The Native Landscape Reader

“The Dunes of Northern Indiana” (1917)

264 From Report on the Proposed Sand Dunes National Park, Indiana, by Stephen T. Mather (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1917), 98–100. JeNs JeNseN the dunes of northern indiana (1917) The world is full of things that add to human intellect and life. Perhaps least consideration and least appreciation are given to those things that form an interesting part of Mother Earth herself. We give first consideration, it seems, to things that have a commercial value; in other words, manmade things. The fine arts are of the manmade variety; but the inspiration or source from which they spring is found in the great outdoors. All art has its root in the primitive, unadulterated beauty made by the hand of the Great Master. Without this source creative art would be impossible. The dunes of northern Indiana are one of the great expressions of wild beauty in our country. They are the greatest of nature’s expressions of this beauty in the Middle West and as a type of landscape they are unequaled anywhere in the world. They are to us what the Adirondacks and the Catskills are to our eastern and the Rocky Mountains to our western friends. Their beauty of wildness and romance must be measured by comparison with the level plains of the Middle West. They are less severe and less melancholy perhaps than the dune countries of the Italian coast or the western coasts of France and Denmark. They are more poetic, more free, more joyful, something that appeals more, to the average human being and which has a greater influence on him than the colder, more severe and overwhelming forms of landscape. Those of us who feel the necessity of paying homage to this interesting region they not only charm with their hidden mysteries, but give us—who are imprisoned as it were in the brick and stone of a great city—a greater and clearer vision of the great out-of-doors. Few can imagine the magnificent outlook over Lake Michigan from the tops or ridges of the dunes, especially at sunset, and the wonderful view of Indiana and the blue haze of the State of Michigan. From an artistic standpoint, the color expressions of spring and autumn are not equaled anywhere. Added to this is the thE dunEs of noRthERn indiana 265 movement and history of the dunes, dating back into geological ages thousands of years ago. The dunes represent a book of the great outdoors which man can never fully comprehend ; but it is not the great dramatic things, which appeal perhaps more to the eye than the more intimate and hidden treasures, that gives the real charm to this bit of nature’s landscape. It is among the sand hills that the real mystery of the dunes is to be found. In the dune meadows , in the bogs or tamarack swamps, or along hidden trails one feels the exquisite homily of the hidden shrines of nature’s great work. Carpets of flowers cover the hills and valleys of the dunes during spring and early summer—in fact during the entire season. Here the lupine brings the first joy of spring to the visitor, with its beautiful handlike leaves upon which the rays of the rising sun turn the dew of early morning, glistening in its palm, into millions of diamonds. Later a sea of blue covers the forest floor, and in late autumn we have the same expression in its beautiful leaves as in spring. Also in late autumn the gentian puts its color on the dune meadows , holding out until the winter blasts shrivel up the last flower. Along the trail asters stand in a blaze of glory as so many candles lighting up the way of the pilgrim who ventures into the woods on dark and gloomy autumn days, and in the wind rustling through trees that have seen generations pass below one fancies he can hear the chanting song of the Red Man, or the cradle song of the Indian squaw when listening to the murmuring waves breaking over the sandy beach of this dune country. Man becomes small and insignificant, indeed, in such environment. He should be thankful for being able to enjoy and understand, at least in a small way, this wonderful beauty that lies all around him, and grieve that millions have to live and die without knowing anything of its wonders. Perhaps he thinks about the millions that are growing up and are debarred...