Book review: 'The Observer' is a remarkable collection of Iowa history, nature
Sometimes the most remarkable things are in your own backyard.
Such is the case of "The Observer: The Life and Writings of Bernt Olaf Wolden" by Iowa native Amie Adams. Adams’ meticulously researched book compiles many of the columns of Bernt Olaf Wolden that appeared as “Nature Notes” in The Estherville Daily News from 1930-1968.
Adams first became acquainted with Wolden while a camper and later counselor at Ingham Lake Bible Camp just across the road from Wolden Recreation Area and Campground, a 65-acre complex once site of the Wolden family farm and donated by Fred and Ida Wolden to Emmet County.
Adams, an Iowa Master Naturalist with an MFA in writing, has extensively researched the area's history, going back to the glacial formation of High Lake where Wolden Campground is situated to occupation by Native Americans to exploration by the first settlers in the 1800s.
Probably most fascinating, though, is Adams’ research on Olaf Wolden, his family and how the man with an eighth-grade education through sheer dint of effort explored the natural area in intimate detail, forming relationships with professors at major universities. Wolden eventually published articles in "Studies in Natural History, American Botanist" and "Iowa Academy of Science Proceedings" as well as his column that ran 38 years.
Wolden wrote of the flora and fauna in Emmet County, Iowa, even down to the level of mosses for which he had an intense fascination. Wolden also wrote of the first expedition to cross into Emmet County in 1820 led by Lt. Col. Morgan.
“Their course can be traced fairly well. They passed to the southeast of High Lake on July 12, 1820, and it seems almost certain that they halted at Crane Lake for dinner.”
Wolden bewails the loss of certain species and lauds the “rediscovery” of others after they had previously vanished. His keen naturalist’s eye pays almost microscopic attention to detail as he describes a flower.
“The flower of the fringed gentian has been called vase-shaped. At the top of the violet-blue corolla are four rounded lobes which are spread out in sunshine. These lobes are deeply fringed with slender teeth which have been likened to eyelashes.”
Adams’ rediscovery of Wolden’s nearly forgotten columns is a boon for naturalists not just in northwestern Iowa but all of the state and the Upper Midwest. Wolden’s columns evoke thoughts of Thoreau, Aldo Leopold and Edwin Way Teale.
Distribution of the book is limited. It may be ordered through Adams’ website at www.amieadams.space.
The Observer: The Life and Writings of Bernt Olaf Wolden
Amie Adams
$20
Michael Tidemann writes from Estherville, Iowa. His Facebook page is Author Michael Tidemann.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Book review: 'The Observer' is a remarkable collection of Iowa history
