Winter/Spring 2025

Color postcard of Baird Creek, sometimes referred to as “Little Switzerland.” Archives and Area Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

From the Editor

The story of Hetch Hetchy is well known in environmentalist lore. Once renowned for its stunning natural beauty, the Hetch Hetchy Valley lies within the northwestern section of Yosemite National Park in California and was beloved by John Muir, the writer, conservationist, and co-founder of the Sierra Club, who wrote of the valley, “no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.” The valley consisted of 1,200 acres of lush pine forests and meadows that surrounded the winding Tuolumne River and its tributaries, with waterfalls and rocky granite domes and spires dotting the majestic landscape. In 1908, two years after an earthquake and subsequent fires devastated San Francisco, Secretary of the Interior James R. Garfield granted the city reservoir rights to provide water to the beleaguered city. This decision commenced a five-year struggle led by Muir and the Sierra Club to preserve the valley, which brought national attention to both the grandeur of Hetch Hetchy and the finality of development. Once a wonder such as Hetch Hetchy (or the Grand Canyon, Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, or innumerable vital ecosystems such as the Everglades) is destroyed, it is gone forever. Muir and his followers were unsuccessful in their efforts as the valley was ultimately drowned in a massive reservoir, but the battle proved a crucial moment in the nascent environmental movement, illustrating the potential of the citizenry to create a sustained movement for the protection of America’s rich natural resources and areas of scenic beauty.

John Muir, of course, was a Wisconsinite. Born in Scotland in 1838, Muir and his family immigrated to the United States in 1849, starting Fountain Lake Farm, now a National Historic Landmark, in Montello, Wisconsin. Muir was a prolific explorer, nature writer, ecological thinker, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. Wisconsin has an unusually strong connection with environmental history, having been the home to numerous famous environmental luminaries, including John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Sigurd Olson, Fran Hamerstrom, Gaylord Nelson, Nina Leopold Bradley, and Lorrie Otto. Thousands of others—including many Northeast Wisconsinites—have made important contributions to the preservation of natural spaces and as stewards of the land as best articulated by Aldo Leopold in his 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac (Leopold’s influence is explored in my colleague David Voelker’s article in this issue). Celebrating the importance of the environment to Wisconsin’s history, we are excited to present this special issue on Northeast Wisconsin and the environment to our readers.

Our Author Talk Series will continue this spring with an Author Walk led by Charlie Frisk, president of the Baird Creek Preservation Foundation. Join us on Sunday, April 27 at 1 p.m. at Christa McAuliffe Park, 3100 Sitka St. in Green Bay, as Charlie will lead a nature walk and talk about his article, “The History and Development of Green Bay’s Baird Creek Valley,” which appears in this special issue.

Finally, we would like to offer a sincere thank you to all our readers who joined us this past July for the magazine’s fortieth anniversary celebration at Zambaldi Beer. It was an incredibly fun evening of camaraderie and trivia that helped raise much-needed funds for the magazine. We are extremely grateful for your ongoing support of our magazine and its mission to preserve and share Northeast Wisconsin’s fascinating history.

I will leave you with a final thought from John Muir, published in his book, Our National Parks, in 1901: “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” We hope you enjoy this special issue of Voyageur.

Eric J. Morgan

Editor-in-Chief, Voyageur: Northeast Wisconsin’s Historical Review

Associate Professor of Democracy and Justice Studies and History

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Winter/Spring 2025

Contents

From the Editor