ABSTRACT
Cities on the site of vanished forests, by contrast, erect stone palaces to house operatic, symphonic, dramatic, and dance companies and christen them as cultural centers. The native American races developed distinctive arts and crafts from the materials of their regions. All kinds of creative persons are forever seeking out the primeval as cultural resources to draw upon. For wilderness is a fundamental constituent of the national culture, an indigenous part of Americanism, bearing qualities that set it apart as a contribution to civilization. In Alaska the people created panoply of arts out of wood, feathers, minerals, shells, and ivory and, in the case of the Tlingit, were so richly endowed in wilderness resources, they felt compelled to give away their treasures at potlatch feasts. Wilderness destruction was profitable and prestigious, with speculation practiced by some of the very best people.
