From the Montana Collection

A Voice in the Wilderness

In 1923, the Lincoln County Free Library received an original booklet from C. W. H. Heideman as an expression of gratitude for a winter's worth of reading material. In this hand-illustrated booklet, Mr. Heideman describes the "Garden of Angels", an area centered around Carney Peak in the Cabinet Mountains south of Libby. This ruggedly beautiful region, which would eventually be designated as a federally protected wilderness area, seems to have been a spiritual home of sorts for Mr. Heideman. In one section, he relates an incident that illustrates his feelings about the need for protecting the region..

"A grizzly had wandered away from the Garden of Angels. We met him, an Ohio tourist and myself, and he gave us the trail. The man from Ohio took his picture and said "That sight was worth a million dollars alone to see". The next day an Official of the Forest Service met the same bear on a trail in the forest and with a 30-30 bullet he tore a great gash in his throat and cut his jugular vein. The bear sank to the ground and there pumped out his life blood in great throbbing spurts.

In the twinkle of an eye this thing in human form took the life of one of God's wild which he had sworn to protect. In a flash he destroyed a million dollars worth of potential scenery that belonged not to him but to the American people. Before the body was cold he tore from his hot and quivering flesh his robe and left the carcass to the banquet of the wolves.

That night in the Garden of Angels there was no evening song, for the Angels wept; around the hoary head of Carney Peak the winds howled in maddening fury while the thunders crashed; down in the valley the wolves and coyotes feasted and gorged and sang a wild triumphant song, while far above the stars Manitou the creator of men hid his head in shame.

Some day the Rotary Club of America with their mighty voice will speak and demand that this region of enchantment be set aside as a sanctuary of wild life and as a garden for all of the people. Some day powerful civic or fraternal organizations like the Elks will take under their protecting arms the last of our wild things that have taken their last stand, with their backs to the wall in these mountain wildernesses. Some day some philanthropist will reimburse the Forest service the seventeen dollars they now receive as an annual rental from the Oregon sheep-men for the privilege of polluting and desecrating God's garden with a band of Oregon woolies. Some day a generous Congress will appropriate the two hundred dollars necessary to cut a decent trail a short three miles, and the five thousand dollars necessary to grade an automobile trail the seven mile gap to the National Parks Highway. But this 'some day' will never come until some powerful voices speak loud enough to be heard in Washington.

Then these mountain gems will by their inspiration make glad and beautiful the hearts of many who have never before seen the Garden of Angels."

Heideman, C.W.H. Untitled original manuscript. 1923. pp. 15-18.