The Ober of Early Years

So before I really start to delve into the details of how Ober helped to save the BWCAW, I think it is important to discuss his childhood and early adulthood. This new information will hopefully allow me to better understand what in Ober's past, helped to shape his ideals and life choices later on in his life. In the end, it would be these very ideals and life decisions that eventually propelled and inspired him to spend the majority of his life passionately fighting for a cause near and dear to his heart; protecting the great, wild wilderness of Northern Minnesota.

Ober was born in 1884 on February 6th, in the town of Davenport, IA. About 5 years after his birth, Ober was dealt a huge blow; his brother Frank died and his father abandoned his mother (Rosa), which meant Rosa was forced to take full care of Ober, with no means of financial support. Luckily, Ober's maternal grandparents were able to take Ober and his mom under their wing. Thus, Ober had the privilege of growing up in a middle-class, cultured household. For the most part, his childhood consisted of reading, attending church (he probably didn't have much say in the matter), biking, and exploring the water ways and backwoods of Davenport, IA. Growing up near the Mississippi River, Ober's love for the outdoors was able to bloom and grow. As Ober put it: 'what probably impressed me more than anything (living in Davenport) were the long rafts of logs...out of that vast unknown North". It seems, even as a child, the Northern Wilderness was already calling Ober's name, preparing him for battle.

At the age of 17, Ober came down with a ghastly case of rheumatic fever which left him with a heart condition. He was told he would be lucky to even make it a year, which of course proved to be false; he lived to the ripe age of 93. Despite a long life, his heart condition still caused him quite a few problems: such as bouts of chest pain, fatigue, and heart palpitations. Every adventure into the wilderness, every paddle and portage could have been his last. I believe he knew this; that any day could be his last. Thus, he lived every day to its fullest and was so determined to keep on living, that his heart had no other choice but to obey.
He got accepted into Harvard at the age of 19. Upon completing his B.A., he went onto Harvard graduate school, to study landscape architecture for a year. This year of landscape architecture, his traveling and lecturing around Europe after graduation and his many dabblings in writing young adult adventure stories and scholarly articles for journals, would prove very important come time for his battle to preserve the Boundary Waters.

The discussion of Ober's life and the events that moved him to fight for the protection of the Northern Minnesota wilderness wouldn't be complete unless I mentioned his journey "towards magnetic north" as Joe Paddock describes it, in his book Keeper of the Wild. This was a canoe journey that he began at the age of 32 in 1912, with his close friend, Billy Magee (an Ojibwe Indian and guide). Starting from La Pas, Manitoba, Ober and Billy set out on a 4 month, 2,000 mile loop to the Hudson Bay and back (to Grimli, Manitoba). This would prove to be the most significant of Ober's outdoor adventures and as Ober described it, "the single most powerful experience of my life". Ober and Billy were basically on their own in the backwoods of Canada; they were exploring a section of unmapped lakes and rivers, virtually untouched by a white man since 1770. He made it out alive, but just barely. The two friends logged many days of hard travel, including days where they were forced to paddle 14 hours or more. There is no question that they became fast and harshly acquainted with mother nature and her dangers while traveling, but nonetheless, despite the hardships, Ober's appreciation for untouched, unspoiled nature grew immensely.

    picture source

After returning back from the journey, alive, Ober decided to permanently locate to Rainy Lake, MN. He began his residence there as a developer on Deer Island (on Rainy Lake). His job was to prepare and oversee the island for agricultural and tourism purposes. This experience would prove very helpful later on when he worked to create the Quetico-Superior program, which was a plan heavily dependent on a sort of balance between using the Boundary Waters as a source for natural resources while also leaving it to be enjoyed and protected. Eventually he acquired Mallard Island in 1924, as a source of payment for working on Deer Island. This would remain his home until his death in 1977 and a place of special importance for his friends and family, eventually leading to the creation of the Ernest Oberholtzer Foundation, but alas, that is another story, for another day.

Soon after settling on Mallard Island, in the year 1925, the battle for the BWCAW began. From this point on, Ober would dedicate his whole essence to the BWCAW's cause and thus, his life would never be the same.