ERNEST C. OBERHOLTZER:

Ernest C. Oberholtzer was born in 1884 in Davenport, Iowa, and died in 1977 in International Falls, Minnesota. He is known as an explorer, conservationist, and writer. Educated at Harvard University, Oberholtzer took a B.A. in landscape architecture in 1907, and remained at Harvard to do some graduate work. In 1908 he traveled to England and Scotland with his college friend Conrad Aiken.

In 1909 Oberholtzer first explored the border lakes in the Rainy Lake watershed area in northern Minnesota and southern Canada. By agreement with Oberholtzer, the Canadian Northern Railroad bought his notes and pictures documenting canoe routes in the area.

Oberholtzer worked for a short time as a newspaper editor and in 1910 went again to Europe, this time with his friend Harry French. Oberholtzer briefly served as vice consul in Hanover, Germany, before returning to northern Minnesota in 1912.

In 1912 Oberholtzer traveled to Hudson's Bay with an Ojibwe Indian companion, Billy Magee of Mine Centre, Ontario. The same year Oberholtzer moved to Rainy Lake, spending summers on an island, "The Mallard," and winters on a houseboat at Ranier. He often traveled the area with Indian companions, particularly Billy Magee, and was not only a friend of many American Indians in the area, but also a teller of their stories and legends.

Oberholtzer is best known throughout the United States and Canada for his ceaseless efforts to preserve the Quetico-Superior wilderness. He was instrumental in the founding of the Quetico-Superior Council and the Wilderness Society; worked for the establishment of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Voyageurs National Park; and received many honors for his role in conservation work.

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A series of fifteen oral history interviews with Oberholtzer was conducted in 1963-1964, primarily by Lucile Kane of the Minnesota Historical Society; Russell Fridley, Pete Heffelfinger, and Evan Hart also participated in some of the interviews. Oberholtzer reminisces about all facets of his life and career; his explorations in northern Minnesota; his opposition to lumbering and damming operations in the Rainy Lakes area by Edward W. Backus and others; the Quetico-Superior program; the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Bill passed by the U.S. Congress in 1930, which set aside public lands in the present Superior National Forest; other aspects of conservation in northern Minnesota and elsewhere; Ojibwe Indian culture and stories; and many related topics.

Transcripts of some of these interviews, totaling 402 pages, are available at the Minnesota Historical Society, as well as on the World Wide Web as searchable pdf files. The detailed description, below, provides links to these files.

These transcripts are drafts, made from the tape recordings and given preliminary editing, but never completed. Most were sent to Oberholtzer for his editing and approval, but due to his declining health he was unable to complete the task. Some of the transcripts incorporate editorial changes and clarifications by Oberholtzer and the interviewers; others do not. Due to the various editorial annotations, the transcripts are not an exact rendering of the original tape recordings closely, although they follow the content and usually the style fairly closely. The paper copies are considered "rough drafts" and show editing by Lucile Kane. The pdf copies are considered "second copies" and are clean, retyped versions of the edited rough draft. In some cases, there are duplicates of the "second copies" that are further edited by Oberholtzer. Both sets of "second copies" are filed with the Ernest C. Oberholtzer papers in the manuscript collection.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Oral history interviews with Ernest C. Oberholtzer. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: AV2000.27.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include Oberholtzer's Hudson Bay trip into the barren lands in 1912; Pat Cyr, brother-in-law of Louis Riel, and the Rainy Lake district; Billy Magee, an Ojibwe Indian and Oberholtzer's companion on many expeditions; Exploration around the Quetico-Superior Forest in Ontario and Superior National Forest in Minnesota in 1910, which prepared Oberholtzer for the Hudson Bay trip as well as readings in the British Museum in London; Trip to Europe with Harry French, a Harvard friend; Oberholtzer's stay in London and his service as vice consul in Hanover, Germany, and return to the United States in 1912; Canadian Northern Railroad sponsorship of Oberholtzer's Hudson Bay trip in return for his notes and pictures of canoe routes; Billy Magee's black sturgeon story; Atikokan area and the iron mines; Steep Rock Lake in Quetico-Superior and the highway issue.

This transcript incorporates some of Oberholtzer's editorial annotations, transcribed from a second, incomplete draft. They were added when they amended or enhanced the initial meaning of a passage.

Interviewed by: Lucile Kane, Russell Fridley, and Pete Heffelfinger.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Oberholtzer’s narration to accompany lantern slides he took on his 1912 trip to Hudson Bay. (The slides remain part of the unsettled Oberholtzer estate as of July 1980.) The trip covered 3,000 miles through western Ontario, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories of Canada up to Nueltin Lake and Hudson Bay and took six months.

This carbon copy is the only copy that was present in the files as of 1998.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include the beginnings of efforts to establish Quetico Superior National Forest ca. 1925; Major opposition to the national forest was E. W. Backus, a timber industrialist and owner of the Backus Wholesale Lumber Company of International Falls, who had planned use of the timber and water resources of the Rainy Lake watershed, including building dams, flooding, and re routing rivers; Organization of support for the Quetico Superior Council and preservation of the wilderness. Important organizers were lawyers Sewell Tyng and Fred Winston; The Shipstead Newton Nolan Bill passed by the US Congress in 1930 which provided for (1) withdrawal from use of public lands in the Superior National Forest and Rainy Lake country, (2) restriction of logging of shorelines of federal lands, and (3) no further settlement of the area.

This transcript is a photocopy, made for preservation purposes, of a poor quality Dennison copy. Page 32 is blurred. The location of the original typescript is unknown; it is believed to have been sent to Oberholtzer for editing and never returned. A rough draft of this transcript, annotated by Lucile Kane and at least one other person, probably the typist is also available.

Interviewed by: Lucile Kane and Russell Fridley.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include the adoption in 1933 of the Shipstead Newton Nolan Bill for the state meant protection against Backus's plans for "public works"; Financial downfall and bankruptcy of Backus ca.1929 and 1930, and his death in 1934; Lukewarm reaction to the Quetico Superior program from governors Theodore Christianson and Floyd B. Olson, and their eventual support; Minnesota Conservation Commission's opposition to purchase of lands for consolidation of the Superior National Forest; the change of membership under Governor Olson and the gaining of support for the Superior National Forest; Setbacks for the Quetico Superior program under Governor Stassen, and his refusal to approve purchase of lands on the Kabetogama Peninsula for the Superior National Forest; Gaining support for Superior National Forest by Dr. Karl Compton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and General Dwight Eisenhower, and President Truman's creation of an airspace reservation over roadless areas; Passage of the Thye Blatnik bill for purchase of private properties threatening the airspace reservation; Oberholtzer as executive secretary for the Quetico Superior Council.

This transcript incorporates some of Oberholtzer's editorial annotations, transcribed from a second, incomplete carbon copy. They were added when they amended or enhanced the initial meaning of a passage. The annotated copy (pages 1-42) is also available.

Interviewed by: Lucile Kane and Russell Fridley.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include the President's Committee for the Quetico Superior Council; committee membership and problems it faced such as land acquisition, building of dams, airspace reservation, and destruction of wilderness by "civilization"; Sigurd Olson, conservationist; Opposition of the Minnesota Conservation Commission to consolidation of The Superior National Forest prior to Governor Olson's term in office; M&O Railroad and the Kabetogama Peninsula and the question of flowage rights and easement; Conflict between the federal forest service and state forest service in establishing Quetico Superior Forest; Oberholtzer's Harvard University days, and his major in landscape architecture and discouragement by graduate studies; Oberholtzer's Harvard friendship with Conrad Aiken and their trip to England and Scotland (transcript ends at this point); Setting up the President's committee on the Quetico Superior and work with Sewell Tyng; Opposition of the Arrowhead Association of northern Minnesota to the Quetico Superior program; Shipstead Newton Newton Bill; Tax revenue paid to counties for land acquired for Quetico Superior; The International Joint Commission and its territorial jurisdiction over the United States Canadian border; Problem of ownership of flowage rights on property; Quetico Superior Council and the Isaac Walton League; Airspace reservations over the Quetico Superior.

This transcript is a photocopy, made for preservation purposes, of a poor quality Dennison copy. The location of the original typescript is unknown. Only one side of the original reel is transcribed here.

Interviewed by: Lucile Kane and Russell Fridley.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include Frederick S. Winston of Minneapolis and Sewell Tyng, and their help in conservation of the Quetico Superior area wilderness; Ojibwe Indians: Frances Densmore's limited approach to collecting; Naribojou stories, flood stories, and winter lodge stories; Oberholtzer called "Atisokan," i.e. story; the Widewiwin society; personal songs; dream vision sought at puberty; curing; grandparents instructing young with stories; games; the Windigo (cannibal); Mrs. Notawey, Billy Magee's oldest sister, a very good storyteller; Oberholtzer s tape recording Johnny Whitefish, cousin to Mrs. Notawey, arid the attempt to tape Mrs. Notawey; The naming of Billy Magee, Tay rah pah sway we tong, by his mother at his birth. Name means "far distant echo"; Billy Magee and trips in 1909 and 1910 through Quetico Superior Provincial Forest Reserve; Moose; Origin of Superior National Forest, now (1968) Quetico Park: 1909 offer by the publicity agent of the Canadian Northern Railroad to buy Oberholtzer's notes about canoe routes in the Rainy Lake watershed area; Oberholtzer's stay in England during the European trip with Harry French in 1910 (French's name is not mentioned in the recording); Trip to the barrenlands and Hudson Bay in 1912; and exploration of Nueltin Lake and return to the lake many years later.

This transcript incorporates some of Oberholtzer's editorial annotations, transcribed from a second copy of this draft. They were added when they amended or enhanced the initial meaning of a passage. The pdf copy also includes some annotations (mainly corrections to Indian names or concepts) done by an unknown person, probably whoever initially reviewed the transcripts.

Interviewed by: Lucile Kane, Russell Fridley, and Evan Hart.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include Oberholtzer's job as vice consul in Hanover, Germany, ca. 1911; Oberholtzer's friendship with Conrad Aiken and their trip to England in 1908; seeing Aiken later; Samuel E. Morison, a college friend and later a professor at Harvard University; Fred Winston and his contribution to the Quetico Superior project; Struggle against E.W. Backus for land for Quetico Superior forest; Mrs. Martin, secretary for the Minneapolis office of the Quetico Superior Council.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include Sewell Tyng, and his book on military history; Oberholtzer's mother, Rosa Carl Oberholtzer, and life on the island in Rainy lake, 1918; Dr. Mary Chapman Ghostley, a physician in northern Minnesota; Harvard University days with Samuel Morison; Young Indian companions of Oberholtzer on his trips in the wilderness: Bob Nanmayok, Pinay, and Douglas Head.

Interviewed by: Lucile Kane.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include Oberholtzer's trip to record Johnny Whitefish, a cousin of Billy Magee; Mrs. Notawey (Minta Boya), Billy Magee's older sister; Maggie Jackpot; Johnny Whitefish's remembrances of Billy Magee's version of the trip to Hudson Bay with Oberholtzer in 1912; and Oberholtzer's story of the failure to record Mrs. Notawey and her dramatic story-telling.

This reel is a re-recording of tapes that Oberholtzer made with some of his Ojibwe friends in 1948. In 1960 Oberholtzer re-recorded the 1948 tapes with Ray Anderson of Rainier, Minnesota. Tapes are in English and Ojibwe.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Includes songs by Johnny Whitefish and narration by Whitefish and Maggie Jackpot.

This reel is a re-recording of tapes that Oberholtzer made with some of his Ojibwe friends in 1948. In 1960 Oberholtzer re-recorded the 1948 tapes with Ray Anderson of Rainier, Minnesota. Tapes are in English and Ojibwe.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Oberholtzer questions Mrs. Notawey about her life and relatives, and Whitefish and Jackpot speak again. (It is not clear, when one considers Oberholtzer's story of how he failed to record Mrs. Notawey, just when and how he did tape her.)

This reel is a re-recording of tapes that Oberholtzer made with some of his Ojibwe friends in 1948. In 1960 Oberholtzer re-recorded the 1948 tapes with Ray Anderson of Rainier, Minnesota. Tapes are in English and Ojibwe.

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Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include the Black sturgeon story, as told to Oberholtzer by Billy Magee; summers of 1909 and 1910 on Rainy Lake; Oberholtzer's trip to Europe with Harry French, describing France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, and especially Hungary; a winter stay in London, and reading in preparation for the Hudson Bay expedition; giving a popular lecture for the Liverpool Geographic Society; and an invitation for Oberholtzer to become vice consul in Hanover, Germany.

Interviewed by: George Monahan and Frances Andrews.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include Oberholtzer's visit with Harry French to the Carpathian Mountains in Hungary; experiences as vice consul in Hanover, Germany; Oberholtzer's study in London in preparation for the trip into the barren lands of Canada to Hudson bay; Oberholtzer's mother's visit and illness in England; and Oberholtzer's commentary on pictures or slides taken on the Hudson Bay trip in 1912, including images of the land, caribou and moose, and native people.

Interviewed by: George and Gene Monahan.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Oberholtzer narrates Billy Magee's black sturgeon story as told in 1912 on the trip to Hudson Bay.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Oberholtzer comments on and criticizes Eric Sevareid's book, Canoeing with the Cree, which describes an adventure some think similar to Oberholtzer's Hudson Bay trip in 1912.

Interviewed by: Mary Nagle and Lucile Kane.

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The Minnesota Historical Society also holds Oberholtzer's personal papers. They comprise 20 cubic feet of letters, diaries, articles, field notes, reports, and related materials, and are available for public use on 52 reels of microfilm. A detailed inventory of the Oberholtzer papers is also available.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Conservation of natural resources-Minnesota.

Conservation of natural resources-Ontario.

Conservationists-Minnesota. Environmentalists-Minnesota.

Forest conservation-Minnesota. Wilderness areas-Minnesota.

Places:

Boundary Waters Canoe Area (Minn.).

Quetico-Superior Area (Ont.-Minn.).

Voyageurs National Park (Minn.).

Persons:

Backus, E. W. (Edward Wellington), 1860-1934.

Hart, Evan A., 1913-1964, interviewer.

Heffelfinger, Pete, interviewer.

Kane, Lucile M., interviewer.

Magee, Billy.

Organizations:

Quetico-Superior Council.

Wilderness Society.

Types of Documents:

Interviews.

Oral histories (document genres)

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