EARLY SEPTEMBER 2018
ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 Early Sept., 2018 "How the contemplation of nature as a whole does take the conceit out of us! How we dwindle to mere specks and our little lives to the span of a moment in the presence of the cosmic bodies and the interstellar spaces! How we hurry! How we husband our time. A year, a month, a day, an hour may man so much to us. Behold the infinite leisure of nature." John Burroughs, "The Gospel of Nature," Century 84 (1912) 195-204. On Sept. 4th 100 years ago Kent wrote to his wife, “ It has rained incessantly… and Olson has not yet ventured to shore” and that weather continued throughout the month according to the old Swede’s journal. Olson did leave for Seward later that day, spent the night and returned the next day. Throughout the winter, Olson would leave off and on – once for several weeks – and Kent would be in charge of the animals, a job he hated....