Wilderness & the American Mind Chapter 6: “Preserve the
Wilderness”
For the pioneer, wilderness preservation was _______________, and even those who
recognized the advantages of reservoirs of wildness had to admit the force of
civilization’s claims. This ambivalence, moreover, was no idle matter. Preservation
entailed _______________. The dilemmas which had previously been chiefly
_______________ now figured in the very practical matter of _______________
_______________. In confronting them Americans began to deepen their
understanding of wilderness. In fact, since the middle of the nineteenth century the
_______________ issue has been the major vehicle for national discussion of
wilderness.
The publication of what work led John James Audubon to become “a leader in calling
attention to natural beauty”?
Frederick Law Olmsteadperhaps most famous for his
planning of New York City’s
Central Park, Olmstead also
designed the grounds of the
Biltmore Estate
What region did Washington Irving hope would remain a “’belt’ of uninhabited land”?
In the 1873 edition of The Oregon Trail, Francis Parkman “recalled a conversation with his traveling companion
near Pike’s Peak. The wilderness, they agreed, was _______________. _______________ would soon
replace _______________ and _______________ transform the range of the wolf, bear, and
_______________.”
Painter George Caitlin was “the first,” Nash contends, to “move beyond regret to the preservation concept.”
Caitlin was convinced that “’the further we become _______________ from pristine wildness and beauty, the
more pleasure does the _______________ man feel in recurring to those scenes.”
What concept did Caitlin develop?
Along with Catlin, Thoreau desired to prevent the _______________ of Indians and wild animals, but he went
beyond this to the position that protecting wilderness was ultimately important for the preservation of
_______________... As a parting thought Thoreau urged that a few wild places be kept wild “for modesty and
reverence’s sake, or if only to suggest that _______________has _______________ uses than we put her to.”
Commenting on Samuel H. Hammond’s idea of a park 100 miles in diameter, Nash notes that “wilderness was
to be maintained, but immediately Hammond made clear that he had no intention for _______________ to
suffer.”
Nash observes that the preservation of wild country “was not an academic or even an ethical question” for
George Perkins Marsh, but instead concerned-
In Marsh’s opinion, the sponge-like qualities of a primeval forest made it the best possible regulator of stream
flow. Wilderness preservation, consequently, had “_______________: as well as “_______________”
justifications.
What “natural object” was “set aside as a national reservation” in 1832?
In 1864, which area was famously reserved “’for public use, resort and recreation’”?
Frederick Law Olmstead was recognized as the “leading _______________ _______________
_______________ of his time.”
Still, almost everyone derived some benefit from the _______________ of places like Yosemite. Capping his
argument, Olmstead declared: “the enjoyment of _______________ employs the mind without fatigue and yet
exercises it; tranquilizes it and yet enlivens it; and thus, through the influence of _______________ over
the_______________, gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigoration to the whole system.” If areas were
not provided where people could find the glories of_______________, he added, serious _______________
_______________ might well result. There was a need to slough off the tensions and cares of civilization.
California and the Yosemite Commissioners, Olmsted concluded, had a “duty of preservation.”
View of Yosemite Falls from Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Sam