50 Nifty Finds #14: Fine Lines

Although Olaus J. Murie never worked for the National Park Service (NPS), his biological research and conservation advocacy had significant impacts on the protection and management of NPS lands, wilderness, and species. His half-brother, Adolph Murie, did work for the NPS. He asked his brother Olaus to create sketches to help illustrate his 1944 study The Wolves of Mount McKinley. Eleven wolf sketches created by Olaus Murie are part of the NPS History Collection as tangible representations of evolving species management, ecological practices, family connections, and shared ideals.

Olaus J. Murie (Courtesy of Jackson Hole Museum / Teton County Historical Center)

All in the Family

Olaus Johan Murie was born March 1, 1889, in Moorhead, Minnesota. He studied at Fargo College in North Dakota but earned a degree in wildlife biology from Pacific University in Oregon in 1912. After graduation he became an Oregon State conservation officer. Between 1914 and 1917 Murie participated in scientific explorations of Hudson Bay and Labrador for the Carnegie Museum.

During World War I Murie served in the US Army. After the war, the US Biological Survey (now the US Fish and Wildlife Service) hired him as a wildlife biologist in Alaska. From 1920 to 1926 he studied Alaskan caribou, mapping their migratory routes and estimating their population. In 1922 and 1923, Murie's half-brother Adolph assisted him during his caribou research in the Brooks Range and Mount McKinley National Park (now Denali National Park). Adolph began his NPS career in 1926 as a temporary ranger at Glacier National Park, becoming a permanent wildlife biologist in 1934. He studied a variety of species in several parks, including coyote ecology in Yellowstone National Park in 1937 and wolf-sheep relationships at Mount McKinley from 1939 to 1941.

On August 19, 1924, Olaus Murie married Margaret (Mardy) Thomas, who also became a prominent spokesperson for national parks and wilderness. That same year she earned a business degree from the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines (now the University of Alaska Fairbanks), becoming their first woman graduate. She joined Murie in his field camps, cooking and learning about animals and plants. They went on to have two sons and a daughter.

In 1927 Olaus Murie earned a graduate degree from the University of Michigan. That same year the Biological Survey assigned him to investigate the Jackson Hole elk herd. The results of his study were published as The Elk of North America. The Muries built a house in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1930. Two years later Mardy’s sister Louise married Adolph Murie.

In 1937 Olaus Murie accepted a council seat on the recently created Wilderness Society. His testimony on the unnatural boundaries of Olympic National Monument helped convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt to add the great rain forests to the park. His concern for a natural boundary for the elk in the Grand Teton area helped to create Jackson Hole National Monument in 1943 and elevate it to national park status a few years later.

In 1945 Olaus and Mardy Murie, together with Adolph and Louise Murie, purchased the STS dude ranch. The ranch served as their home and a hub for the conservation movement. It hosted discussion and debate among the Murie family and other environmental leaders. Their efforts shaped the conservation movement, culminating with the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964 and the protection of numerous nationally designated wild areas. Located within Grand Teton National Park, the ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006, recognizing the Muries and their contributions to biological science, wildlife management, and the conservation movement.

Figure 7 “Wolf Portraits” compiled from Olaus Murie sketches, published in “The Wolves of Mount McKinley" by Adolph Murie, 1944. (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Also, in 1945 Murie resigned from the US Biological Survey. He became director of the Wilderness Society and an important advocate of the NPS. He lobbied successfully against the construction of large federal dams within Glacier National Park and Dinosaur National Monument. In 1956 Olaus and Mardy Murie and biologists George Schaller and Robert Krear conducted an expedition to Alaska's Brooks Range. As a result of their experiences, the Muries began pushing for federal protections of the Alaskan Arctic. The idea of preserving an entire ecological system became the intellectual and scientific foundation for the creation of a new generation of large natural parks, especially those established by the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In addition to his elk study, Murie authored other major publications, including Alaska-Yukon Caribou (1935); Food Habits of the Coyote in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (1935); Field Guide to Animal Tracts (1954), which included hundreds of his sketches; Fauna of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula (1959); Jackson Hole with a Naturalist (1963); and Wapati Wilderness (with Mardy Murie, 1966).

Murie received an honorary doctorate from Pacific University in 1949. He was awarded the Audubon Medal for his dedication to scientific excellence and conservation. The Sierra Club awarded him its John Muir Award.

Olaus J. Murie died on October 21, 1963. He was 74 years old. Upon his passing, he was praised as "the one person who best personified wilderness in our culture."

Olaus the Artist

Murie was an accomplished artist as well as a biologist, conservationist, public speaker, and writer. Sketching was part of his practice of careful observation to better understand the animals and plants he studied. Although he didn't have any formal training as an artist, he habitually illustrated his field notebooks with detailed sketches. He also created pen-and-ink sketches and watercolor and oil paintings of his subjects.

It's not surprising, then, that when Adolph Murie wanted illustrations to supplement the photographs in his book The Wolves of Mount McKinley he turned to his brother for help. In the acknowledgements section of his 1944 book, Adolph Murie thanked “my brother, O. J. Murie, who assisted me in many ways, and contributed the wolf sketches made from descriptions given to him.” The book was the first in-depth study of wolves and their interrelations with other species and is a classic ecological study today.

Murie's art is in other public and private collections including Grand Teton National Park, the Murie Museum, National Museum of Wildlife Art, and Museum of the North at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. He illustrated other books besides his own, including The Voice of the Coyote (1949), Birds of Alaska (1959), and Two in the Far North by Mardy Murie (1963). Many of his sketches were published posthumously, including The Alaskan Bird Sketches of Olaus J. Murie: With Excerpts from His Field Notes (1979) and Olaus J. Murie A Naturalist's Portfolio of Field Sketches (1982).

The Wolf Sketches

The NPS History Collection includes 11 pencil sketches Olaus Murie created to illustrate The Wolves of Mount McKinley. They are mounted on art board and include annotations and notations associated with the printing process.

Olaus Murie's original "The Dandy" sketch, published in figure 7 of "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "Black Female" sketch, published in figure 7 of "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "Gray Female" sketch, published in figure 7 in "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." Note that this sketch was printed in reverse. (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "Old Grandpa" sketch, published in figure 8 of "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "Black Male" sketch, published in figure 8 of "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "Robber Mask" sketch, published in figure 8 of "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540).

Olaus Murie's original "All Together" sketch, published as figure 9 in "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "Siesta" sketch, published as figure 10 in "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "Come On!" sketch, published as figure 35 in "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." The red lines represent blocks of text. The eagle was published in the upper left corner of the page with the wolf in the lower right corner. (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "The Lamb Made It!" sketch, published as figure 36 in "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Olaus Murie's original "The Fight with the Grizzly" sketch, published as figure 54 in "The Wolves of Mount McKinley." (NPS History Collection, HFCA-01540)

Sources:

--. (1971, February 18). “Murie Lauded as Artist.” Jackson Hole News (Jackson, Wyoming), p. 18.

--. (2017, March 27). “Olaus J. Murie” The National Park Service: the First 75 Years Biographical Vignettes. Accessed February 11, 2023, at https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/sontag/murie.htm

Abendroth, Richard. (1999, April 7). “Field Notes Have Never Been More Beautiful.” Jackson Hole News (Jackson, Wyoming), p. 8.

Murie, Adolph. (1944). The Wolves of Mount McKinley. Fauna of the National Parks of the United States, Fauna Report No. 5. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. (HFCA-01540)

National Park Service. (2017, August 15). "Adolph Murie: Wildlife Biologist, Conservationist." Accessed February 12, 2023, at https://www.nps.gov/articles/denali-adolph-murie.htm

Ostlind, Emilene. (2014, November 8). “The Muries: Wilderness Leaders in Wyoming.” Accessed February 11, 2023, at https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/muries-wilderness-leaders-wyoming