Dallas Lore Sharp (center) and two unidentified Audubon Game Wardens paddling in a canoe through the tules on Lower Klamath Lake, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0319.

Dallas Lore Sharp sitting in the tules with a Juvenile gull perched on his knee. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0358.

William Finley and Herman Bohlman did not act alone in their efforts to promote their message of conservation. They were part of a national network of scientists, nature writers, and concerned citizens who worked to educate Americans of the increasingly devastating impact over-hunting and habitat destruction had on bird populations.

In this month’s installment of the ongoing Reuniting Finley and Bohlman series we take a look at one of Finley and Bohlman’s most well known collaborations. In the summer of 1912 noted nature writer Dallas Lore Sharp and his family spent the summer touring Oregon with the pair, revisiting the sites made popular in their photography a decade before. The summer was significant as it was Finley’s first traveling the state as Oregon’s new Game Warden tasked with promoting new, stricter regulation on hunting and fishing. The summer was also the last time Bohlman would join Finley on an expedition.

Sharp wrote about his travels in his 1914 book, Where Rolls the Oregon. Filled with Sharp’s trademark turn-of-the-century florid writing, the book recounts his many adventures in the state and lauds Finley and Bohlman’s work in conservation. “Oregon, and the country as a whole,” Sharp declared, “owe Finley and Bohlman a large debt for what they have done to preserve wildlife.” [i]

Touring with Audubon Game Wardens in Eastern Oregon

Three men in a touring car driving across Alkali Flat on their way to inspect an egret colony near Silver Lake, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0160.

Dallas Lore Sharp and four unidentified Malheur Audubon wardens wading in the mud along the edge of Silver Lake, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0177.

The warden stood speechless at the sight of snow-white birds in the willows — they had been so nearly exterminated by the plumers, — and his wonder fell upon us all. [ii]

An egret in its nest near Silver Lake, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0200.

Bohlman and two unidentified Audubon wardens inside the Audubon Society’s patrol boat, The Grebe, with an American flag displayed at its stern. Taken on Lower Klamath Lake, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0269.

Dallas Lore Sharp on horseback in the Wallowa Mountains, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0610.

Camping on Three Arch Rocks

Herman Bohlman kneeling with his hat in his hand. A downy bird chick is perched atop the hat on Three Arch Rocks near Oceanside, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0827.

So we got over the rim along the south face of the cliff, up which we had climbed, and by rope descended to a small shelf under an overhanging ledge about forty feet above the waves. Here, protected from the northwest wind, and from much of the rain, we rolled up in our blankets, while night crept down upon us and out over the sea. [iii]

Dallas Lore Sharp, his son, Dallas Lore Sharp, Jr., and Herman Bohlman (lower right) standing on a small ledge on the side of Three Arch Rock. Their camp is anchored to the rocks in the center. Murres and other sea birds are perched en masse upon the rock. Near Oceanside, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0807.

A flock of cormorants and murres perched on the rocks and Three Arch Rocks near Oceanside, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0815.

Dallas Lore Sharp Jr. sitting with a downy chick perched on his knee on Three Arch Rocks near Oceanside, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0831.

Summiting Mount Hood

A group of four men including Dallas Lore Sharp (second from front) tethered together on their ascent of Mount Hood, Oregon, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0857.

Might one not need to climb Hood many times for the eyes to grow used to seeing and the soul to feeling such unwonted vastness of expanse, such unaccustomed and overwhelming depths? [iv]

Dallas Lore Sharp resting on a rock near the summit of Mount Hood, 1912. OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley B0864.

Learn More

To see more, be sure to check up on the Reuniting Finley and Bohlman Collection on Oregon Digital throughout the year as additional materials are uploaded.

This blog series is part of a yearlong partnership between the Oregon Historical Society Research Library and Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives to digitize the Finley and Bohlman photograph and manuscript collections held by our libraries and to unite them online through Oregon Digital and the OHS Digital Collections website. Stay tuned in coming months for future installments about Finley, Bohlman, and their birding adventures around the state.

This project is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library.

[i] Dallas Lore Sharp, Where Rolls the Oregon (Houghton Mifflin, 1914), viii.

[ii] Sharp, Where Rolls the Oregon, 74.

[iii] Sharp, Where Rolls the Oregon, 23.

[iv] Sharp, Where Rolls the Oregon 148.