December 1955 (age 56)

Nothing to report.

December 1970 (age 71)

After eight years of effort and many difficulties along the way, the bill to establish Voyageurs National Park finally enters its final stages in Congress, due to personal lobbying by Sigurd Olson and former Minnesota Governor Elmer Andersen. National Park Service Director George Hartzog writes to Sigurd on December 16:

Words are inadequate to express to you my gratitude for your great work on Voyageurs. Without your help we could not have made it! We all owe you a great debt of gratitude. I appreciate more than you can know your coming to Washington this week.

Meanwhile, on December 12, more than five hundred people attended a "Tribute to Sigurd Olson" at the Duluth (Minn.) Arena. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson gave the keynote address.

All this conservation work, of course, made it difficult to keep up with his writing. On December 31 McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. Vice-President Albert Leventhal wrote to Sigurd's agent, Marie Rodell, telling her that Sigurd is a year overdue on his contractual obligation to write a book on northern waterways for the company's American Wilderness series. He demands a firm delivery date or a refund of Sigurd's $2,500 advance. Sigurd had to refund the money, because he could not write the book in a reasonable amount of time. What he could do, however, was some part-time work for Time-Life Books. On December 2 he was offered a contract to consult for the company's Northwoods series. He would help with the organization, read and critique the chapters, advise on photos, and help check for accuracy. Time-Life offered to pay him $100 a day; Sigurd would work on the series a total of 47 days August 5, 1971, when he started work on it, and September 27, 1972, when he was paid--more than enough to make up for the loss of his McGraw-Hill advance.