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The Last Wilderness
First published in 1955, this book tells the lively and entertaining story of the Olympic Peninsula, “the fist of land thrust north between Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean, a wilderness area of six thousand square miles, as large as the state of Massachusetts, more rugged than the Rockies, its lowlands blanketed by a cool jungle of fir and pine and cedar, its peaks bearing hundreds of miles of living ice that gave rise to swift rivers alive with giant salmon; the first land in the Pacific Northwest to be reported by explorers, the last to be mapped--the last wilderness.” Murray Morgan has recorded the epic adventures of the pioneers of this remote region in this rousing and humor-filled saga, one that should capture the imagination of Americans everywhere.
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 1955
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 21, 2020
The main title of this book is a bit incongruous, since the majority of this historical account is about the people who were hellbent on destroying the wild lands of the Olympic Peninsula. Very little attention is given to the splendors of the old growth forests, wild rivers, undeveloped coasts and glaciated peaks that we are lucky to have conserved since the Olympic Peninsula was first explored by Europeans. However, if you're interested in the history of colonization and pioneers of the timber industry, who purchased much of the land in this region for as little as $1.50/acre, this is an excellent read. This book was originally published in 1955, but is surprisingly fresh in its journalistic style. Murray was certainly a master of his art.
August 29, 2019
This is a reissue of a book published in 1955, by one of the Northwest's premier historians. It is primarily a recounting of the history of settling the Olympic Peninsula in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
I believe I read it about 40 years ago when I was doing some considerable hiking in the Olympics, but it was a delight to encounter it again. I forgot how funny Murray Morgan is when he describes the crusty, scheming old pioneers, many of whom thought their town would be the next big thing when the railroad arrived. Of course, they were disappointed. To this day there is no rail line up the peninsula.
Morgan is more relaxed when he talks about the people who settled in and accepted the peninsula on its own terms – people like John Huelsdonk, the famed Iron Man of the Hoh. Or the couple who lived in the wilderness for a year, following and filming an elk herd, and sold the film to Disney (which became their nature film, “The Olympic Elk”).
But most of all it's about logging. Even in the 1950s when the book was written, logging supported most of the communities, although it was a shadow of its heyday when they were cutting the great old growth forests. It was becoming more sustainable and regulated, though, which Morgan saw as a good thing. Still, old growth was being cut until the Federal regulations about the spotted owl stopped it in its tracks in later years after this book's time. The stories about early logging are wild and woolly, and comprise the most colorful parts of this wonderful book that still holds up well.
Bonus: Pair this with the new novel “Deep River” by Karl Marlantes (see my review) for a fuller appreciation of logging life over a hundred years ago.
I believe I read it about 40 years ago when I was doing some considerable hiking in the Olympics, but it was a delight to encounter it again. I forgot how funny Murray Morgan is when he describes the crusty, scheming old pioneers, many of whom thought their town would be the next big thing when the railroad arrived. Of course, they were disappointed. To this day there is no rail line up the peninsula.
Morgan is more relaxed when he talks about the people who settled in and accepted the peninsula on its own terms – people like John Huelsdonk, the famed Iron Man of the Hoh. Or the couple who lived in the wilderness for a year, following and filming an elk herd, and sold the film to Disney (which became their nature film, “The Olympic Elk”).
But most of all it's about logging. Even in the 1950s when the book was written, logging supported most of the communities, although it was a shadow of its heyday when they were cutting the great old growth forests. It was becoming more sustainable and regulated, though, which Morgan saw as a good thing. Still, old growth was being cut until the Federal regulations about the spotted owl stopped it in its tracks in later years after this book's time. The stories about early logging are wild and woolly, and comprise the most colorful parts of this wonderful book that still holds up well.
Bonus: Pair this with the new novel “Deep River” by Karl Marlantes (see my review) for a fuller appreciation of logging life over a hundred years ago.
February 24, 2024
I wasn't sure what to expect with this book but it is full of old time oral history of the settling of the peninsula. Wonderful documentation starting with the geologic history, first nations peoples and the subsequent exploitation by the Spanish and British. He gives a good review of the beginnings of Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Aberdeen and even dedicates a chapter to Home. If you are in anyway interested in the history of the peninsula this is a great starting point.
December 28, 2023
It took me awhile to finish this book, but not because it wasn’t good. I loved the stories and I love the Olympic Peninsula! Nonfiction just takes me longer than fiction to read. I especially loved the chapters about Olympic National Park and the lighthouses.
July 20, 2025
Qué aburridisimo estuvo eso. Esperaba más datos duros y más historia natural que de los vatos estos. Me sonó a un libro escrito desde el punto de vista del invasor. Si tiene uno que otro dato interesante, como lo del surgimiento de los sindicatos de lumberjacks, pero en general tiene muchos nombres y mucho self insert.
January 31, 2021
This was a fun read. It fed my obsession of the Olympic Peninsula. Lots of colorful characters have made their mark on that land over the past couple centuries.
May 4, 2023
This book is a bit of history about the Olympic Peninsula, “this iconic landscape: mountains, rivers, forests, and seacoast”(p ix, Tim McNulty). It’s all stories, some better than others. Murray also talks about how this place has changed. I kept wishing there was an updated version somehow, though the author has passed away. Morgan covers “a time when the old resource-based Northwest was giving way to today’s more recognizable landscape”(p xi, Tim McNulty). McNulty’s introduction talks about this more on p xi. “In The Last Wilderness Morgan frames the story of the Olympic Peninsula in dramatic narratives that explore the changing relationship between people and place. The land is always primary, and the course of many of the later stories unfolds directly from the earliest”(p xiv, Tim McNulty).
According to Tim McNulty in the introduction, this book is about “labor strife, crooked politics, class war, and violence in the logging and sawmill towns around Grays Harbor … lumber barons, stump ranchers, and explorers”(xiii-xiv). Question for book club: What stories resonated most with people? What was new?
I picked this up for many reasons, including (1) it’s about where I live and I try to read as much about the Olympic Peninsula as possible, (2) it’s been recommended by many of my friends, and (3) my book club is discussing it tomorrow (5/4/23).
It was just strictly about the Olympic Peninsula, as the author acknowledges in the Preface. “I have included in the book two towns which, purists may argue, do not belong to the peninsula proper. They are Port Gamble, which is on the Kitsap Peninsula, an outgrowth of the Olympic Peninsula; and Home, on an outgrowth of the Kitsap Peninsula. I included Port Gamble because it is the economic big brother of Port Ludlow, a true peninsula town. I included Home because it fits in with the Olympic Peninsula more than with the rest of Puget Sound, and besides, it was simply too charming to leave out”(p xxix).
It was not the fastest read, but I expected that knowing it was written in 1955. It also can be hard for me to read a book by an old white guy (too blunt??) who clearly has some prejudices and privileges that show in their entitled writing. McNulty acknowledges this partly in his introduction when he talks about the “racist stereotypes of the area’s Indigenous populations” and the “complete lack of regard for Indigenous peoples”(xvi).
Notes:
— Chapter 1
- [ ] Didn’t love many parts of this chapter. Skimmed some.
- [ ] Indigenous people in the high country rarely, “The Fool”, p 7. Really? Talk to David Brownell and see my notes in the book about the Press Expedition too.
- [ ] Bottom of p 26 to p27 - Why the OP was explored then given up on at first. Once otters were decimated, the land was determined to be to weak for a business basis and too forested for colonization.
- [ ] When the US Canada border was settled in 1845, there wasn’t a single white settler on the OP (p 27).
— Port Townsend, chapter 2
- [ ] Forests were viewed as “little more than an encumbrance that would have to be cleared before cities could be built and farms planted”(p 29).
- [ ] “The men who had come to farm and to fish stayed to cut lumber”(p34).
- [ ] How to become mayor, “yell the loudest”(p 39).
- [ ] Bootlegger - “So many men… returned to Port Townsend with bottles concealed in their high rubber boots that peninsula philologists claim that the town gave to the language the word “bootlegger””(p44). A
- [ ] PT was the port of entry for Puget Sound until it was switched to Port Angeles after the recommendation of a man who worked for the Secretary of the Treasury, who visited and was less than impressed with PT (p 45). Then it was switched back to PT a few years later.
- [ ] Question for book club - What did people think about this story of rivalry between PT and PA over who would house the US customs office?
— Chapter 3, Pope and Talbot
- [ ] Pope and Talbot organized to cut Doug fir for the prospectors in California, and their man was Cyrus Walker
- [ ] A mill was set up in Port Gamble
- [ ] Trees referred to as “those damned outrageous conifer weeds”(footnote page 60)
- [ ] Chimacum people, p 60
- [ ] 1862, how timber was harvested, “the wasteful manner of the day - cutting only the best trees, cutting high stumps, smashing up the seedlings, and leaving the area a firetrap of slash”(p75).
- [ ] Timber and Stone Act, p76
- [ ] At one time, Port Ludlow was “the queen of lumber ports”(p80). Activity described on p 79.
- [ ] For book club, a bit of history:
- [ ] Pope Resources is what was Pope and Talbot, and the Seattle Times had some interesting history here: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-...
- [ ] Land being acquired by Foretarra: https://forterra.org/press-releases/f...
— Chapter 4, Swan
- [ ] James G Swan, p 88
- [ ] The town of Dungeness used to be called Whiskey Flat (p91).
— Chapter 5, Home colony
- [ ] Colony called Home that preached free love and vegetarianism, and later nudism, which was its undoing. Viewed as anarchists
- [ ] In an area called Glennis at the time. According to the author in the Preface, this is on an “outgrowth” of the Kitsap Peninsula.
- [ ] Some history for book club: http://pnwphotoblog.com/socialist-col...
— Chapter 6, Grays Harbor and logging in the early 1900s
- [ ] 1st full paragraph, p 127, on logging being like war on the forest
- [ ] Last full paragraph, p 129, loggers as migrants because everywhere was getting over logged, and next paragraph about their experience
- [ ] The Spruce Production Division of WWI, p 141-142. Spruce went into airplanes and the Hoko River area had “the greatest spruce forest in the world”(p143). They build the spruce railroad trail around Lake Crescent for spruce production to support the war, hit WWI ended 19 days after it was completed, so the railroad was sold. It was the culprit of a catastrophic fire in 1951 and soon after was abandoned.
— Chapter 7, ONP
- [ ] John Huelsdonk, the Iron Man of the Hoh, who perhaps killed more cougars than anyone else (300 at least, including Big Foot, an 11 ft long cat)
- [ ] Starting on p155 is a short version of the story told in Carson Lien’s book. See my notes from that book.
- [ ] P162, feelings of the pioneers who left when the Olympic Forest Reserve was created
- [ ] P 167, the elk hunt of 1937 in the Hoh, a butchering by people that can’t kill elk and too many elk killed overall by people who came from near and far
- [ ] Main lines of argument against a Park, p174
- [ ] Storm King is so called because “if clouds formed on the summit a storm was coming”(p176).
— Chapter 8, Shelton
- [ ] Simpson Logging Company - they held onto their land after harvest, which was unheard of at the time
- [ ] Hemlocks were viewed as weeds initially be abuse they were smaller and heavier than Doug Fir, but then it was discovered that they could be used to make paper or cellulose products (p186-187)
- [ ] Rayonier used to be called Olympic Forest Products Corporation (p188)
- [ ] Agreement between Simpson logging and the Forest Service in 1947 and was for 100 years. Their land was all pooled together and would be managed on a “sustained-yield basis under the direction of the Forest Service”(p 194). The author doesn’t seem to see that sustained yield was all a farce. P194-196 makes the author look like a big fan of Simpson Logging Co and this agreement. For book club - According to McNulty in his introduction, the 100 year agreement was scrapped about 50 years into it. Also see p xxii, where McNulty comments on this as well.
- [ ] Camp Grisdale, a Simpson logging camp in Grays Harbor, was still in operation at the time of publication. For book club - Nothing remains if it now according to this link. Grisdale | Washington State Wiki - Fandom
— Chapter 9
- [ ] The O’Neill Expedition
- [ ] The Press Traverse p 213-214
- [ ] Fishing on the Peninsula
— Chapter 10, the pioneer breed, still here or dead?
- [ ] The kind of people that live here, paragraph that spans p224-225 and is really the whole chapter
- [ ] Brush-pickers - p 225-226
- [ ] Last paragraph of 226, the “old rebels” that still live here
— Chapter 11
- [ ] Destruction Island
- [ ] Tatoosh Island
- [ ] Last 3 paragraphs, very short, p248
According to Tim McNulty in the introduction, this book is about “labor strife, crooked politics, class war, and violence in the logging and sawmill towns around Grays Harbor … lumber barons, stump ranchers, and explorers”(xiii-xiv). Question for book club: What stories resonated most with people? What was new?
I picked this up for many reasons, including (1) it’s about where I live and I try to read as much about the Olympic Peninsula as possible, (2) it’s been recommended by many of my friends, and (3) my book club is discussing it tomorrow (5/4/23).
It was just strictly about the Olympic Peninsula, as the author acknowledges in the Preface. “I have included in the book two towns which, purists may argue, do not belong to the peninsula proper. They are Port Gamble, which is on the Kitsap Peninsula, an outgrowth of the Olympic Peninsula; and Home, on an outgrowth of the Kitsap Peninsula. I included Port Gamble because it is the economic big brother of Port Ludlow, a true peninsula town. I included Home because it fits in with the Olympic Peninsula more than with the rest of Puget Sound, and besides, it was simply too charming to leave out”(p xxix).
It was not the fastest read, but I expected that knowing it was written in 1955. It also can be hard for me to read a book by an old white guy (too blunt??) who clearly has some prejudices and privileges that show in their entitled writing. McNulty acknowledges this partly in his introduction when he talks about the “racist stereotypes of the area’s Indigenous populations” and the “complete lack of regard for Indigenous peoples”(xvi).
Notes:
— Chapter 1
- [ ] Didn’t love many parts of this chapter. Skimmed some.
- [ ] Indigenous people in the high country rarely, “The Fool”, p 7. Really? Talk to David Brownell and see my notes in the book about the Press Expedition too.
- [ ] Bottom of p 26 to p27 - Why the OP was explored then given up on at first. Once otters were decimated, the land was determined to be to weak for a business basis and too forested for colonization.
- [ ] When the US Canada border was settled in 1845, there wasn’t a single white settler on the OP (p 27).
— Port Townsend, chapter 2
- [ ] Forests were viewed as “little more than an encumbrance that would have to be cleared before cities could be built and farms planted”(p 29).
- [ ] “The men who had come to farm and to fish stayed to cut lumber”(p34).
- [ ] How to become mayor, “yell the loudest”(p 39).
- [ ] Bootlegger - “So many men… returned to Port Townsend with bottles concealed in their high rubber boots that peninsula philologists claim that the town gave to the language the word “bootlegger””(p44). A
- [ ] PT was the port of entry for Puget Sound until it was switched to Port Angeles after the recommendation of a man who worked for the Secretary of the Treasury, who visited and was less than impressed with PT (p 45). Then it was switched back to PT a few years later.
- [ ] Question for book club - What did people think about this story of rivalry between PT and PA over who would house the US customs office?
— Chapter 3, Pope and Talbot
- [ ] Pope and Talbot organized to cut Doug fir for the prospectors in California, and their man was Cyrus Walker
- [ ] A mill was set up in Port Gamble
- [ ] Trees referred to as “those damned outrageous conifer weeds”(footnote page 60)
- [ ] Chimacum people, p 60
- [ ] 1862, how timber was harvested, “the wasteful manner of the day - cutting only the best trees, cutting high stumps, smashing up the seedlings, and leaving the area a firetrap of slash”(p75).
- [ ] Timber and Stone Act, p76
- [ ] At one time, Port Ludlow was “the queen of lumber ports”(p80). Activity described on p 79.
- [ ] For book club, a bit of history:
- [ ] Pope Resources is what was Pope and Talbot, and the Seattle Times had some interesting history here: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-...
- [ ] Land being acquired by Foretarra: https://forterra.org/press-releases/f...
— Chapter 4, Swan
- [ ] James G Swan, p 88
- [ ] The town of Dungeness used to be called Whiskey Flat (p91).
— Chapter 5, Home colony
- [ ] Colony called Home that preached free love and vegetarianism, and later nudism, which was its undoing. Viewed as anarchists
- [ ] In an area called Glennis at the time. According to the author in the Preface, this is on an “outgrowth” of the Kitsap Peninsula.
- [ ] Some history for book club: http://pnwphotoblog.com/socialist-col...
— Chapter 6, Grays Harbor and logging in the early 1900s
- [ ] 1st full paragraph, p 127, on logging being like war on the forest
- [ ] Last full paragraph, p 129, loggers as migrants because everywhere was getting over logged, and next paragraph about their experience
- [ ] The Spruce Production Division of WWI, p 141-142. Spruce went into airplanes and the Hoko River area had “the greatest spruce forest in the world”(p143). They build the spruce railroad trail around Lake Crescent for spruce production to support the war, hit WWI ended 19 days after it was completed, so the railroad was sold. It was the culprit of a catastrophic fire in 1951 and soon after was abandoned.
— Chapter 7, ONP
- [ ] John Huelsdonk, the Iron Man of the Hoh, who perhaps killed more cougars than anyone else (300 at least, including Big Foot, an 11 ft long cat)
- [ ] Starting on p155 is a short version of the story told in Carson Lien’s book. See my notes from that book.
- [ ] P162, feelings of the pioneers who left when the Olympic Forest Reserve was created
- [ ] P 167, the elk hunt of 1937 in the Hoh, a butchering by people that can’t kill elk and too many elk killed overall by people who came from near and far
- [ ] Main lines of argument against a Park, p174
- [ ] Storm King is so called because “if clouds formed on the summit a storm was coming”(p176).
— Chapter 8, Shelton
- [ ] Simpson Logging Company - they held onto their land after harvest, which was unheard of at the time
- [ ] Hemlocks were viewed as weeds initially be abuse they were smaller and heavier than Doug Fir, but then it was discovered that they could be used to make paper or cellulose products (p186-187)
- [ ] Rayonier used to be called Olympic Forest Products Corporation (p188)
- [ ] Agreement between Simpson logging and the Forest Service in 1947 and was for 100 years. Their land was all pooled together and would be managed on a “sustained-yield basis under the direction of the Forest Service”(p 194). The author doesn’t seem to see that sustained yield was all a farce. P194-196 makes the author look like a big fan of Simpson Logging Co and this agreement. For book club - According to McNulty in his introduction, the 100 year agreement was scrapped about 50 years into it. Also see p xxii, where McNulty comments on this as well.
- [ ] Camp Grisdale, a Simpson logging camp in Grays Harbor, was still in operation at the time of publication. For book club - Nothing remains if it now according to this link. Grisdale | Washington State Wiki - Fandom
— Chapter 9
- [ ] The O’Neill Expedition
- [ ] The Press Traverse p 213-214
- [ ] Fishing on the Peninsula
— Chapter 10, the pioneer breed, still here or dead?
- [ ] The kind of people that live here, paragraph that spans p224-225 and is really the whole chapter
- [ ] Brush-pickers - p 225-226
- [ ] Last paragraph of 226, the “old rebels” that still live here
— Chapter 11
- [ ] Destruction Island
- [ ] Tatoosh Island
- [ ] Last 3 paragraphs, very short, p248
November 6, 2024
I’ve been looking forward to reading this book to learn more about the history of the Olympic Peninsula, which I love. It is interesting that the initial draw to the peninsula by settlers was farming, followed by pioneers, men and women who only wanted to live a peaceful and independent life in the valleys of the Olympic mountains. Timber only came into the picture when ship captains need new masts and spars. It grew from amateur sawmills to professional ones after a lumberman from Maine got involved to produce an insane amount of board feet. At that time the market for timber was in part driven by the San Francisco fire of 1906. There were also timber poacher and log pirates working the dark edges of the industry. Learning of the history and rivalry between Port Townsend and Port Angeles was a look inside early politics and a thirst for power on the peninsula.
The book talks about two towns who began as utopian escapes from society, one was Port Angeles another was called Home. Learning of their town’s basic belief and what caused their downfall where different and unique. Including neighboring towns eventual intolerance toward them.
It covers the desire for railroads to be built to and within the peninsula, however theses never materialized other than short ones within logging camps. It shows the progression of the timber industry to branch out into different uses such as plywood and pulp mills, plus the eventual conservation and preservation of privately owned timberlands.
One Coast Guard pilot’s opinion of the peninsula was, “The trouble with this country, is that it’s a damned paradise. It’s a standing invitation for people to go out and do something healthy and get deep in trouble.” While gazing at the Olympic mountains, he further stated, “They sure make a hell of a lot of trouble, but they make thing interesting.” This book was a fun read, I recommend it to all Washingtonians.
The book talks about two towns who began as utopian escapes from society, one was Port Angeles another was called Home. Learning of their town’s basic belief and what caused their downfall where different and unique. Including neighboring towns eventual intolerance toward them.
It covers the desire for railroads to be built to and within the peninsula, however theses never materialized other than short ones within logging camps. It shows the progression of the timber industry to branch out into different uses such as plywood and pulp mills, plus the eventual conservation and preservation of privately owned timberlands.
One Coast Guard pilot’s opinion of the peninsula was, “The trouble with this country, is that it’s a damned paradise. It’s a standing invitation for people to go out and do something healthy and get deep in trouble.” While gazing at the Olympic mountains, he further stated, “They sure make a hell of a lot of trouble, but they make thing interesting.” This book was a fun read, I recommend it to all Washingtonians.
May 16, 2021
I ordered this from the library on a bit of a whim and ended up really enjoying it. Morgan wrote more than twenty books, almost all of them about Washington State. This one combines his own first person interviews and experiences in the region starting in the 1930s (the book was first published in 1955) combined with his own research and liberal quotes from published works from the 1860s to 1950s. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Port Townsend, which today is a fairly sleepy town of around 10,000 souls that in the late 19th Century was a rival to Seattle and Tacoma as many different towns vied for the honor of being railway terminals. Morgan does not devote much time to the Native Americans of the Olympic Peninsula and his predictions for the lumber industry were a bit too rosy, but for anyone interested in this part of the country this is a humorous and enjoyable read. I will certainly be adding his books on Seattle and Tacoma to my future reading list.
June 6, 2022
More known for Skid Row, the authoritative history of Seattle, Morgan strings together a fantastic collection of stories in The Last Wilderness. Whereas many think only of Olympic National Park when they are asked about the peninsula, Morgan tells a story that involves every corner of the region, including some I had no prior knowledge of. Each chapter reads individually from the others, which makes for an enjoyable read. I think the most fascinating part of this book is the optimism Morgan writes with when he talks about concepts like sustainable forestry. He seems convinced that the economy of the peninsula would thrive for generations to come. I wonder what he would think about those towns if he saw them today. A fantastic read for anyone who has traveled the 101 loop and wondered how things used to be.
April 11, 2024
As someone who has been to the Olympic peninsula twice, and absolutely loved it each time, The Last Wilderness was an illuminating read about a landscape I hold dear.
I didn't really learn anything mind-blowing; I kinda figured that the economy of the peninsula was mainly about logging and that the national park was created in order to better preserve the massive an beautiful forests that grow there. Some of the stories of the individual pioneers who settled the area were quite interesting though, particularly the chapter about a legendary mister John Huelsdonk and his family and their struggles to live and thrive deep in the rain forests while government and private entities fought over what to do with the surrounding land.
Murray Morgan has a way of putting a nice, quaint touch on everything he writes about and keeps it entertaining while also journalistic and informative.
I didn't really learn anything mind-blowing; I kinda figured that the economy of the peninsula was mainly about logging and that the national park was created in order to better preserve the massive an beautiful forests that grow there. Some of the stories of the individual pioneers who settled the area were quite interesting though, particularly the chapter about a legendary mister John Huelsdonk and his family and their struggles to live and thrive deep in the rain forests while government and private entities fought over what to do with the surrounding land.
Murray Morgan has a way of putting a nice, quaint touch on everything he writes about and keeps it entertaining while also journalistic and informative.
June 17, 2024
I read the 1955 first edition of this book - I saw that it’s been re-released with I’m sure a new prologue/afterward. Having spent a part of last summer in and around Olympic national park I grabbed as many books as I could on the area. I think this book brought a level of history of the region and its ultimate expansion of the park that I hadn’t read yet. I believe the author was a local reporter and you get that vibe reading this book - lots of local events, famous/infamous characters that you probably wouldn’t get in another book. If you’re interested in the history of the region I think it’s worth a read.
January 19, 2023
I really enjoyed this reprint of the classic history of the Olympic Peninsula by Murray Morgan. While some of its content is obviously dated due to originally being published in 1955, it acts as both an portrait of what a Pulitzer prize winning author from the region thought about the Peninsula's history, present, and future, and simply an engaging narrative of the colorful and contested regional identity. Informative, entertaining, and well written.
November 30, 2017
At the recommendation of a friend I found this at the library and found it quite enjoyable. Learning about the Olympic Peninsula from a historian is different than learning about it through one's own travels. Plenty of information about the logging and fishing industries but the best part was reading the anecdotes of the good guys, the bad guys and the really despicable ones, and the women too.
June 14, 2021
Cons: This was written in 1955, the Good Old Days, when men were men and women didn't exist except as men's amenities.
Pros: There were many times I appreciated the author's sassy tone, and I learned quite a bit about this part of our country.
Pros: There were many times I appreciated the author's sassy tone, and I learned quite a bit about this part of our country.
September 23, 2024
Some interesting stories! I liked a lot of it, but a lot was rather slow, and a lot focused on the details of logging. I was more interested in the stories of colorful local characters. Still, a very interesting set of local stories!
August 24, 2021
Good writing, but the content was boring. I don’t care much for the history of the logging industry.
December 8, 2023
The lasting wilderness ❤️ I cherished this book.
March 14, 2024
Okay, I'm biased. Have visited the area some and have family there. Love the Peninsula. Enjoyed learning about its history.
April 20, 2024
So much fun to read about the history of our local towns and how truly important the timber industry was in these parts.
July 3, 2024
Really insightful history of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington- great history nerd read!
September 28, 2024
What a struggle. I live in the PNW and have much to ponder and appreciate! Should never take for granted , when we look around us, how we got here.
February 2, 2025
Good book on mainly the logging industry
March 2, 2025
How much can one person be obsessed with a book? I loved this so much. In the era of Kindles, it has a permanent place on my hard copy shelf. It’s a wry, loving history of the hills and trees where I grew up. It’s the story of scrappy people and beautiful places and the wild current that runs through it all. It makes me homesick and nostalgic all at once. I’ve always been a landscape lover - especially when it’s a metaphor for the people who lived there - and this is MY landscape, the place names feel like family. Morgan was one of my grandpa’s favorite writers (a kindred Tacoma boy) and now he’s one of mine. ❤️
Not to get too deep in my feelings, but it also gives me hope in the midst of the awful news cycle. People are going to be people. In the late 1800’s a colony of anarchists, nudists, and oddballs thrived in the middle of nowhere Washington - if they can do it, maybe we’ll be OK. 😭
Not to get too deep in my feelings, but it also gives me hope in the midst of the awful news cycle. People are going to be people. In the late 1800’s a colony of anarchists, nudists, and oddballs thrived in the middle of nowhere Washington - if they can do it, maybe we’ll be OK. 😭
November 25, 2025
3 stars - I thought this book would be more about nature and Native Americans and instead it was just about white people being awful to each other so…
December 5, 2024
For an especially enjoyable, multi-perspective immersive experience, I recommend typing ‘Olympic Peninsula’ into the Airbnb search bar and window-shopping while listening to the audiobook. It’s been a good week for me, but nothing has brought quite as much surprise and delight as pairing tasteful A-frames and seaside cabins built for romantic tech worker getaways with Bob Sauer’s narration of this at times very funny book- for example, on the 74 year old anarchist who was jailed for 4 months for using the US mail to spread obscenities, who, in some of his milder writings, “referred to monogamy as ‘the worst of all forms of prostitution,’ to the church as, ‘the mother of whores,’ and to men of the cloth as, ‘pimps of Puritanism.’”
November 2, 2024
Interesting but meh, the author talks about Betty Macdonald who… has one extremely racist book (The egg and I).
The history was neat though.
The history was neat though.
January 16, 2016
Great history of the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound area. I just wish someone would update it since it was written 1955. I would be very interested in seeing a comparison of how things have changed.
April 28, 2012
Excellent history of the Olympic Peninsula, including some fascinating, largely-unknown, and humorous stories about everything from logging culture to nudist colonies. Highly recommend!
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