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   If Will Dilg were alive today, he’d be deeply troubled by what is happening to the lands and waters we all love; he would “do something”. Will knew how to effectively “call a halt” when he saw something going wrong. He knew intuitively that like a forest under the axe or a prairie when plowed, a river when channelized or wetland when drained would be almost impossible to recover.

   Would he stand idly by if he saw our Minnesota shorelands being shredded by developers? Would he say nothing when industrial agriculture pollutes our lakes, streams and groundwater while driving smaller farmers broke? How about wake boats? Would he not be horrified at the damage these powerful toys do? And how about so many of our young people never learning the “awe” of nature and the joys of fishing or birding?

   As a Chicago-based liquor salesman in the early 1900s, Dilg had regularly vacationed on the Mississippi River below Winona. When Prohibition cost him his job, he lost everything and found himself and his small family living on a borrowed house boat on the river they loved. His connection to nature grew ever stronger as the river and bottomlands on either side provided not only solace for his depression but food for the family. They were deeply grateful and relished the fish and game they collected in addition to nuts and berries they found along the shores. Dilg’s wife would prepare meals over an open fire near the back of the moored houseboat as they came to more serene terms with their plight.

   When their only son drowned in the Mississippi, Will and his wife hated the river but only for a short time. They realized their loss was not the river’s fault. Johnnie had slipped away unnoticed from a community gathering to secretly go fishing in their favorite hole nearby. By the time they noticed his absence, it was too late. A neighbor found the boy’s lifeless body and brought him to the grieving Dilgs.

   Will’s grief ultimately fueled his passion to “do something” to ensure his and all future generations would have the opportunity his family had enjoyed on the river and in the surrounding bottom lands they came to cherish.

   When he found work in Chicago again, thoughts of his son and the beloved river were never far from his mind. The couple still returned to the river for vacations, but one day in his travels along the river he was horrified to see what was happening.

   He discovered a scheme was afoot to drain and dike off the bottomlands on both sides of the Mississippi River to make new farmland all the way from Lake Pepin in Minnesota, to Rock Island, Illinois - as the crow flies - more than three hundred miles. In fact, the lower river bottoms below Rock Island were already being drained and diked for this foolish purpose. The drainage history of the United States is mostly one long story of swindle. Every community in America has had sad experiences on the drained land because rivers ultimately do what rivers do. They reclaim what is theirs in the long run.

   It was Mark Twain who said, “A river never saw a man-made obstruction in its path which it would not tear down, dance over and laugh at,”

   What did Will Dilg Do?

   Immediately Dilg began crossing the country speaking, writing, and organizing to preserve 240,000 acres of upper Mississippi River bottomland and backwaters and prevent them from being diked and drained.

   Williamson H. Dilg (1869-1927) was the driving force behind the establishment of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge from north of Wabasha, Minnesota to Rock Island, Illinois. He was one of the most prominent voices for conservation and the environment in the 1920’s

   On June 7, 1924, just eleven months after his campaign began, the U.S. Congress authorized the Refuge. This was the first time in U.S. history that the federal government purchased large tracts of private lands for conservation and public use. Dilg and the groups he helped organize then moved on to other issues such as protecting the elk in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, strengthening migratory bird laws, and protecting the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota from exploitation by timber interests.

   So who was Will Dilg Anyway?

   Will Dilg did some really good things toward the end of his life, and he would have done more were his life not cut short by cancer at age 58. His efforts put him on par with Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Rachel Carson, all giants of early American conservation. Dilg was referred to by others as “a man of dauntless courage, persuasive eloquence, and inspiring zeal in the protection of fish and fishing”, and spent most of the final eleven months of his life in Washington, D.C. lobbying Congress and the Coolidge administration to establish a cabinet level “Department of Conservation.”

   So why have we never heard of him?

   Will Dilg and his outsized accomplishments have been largely neglected by recent historical writings, with a century of time to assist.  In the coming weeks more will be revealed about this man, just who he was and his accomplishments. In fact, plans are set to bring Will Dilg back to life in a series of “personal appearances”  in Walker (April 20), Park Rapids (April 21), and Detroit Lakes (April 22). Now we will be able to ask Will Dilg directly; “What would you do about the conservation issues of our day?”  Look for the showbills for this award-winning presentation around town and in the pages of the Press-Citizen.

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