North America’s Sea of Grass

The Great Plains are a vast expanse of grasslands, stretching from Texas north to Canada. Here are two invaluable reference books that form the heart & soul of the Land Library’s prairie collection.

Just published, the Atlas of the Great Plains (by Stephen J. Lavin, Fred M. Shelley, & J. Clark Archer) includes over three hundred original full-color maps, accompanied by the authors’ insightful commentary. This atlas explores all aspects of our great North American grasslands, including Native American history, modern settlement patterns, ecological regions, agricultural trends, and much more.

Published in 2004, the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains(edited by David J. Wishart) has already risen to the level of a classic reference work. This thick tome contains over 1,300 entries stretched over 940 pages, with illustrations and photographs throughout.

Both books point to the rich natural and cultural history of the Plains. Clearly, North America’s midcontinent is much, much more than flyover country!

Scanning our new arrival shelf of prairie books, we were struck by how many titles found their inspiration from the flowing grasslands of the Canadian Prairie. Books such as these:

Grass, Sky, Song: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds by Trevor Herriot, River in a Dry Land: A Prairie Passage (an earlier book by Trevor Herriot, and the winner of the Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award), and Small Beneath the Sky: A Prairie Memoir from poet Lorna Crozier — full of landscape, family, and stories centered around Crozier’s childhood in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

And here’s two older books, both born north of the border:

Prairie: A Natural History by Canadian naturalist Candace Savage, and Wallace Stegner’s classic childhood memoir Wolf Willow: A History, a Story, and a Memory of the Last Plains Frontier (an absolute favorite of the Land Library’s Book Club!).

Last year, the Land Library published a series of posts on the prairie. Here’s a quick look:

–Prairie Voices: Red Cloud and Beyond

–The People of the Prairie

–The Natural History of the Plains

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As a Twig is Bent

School is out, and summer is upon us. For some kids that means summer camp — a world set apart — a place for children to hike, swim, practice archery, woodcraft and Indian lore. And if the camp truly understands its historic mission, each child will learn how to make a lanyard for their mother.

Pictured above are two of our favorite books on this timeless American tradition. Leslie Paris’ Children’s Nature: The Rise of the American Summer Camp provides a rich social history of both camps, and childhood in general. A Manufactured Wilderness: Summer Camps and the Shaping of American Youth, 1890-1960 by Abigail Van Slyck, takes a similar approach, but adds a generous assortment of period pictures, maps, and architectural plans for camps across North America. Both books brings back those critical “summer days of idle youth.”

Connecting kids and nature remains a constant goal of the Rocky Mountain Land Library. Here’s a few more pertinent books from our collection:

Two Excellent Books providing a Historical Context: Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood by Steven Mintz, and Children at Play: An American History by Howard P. Chudacoff.

And here are two groundbreaking books for the entire movement to reconnect kids with nature:

The Geography of Childhood: Why Children Need Wild Places by Gary Paul Nabhan and Stephen Trimble, and Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv.

And here’s two more volumes full of practical insights and good ideas:

In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness by Chris Mercogliano, and Wild Play: Parenting Adventures in the Great Outdoors, a just published book by one of our favorite authors, David Sobel.

For more on connecting children and nature, here are a few of our book-filled posts from the past:

–Child’s Play, Bush Houses & More (featuring David Sobel!)

–The Green Hour (out in nature a little each day)

–Fun Tales of First Contact (children in the empire of ants!)

–To Make the World My Own (the formative childhood days of naturalist Edwin Way Teale)

–No Child Left Inside (adventure tales from the life of naturalist John Muir)

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Our World Foreshadowed

“When it comes to the American West, there is no other writer like Richard White: a serious scholar with a highly original take on familiar subjects….His subject, the making of the transcontinental railroads, is perhaps the pivotal story of the West, but it’s not the one we know from movies and myth. It’s about the birth of all those things that most trouble us nowadays…” — Rebecca Solnit

It’s always exciting to unpack a new book from leading Western historian Richard White. Professor of American History at Stanford University, White has written several award-winning books over the years, including the ground-breaking “It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own”: A New History of the American West.

His latest work, Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America is a dramatic reimagining of the railroad’s impact on the Western landscape. White has written a fascinating history that is more concerned about the complex machinations of railroad finances than it is about the triumphal driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Point, Utah. The most audacious figures of the Gilded Age take center stage in Railroaded: railroad magnates such as Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, James J. Hill, and Jay Gould.

The transcontinental railroads were truly our first corporate giants, and often their attempts to generate profits from proliferating debt sparked devastating economic panics. As White contends, the railroad’s dependence on public largesse also opened the doors to widespread corruption. As historian Geoffrey C. Ward writes: “Railroaded is a wonderful book, fresh, provocative, witty, filled with foreshadowing of our world but always true to its times…”

Another recent railroad book (also pictured above) is Walter R. Borneman’s Rival Rails: The Race to Build America’s Greatest Transcontinental Railroad — an energetic tale of the “other transcontinentals”, those forging a southwestern route to the Pacific. Recently, we were lucky to have Walter Borneman present his new book for the Rocky Mountain Land Series — a wonderful night!

Here’s a few more recent additions to the Land Library’s railroad collection:

A Most Magnificent Machine: America Adopts the Railroad, 1825-1862 by Craig Miner (a perfect complement to Richard White’s Railroaded, covering the earlier days of railroads in America), Sunset Limited: the Southern Pacific Railroad & the Development of the American West, 1850-1930 by Richard J. Orsi, Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvery Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West by Stephen Fried.

Slowly, but surely, the Land Library has been expanding its collection of railroad books. Beyond the Iron Road’s impact on the West, railroads are also a major part of South Park’s heritage. South Park’s Buffalo Peaks Ranch will be the future home of the Rocky Mountain Land Library — what better place for an exciting collection of railroad books!

For more on South Park’s railway heritage, be sure to check this link!

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Transforming the Landscape in an Instant and Over Time

The largest fire in Arizona’s history is still burning as we post this piece, and all signs point to a very active fire season ahead.

Given the central role of fire in shaping the Western landscape, the Land Library long ago committed to building as strong a collection of fire-related titles as possible. Early on, we realized that the work of environmental historian Stephen Pyne was the place to begin as we pieced together our collection. Stephen Pyne spent fifteen seasons as a firefighter on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, between 1967 and 1981. Since that first-hand expereince, Pyne has written over a dozen books on fire, including two comprehensive classics, pictured above: Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire, and World Fire: The Culture of Fire on Earth.

And here’s three more books from Stephen Pyne:

Fire on the Rim: A Firefighter’s Season at the Grand Canyon (Pyne’s own memoir), Vestal Fire: An Environmental History, Told Through Fire, of Europe and Europe’s Encounter with the World, Smokechasing (a collection of over thirty fire-related essays).

For more on fire, the Land Library strongly recommends the following volumes from our shelves:

Fire Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes by William L. Baker, Forgotten Fires: Native Americans and the Transient Wilderness by Omer C. Stewart (a history of Native American use of fire to manage plant and animal communities).

Two Classic Accounts of Historic Western Fires: Young Men and Fire, Norman Maclean’s account of the tragic 1949 Mann Gulch, Montana fire (a book that occupied the last fourteen years of Maclean’s life), The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America, Timothy Egan’s riveting account of the massive 1910 Blow-Up. The Big Burn also supplies a concise history of the early days of the U.S. Forest Service, under the leadership of the remarkable Gifford Pinchot.

But, after the fires die down, what comes next??

Thanks to adventuresome seeds and spores, life comes back after most wildland fires. The Land Library’s latest acquisition presents the story of forest recovery following a major Australian conflagration: Forest Phoenix: How a Great Forest Recovers After Wildfire by David Lindenmayer, et.al.

Our favorite subset of fire books has also produced some of fire’s best literary works — the wilderness memoirs of fire lookouts. For more on these one-of-a-kind books, you can take a look at one of our earlier posts!

–Slow the Clock, Sharpen the Senses

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From the African Savannah to the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming

It’s always a thrill to come across a new book by David Lewis-Williams, a world leading rock art-expert for over thirty years. His latest book centers on the prehistory of his native South Africa: Deciphering Ancient Minds: The Mystery of San Bushman Rock Art (co-authored with Sam Challis).

The prehistoric San people left a remarkable number of picture galleries across east and southern Africa, some dating back to approximately 27,000 years ago. Deciphering Ancient Minds is richly illustrated, and full of insights into San beliefs and ways of thought — showing the prehistoric bushman society to be easily as complex and sophisticated as our own:

“Though less well known, these spiritual panoramas rival in complexity, detail and variety the Ice Age painted caverns of Western Europe, ancient Egyptian art and the intricately carved Maya temples and stelae.“

Lewis-Williams’ earlier book, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art (also pictured above), is mainly focused on the wall and ceiling art found in French and Spanish caves, making it an excellent compliment to Deciphering Ancient Minds.

David Lewis-Williams, professor emeritus, Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

The Eland, a spiral-horned antelope of east and southern Africa — and a favorite subject of the San bushman artists.

Bringing this subject closer to home, Deciphering Ancient Minds spends a chapter comparing & contrasting prehistoric African rock art with the intriguing images from the Dinwoody tradition of the High Plains — highlighting the work of Julie Francis & Lawrence Loendorf, past participants of the Rocky Mountain Land Series:

For more on Rock Art & Cave Paintings be sure to check out our earlier posts!

–When the Earth Was Young

–Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams

And for more on the Rock Art of the San Bushmen, here’s a 4 minute film clip produced by the Africa Heritage Fund, highlighting Giant’s Castle in the Drakensberg Mountains:

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Places That Belong to Everyone

“He died uncertain whether any of his creations would survive into the future. His proposition — maintain valuable center-city land as green space — was tenuous and vulnerable to the developers of housing tracts and racetracks and shopping districts. But Olmsted’s worst fears haven’t been realized. Instead, his creations have become centerpieces, points of pride for scores of communities across the country. Far from receding, Olmsted’s influence has only increased in the century since his death…” — Justin Martin

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is perhaps best known for his design (with Calvert Vaux) of New York City’s Central Park. But this visionary gift to future generations is only one of many Olmsted designs that bring “trees and greenery into the congested grid of streets.” In the course of his career, Frederick Law Olmsted designed more than thirty major city parks, the U.S. Capitol grounds, several university campuses, and many planned communities.

But there’s much more to Olmsted’s life, as Justin Martin’s Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted makes abundantly clear. Olmsted packed many lives into the time he was given: he commanded a medical unit in the Civil War, managed a California gold mine, played a key role in the early preservation of Yosemite Valley, had a long career as a traveling journalist, co-founded The Nation, and was an early and influential abolitionist.

Justin Martin tells a rich story of a remarkable life — a life full of passion, struggle, and triumph. The Land Library wouldn’t be complete without a shelf or two on Olmsted’s life, work, and lasting influence — books such as Genius of Place, and the recent collection (also pictured above), Frederick Law Olmsted: Essential Texts, edited by Robert Twombly.

And here’s a few more Olmsted volumes from the Land Library’s collection:

A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century by Witold Rybczynski, and, a real surprise corner of an adventure-filled life — A Journey Through Texas: or a Saddle-Trip on the Southwestern Frontier by Frederick Law Olmsted (named one of the 50 Best Books on the American West by True West magazine).

The Man Who Made Parks: The Story of Park Builder Frederick Law Olmsted by Frieda Wishinsky (at our Waterton Canyon Kids Nature Library), and scores of books that, at least in part, owe their inspiration to Olmsted. Books such as Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature Into Urban Design and Planning by Timothy Beatley.

And lastly, we love the way Justin Martin decided to end his book Genius of Place — not with the grand arc of Olmsted’s career, but instead with the description of one particular place that he designed:

“Yes, Olmsted is still very much with us. You can read his work….Better yet, you can visit one of his green spaces. These transcendent creations provide a window into his spirit as surely as regarding the Starry Night will rouse Van Gogh.

Perhaps you have a favorite Olmsted spot. I know I do. I walk down the steps of Central Park’s Bethesda Terrace, past the Angel of the Waters statue, and make my way to the edge of the Lake. Then I follow the shoreline to the Bow Bridge and walk across. I like to stand at the water’s edge, soaking up this peerless composition: Vaux’s beautiful bridge, both spanning the Lake and reflected in the Lake, and Olmsted’s untamed Ramble all around.

But this is so far beyond a mere work of landscape architecture. Looking around, I’m always struck by the variety of people — every income group, every nationality, young and old, enjoying a dizzying number of different activities. Here it is, the twenty-first century, and one of Central Park’s original purposes remain very much intact. In the truest sense, this place belongs to everyone. I think Olmsted would be proud.” — Justin Martin

Central Park’s Bow Bridge, New York City

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Getting to know Buffalo Peaks Ranch

As many of you know, the Rocky Mountain Land Library is working with Park County and the City of Aurora to locate a majority of our books and educational programs at South Park’s Buffalo Peaks Ranch, near the headwaters of the South Platte River. This historic ranch presents the Rocky Mountain Land Library with the opportunity to establish a truly unique residential land-study center for the southern Rockies. We are also incredibly fortunate to be working with Park County’s nationally recognized effort to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of a truly unique Western landscape.

Buffalo Peaks Ranch will provide both quiet and inspiration for lifelong learners of all types, including artists, writers, naturalists, scientists, and students at all levels. Everyone will have access not only to the Land Library 25,000+ volumes, but also to South Park’s surrounding landscape of high mountain grasslands and alpine summits.

Stay tuned for updates and exciting developments in the months ahead, but for now we wanted you all to get to know Buffalo Peaks Ranch. We hope you enjoy this fun film clip!

Looking up valley, through the old corrals, toward Mount Silverheels.

Students from the University of Colorado’s Graduate School of Architecture examine the far barn, and also get a lay of the land.

For more on Buffalo Peaks Ranch and the high mountain grasslands of South Park, be sure to check out our earlier posts!

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