Olson to Leopold, October 14, 1930:

Ely, Minnesota
Oct 14, 1930

Mr. Eldo [sic] Leopold
421 Chemistry Bldg
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wis.

Dear Sir:

A short time ago, I had the pleasure of making a trip with Mr. Ralph T. King who at the present time is carrying on a ruffed grouse investigation at the University Farm at St. Paul. He was up at the time securing live specimens of the native grouse and it was while doing this work that I met him. He broached the subject to me then of applying through you for one of the scholarships offered by the American Arms Association for research along game propagation lines. According to Mr. King, there is still one such scholarship available.

Now a brief summary of my qualifications. I graduated from the Univ. of Wisconsin in 1920 majoring in Animal Husbandry. For two years immediately following my graduation, I taught Agriculture at Nashwauk, Minnesota, then I returned to the Univ. of Wisconsin to take a post graduate course in Geology of which I had taken almost enough for a major during my undergraduate work. The field in Geology did not look very promising at the time so after half a year's work I went into other lines of activity. This time I accepted a position teaching Biology at Ely, Minnesota, headquarters of the Superior National Forest, largely because it was in a section of country I liked and was very familiar with. The year following my coming a Junior College was established and I was placed in charge of the Zoology Dept.

Since then I have been teaching highschool and college zoology and related courses. My preparatory work for a Biology position, I will admit was rather scanty but during the years I have been here, I have kept up with the subject through reading and study, supplemented by a great deal of practical field work. I feel as a result of the work I have done since I came here that I have advanced considerably in my outlook and general knowledge. Every summer for the past ten years I have spent as a guide in the wilderness regions of the Superior National Forest and the Quetico Provincial Park of Canada. As a result, I have become familiar with all forms of wild life and know the country thoroughly for several hundred miles north of the border, country that today is one of the last remaining untouched areas on the continent.

During the summer of 1928, I had the good fortune to collaborate with Dr. A. R. Cahn of the Univ. of Ill on a parisitology [sic] investigation. We spent most of the summer in Ontario. We also made a survey of the birds of the Quetico. Since then, I have worked with Dr. Cahn on a number of similar problems. During the summer of 1927, I did some work in connection with Dr. Henry Ward of the Univ. of Ill and also with Mr. Harry Hanson of the Biological Survey. During all of the time I was guiding and during the school year as well, I have had a splendid opportunity of getting first hand information on field problems. According to Mr. King, the scholarship committee needed men who had had some preliminary scientific training, who were enthusiastic above all else and who had had much field experience. After both Mr. King and Mr. Grange of the U.S. Biological Survey who was with him at the time had outlined for me the opportunities in the game conservation field, I determined to write you at their suggestion and see if at this late date there might not still be an opportunity for me. All of my life with the exception of the years I put in down at the University has been spent in the woods or near enough so that it has always been possible for me to indulge myself in the study and observation of wild life.

I shall be interested in hearing from you and if you would like a personal conference, I should be glad to come down to Madison. I can furnish as references the following:

Dr. Alvin R. Cahn, Zoology Dept. Univ. of Ill. Urbana
Dr. Henry B. Ward
Dr. Chas. Bacon, Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago.
Dean R. Shumway - Dean of Jr. Colleges, Univ. of Minn.
Dean J. H. Santo, Jr. College, Ely, Minn.