Wallace Stegner makes this statement at the end of “Coda”, a letter included in his book The Sound of Mountain Water. In this letter Stegner asks David Pesonen, who was working on the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, to work to preserve what wilderness is left in the United States. In publishing the letter in this book, Stegner is arguing not only to Pesonen but to the American people that wilderness is a necessary part not just of the physical American landscape, but the emotional and social landscapes as well.

Throughout The Sound of Mountain Water Stegner relates his experiences traveling in the western United States, and in the second part reflects upon the ties of the western writer to history. This paper is mostly concerned with the first part of this book in which Stegner writes directly about his experiences with landscape. The book is a collection of writings that come from many different points in Stegner’s life, and therefore, throughout Part I of the book the reade

Wallace Stegner’s perspectives of the landscapes he knew and the issues involved with them were definitely shaped by his childhood. His earlier views reflect a common sentiment that most westerners felt at the time, one that saw the west as unlimited in its potential for human use. Stegner’s extensive traveling as a child probably furthered this view, but it also gave him a love for wild and lonely places which is the reason he became concerned with preserving them.

This is simply Stegner saying that while progress is fine and good, we must not forget the importance of the wilderness to humanity.

In “Coda” Stegner goes on to say that we must realize the wilderness not only in terms of economic resources but as a spiritual resource. He says that although progress has brought us material wealth it has also brought us spiritual losses by distancing us from the natural world. He is basically saying that wilderness has inherent value in its natural state, that without it “we are committed wholly, without chance for even momentary reflection and rest, to a headlong drive into our technological termite-life, the Brave New World of a completely man-controlled environment (147).” Man, Stegner seems to be saying, is just as much a part of the environment as any other creature and he needs to realize that, along with physical and economic needs, the environment fulfills spiritual needs which cannot be acquired anywhere else. Even if a person does not directly use this wilderness, the idea of it can bring him solace and comfort from his hectic life.

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