964, in folder 1, box 1, DKMRP
85. and WOD to Patrick Goldsworthy, 4 November 1964 in CLWA, WODP.
86. WOD to Freeman, 8 December 1965;
87. WOD to Orville L. Freeman, 2 March 1966;
88. WOD to Orville L. Freeman, 14 April 1966;
89. WOD to Harvey Broome, 28 January 1966 all in CLWA, WODP.
90. WOD to Goldsworthy, 4 November 1964;
91. WOD to George A. Selke, 14 November 1964;
92. WOD to Owen Stratton, 4 March 1966;
93. WOD to Henry M. Jackson, 4 March 1966; all in CLWA, WODP.
94. WOD to Freeman, 25 January 1966;
95. WOD to Isabelle Lynn, 14 January 1966;
96. WOD to Robert F. Sutphen, 21 January 1966, all in folder 1, box 1, DKMRP.
97. WOD to Lynn, 14 January 1966
98. and WOD to Broome, 28 January 1966.
99. WOD to Cragg Gilbert, 29 March 1966
100. and WOD to Isabelle Lynn, 26 February 1966, both in CLWA, WODP. The statement was attached to Lynns letter.
101. WOD to Freeman, 2 March 1966
102. and Freeman to WOD, 8 April 1966, both in CLWA, WODP.
103. Robert W. Lucas, "A Bumping Wilderness?" Yakima (Washington) Herald Republic 26 April 1971
104. and WOD to Editor, Yakima Herald Republic, 30 April 1971, in CLWA, WODP.
105. Place-based approaches include Kevin R. Marsh, "This Is Just the First Round : Designating Wilderness in the Central Oregon Cascades, 1950-1964," Oregon Historical Quarterly 103 (Summer 2002): 210-33. Cultural and ideological approaches include Cronon, "Trouble," and Nash, Wilderness Mind. Political approaches include Allin, Politics of Wilderness, and Hays, Beauty, Health, and Permanence.
106. McCloskey, "Wilderness Movement."
107. Marsh, " Just the First Round," 212, 229-30
108. and three pieces by Hays: Beauty, Health, and Permanence, 120
109. "Structure of Environmental Politics," 318
110. "Comment," 30.
111. Eliot Porter, The Place No One Knew: Glen Canyon on the Colorado (San Francisco, 1966).
112. Douglas also championed conservation causes in other areas where he had less of a personal stake. A notable example is Texas. See WOD, Farewell to Texas: A Vanishing Wilderness (New York, 1967)
113. and Adam M. Sowards, "Modern Ahabs in Texas: William O. Douglas and Lone Star Conservation," in Journal of the West (forthcoming).
114. This is a major theme of Samuel P. Hays s work. See Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement, 1890-1920 (1959; reprint, New York, 1975).