I THE SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE
YoL22 No. 10 November 1994
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Bv Charles Bennett
rnest Thompson Seton was certainly one of
the most fascinating men in recent New Mex-
ico history. He was a man of many rare tal-
ents and causes. An enigmatic figure, Seton was a
Western-styled Renaissance man: a prolific author,
artist and illustrator, naturalist, popular lecturer
and a firm believer in a Utopian society free of war
and technology. He was branded a radical by some
people, and an eccentric genius by others.
He was born in 1860 in England to wealthy
parents who relocated to Canada in 1866. The fam-
ily settled in Lindsay, Ontario one of several fron-
tier townships established in the 1850s in the outly-
ing areas of upper Ontario. In England, Seton's
father had been a shipowner, but in Canada he envi-
sioned himself as a gentleman farmer, so the family
moved onto a pariially cleared 100 acre tract of
land.
As a youngster, Seton was exposed to the
woods and wild things at the farm in Lindsay where
he collected bird nests and eggs, and kept small ani-
mals as pets. He also thrilled to the tales of neigh-
bors who related stories of hunting Canadian big
game. After four years the family sold the farm and
moved to Toronto.
Early in his life, Seton decided to become a
naturalist; however, his strict father did not
approve. Consequently, after taking art lessons, he
worked as a portraitist's assistant and later enrolled
in the Ontario Art School. In 1879 he won a gold
THE SANTA FEAN II|AGAZINE, November 1994,27
Ernest Thompson Seton.
medal for his art, and as a reward his father sent
him to the prestigious Royal Academy of Art in
London.
' Seton made use of all the cultural amenities
of London: the London Zoo, the British Museum
and other great institutions, where he studied ani-
mal anatomy and the works of pioneer naturalists
like John J. Audubon, Thomas Nuttall, Henry David
Thoreau and others. But he longed for North
America, and decided to return to Canada shortly
thereafter, much to the chagrin of his father.
After his return from England, Seton traveled
to western Canada to help one of his brothers build
a house on land he had homesteaded. He spent the
winter of 1882-1883 there, experiencing sub-zero
temperatures and learning how to track animals
including wolves and foxes.
While he was diligently pursuing his undisci-
plined education in natural history, he worked as a
fine artist, magazine and book illustrator, and as a
commercial artist. In addition, he began to write
serious studies and stories about various animal
and bird species. Some of these were printed in
Canadian periodicals as early as February 1883.
During this period of his life he divided his time
between Manitoba, Toronto and New York. He was
deeply moved by Indians of various tribal affilia-
tions whom he had met in western Canada. He also
developed an affection for the wilderness. For him,
it had an innate morality that humankind should
 ember 1994, 28
emulate, not conquer and subjugate.
He went to Paris in the summer of 1890
where he attended art school, but again, he was
drawn baek to the wilds of North America. He
returned in 1892, with his artistic and writing skills
further honed and his years in Paris had shown him
his favorite mammal subject: the wolf.
Seton went to the American Southwest for
the first time in the fall of 1893, at the invitation of
an Englishman who owned a large ranch near Clay-
ton, New Mexico Territory. When he stepped off
the train in Clayton, the 33-year-old man began a
love affair with New Mexico that would never wane,
although he did not know it at the time.
Out on the ranch, Seton set about studying
Julia Seton with portrait of Seton.
the terrain and local fauna, and learning the ways of
the Southwestern cowboy. He had been retained by
his English ranch-owning friend to hunt the wolves
that were killing the cows and sheep. Seton saw
this as an opportunity to expand his knowledge of
wolves and other wildlife in a region of North
America that he had never seen.
Soon after his arrival in New Mexico, he heard
stories of a wolf pack led by a huge and cunning
wolf called Old Lobo by the area cowboys. There
was a big bounty for Old Lobo: over 1,000 dollars,
but all efforts to snare him had been in vain. Seton
resolved to be the one who would trap the king
wolf. The story of how he accomplished this, in
January 1894, remains one of the classic animal
tales of the Southwest. When Seton's narrative was
published in Scribner's Magazine in November
1894, it received worldwide attention. Even Leo
Tolstoy praised the story, as did other leading liter-
ary figures of the day.
In the summer of 1894, while on a ship bound
for Paris, Seton met Grace Gallatin, daughter of the
California financier Albert Gallatin. In Paris Seton
resumed his art studies and two years later, after he
returned to the United States, he and Grace were
married. The couple settled down on a counrry
estate in New Jersey, then moved to a fashionable
apartment on New York's Fifth Avenue. While liv-
ing in New York, Seton met Frederick Remington,
Theodore Roosevelt and other leading artists, natu-
ralists and wilderness advocates of the day.
By 1898 he was also a popular literary figure
of New York City, having just published his first
book, Wild Animals That I Haue Known to
widespread critical acclaim. Later that year he and
Grace made a trip to the Yellowstone area, where he
familiarized himself with the animals there.
Back in New York, he published his second
book in the summer of i899. The couple then
headed to western Canada. Moving down the west
coast, Seton gave talks in Washington, Oregon and
California, had a meeting with John Muir, visited
the Grand Canyon in Arizona Territory, then
returned to New York via Denver.
In 1900 the Setons bought several farms in
Connecticut and established an estate on them
named Wgndygoul, transforming the tract inio a
lake and woods where birds and animals could
thrive. Here Seton wrote, sketched, painted and
observed the local wildlife.
The first decade of the 2Oth century found
him at the height of his productive life. He had
written and illustrated some 12 major natural his-
tory books, had penned introductions and fore-
words to others, and had published more than 100
natural history articles in various journals and
magazines. He was also much in demand as a
speaker. While he could easily have rested on his
laurels and reaped the benefits of his numerous
royalties, he chose to explore new horizons.
Like his friend Theodore Roosevelt, Seton
believed that outdoor life built character, and fur-
ther, that physical fitness based on sports but
not team sports, which Seton detesied -
and rigor-
-
ous exercise, would revitalize the American charac-
ter. The place to start with this philosophy was
with the youth. He decided to teach America's
youth woodcraft skills so that they could learn the
personal independence of the frontier era, and
become reacquainted with pioneer ideals.
Seton is credited with having been one of the
harbingers of the youth movement in the early 20th
century. Using the American Indian as a model, he
urged in a book published in 1903 that young boys
be encouraged to join in giroups of what he called
"Woodcraft Indians." The Woodcraft Indians was
a THE SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE, November 1994,29
the first, and for a time the largest, of several youth
organizations to appear in the United States during
the Progressive Era designed to better the mental,
moral and physical development of boys, increase
their knowledge of the outdoors, and train them to
become responsible citizens.
Seton's Woodcraft Indians, later renamed the
Woodcraft League of America, never had the same
appeal in England as it did in North America. The
Boy Scout movement of England, founded by Sir
Rbbert S.S. Baden-Powell in 1908, was developed by
English veterans of the Boer War. The Boy Scout
movement subsequently caught on in the United
States, much to the disappointment of Seton, who
considered the movement too para-military. At this
juncture he de€mphasized his youth organization
work to resume writing, traveling, lecturing and
studying wildlife in various locales.
In late 1929 Seton purchased 2500 acres of
land about 7 miles southeast of downtown Santa
Fe. Seton chose this land in the hills along Arroyo
Hondo, for what he planned to be the "primitive
spiritual capital of nature in America." The Santa
Fe area was attractive to him for its special environ-
mental qualities, the fact that it was a visible sym-
bol of historic continuity and social integration,
and because of its proximity to the villages of the
Pueblo Indians. Here he would build a new center
of "spiritual refreshment for millions between the
ages of four and ninety-four," and a training center
for leaders of the outdoor movement.
A series of buildings was soon built around a
plaza and was named Seton Village. Several rail-
road cars were brought in and converted into guest
houses and the grounds were landscaped. As the
Great Depression settled over the country, this con-
struction provided employment for local Spanish
and Indian laborers.
Seton had apparently found his true niche in
the hills of Santa Fe. He told an associate that he
had experienced spiritual rejuvenation in Santa Fe
after a long struggle to shake off the early influence
of his strict Calvinist upbringing. Still a Canadian
technically, on November 6, 1931, he became a he was not getting an), younger, having turned 86
United States citizen.
The new facilities of Seton's "College of Indi-
an Wisdom" were officially opened in the summer
of 1932. Twenty-four people attended the first ses-
sion, and were housed in an Indian village Seton
had built consisting of tipis, wickiups and log cab-
ins, with a Pueblo kiva, a dining hall and a Navajo
hogan for an auditorium. Classes for this first insti-
tute, and subsequent institutes held over the next
ten years, were generally conducted outdoors and
included field trips. The courses were fully accred-
ited by the American Association of Colleges and
were taught by afaculty of 42.
Meanwhile, in late 1934, Seton and Grace
were divorced, and in January 1935, Seton married
his secretary of 15 years, Julia Moss Buttree. Julia
was also a gifted writer and had published Tfte
Rhythm ofthe Redman in 1930, a collection about
Indian dances from different tribes. Seton wrote
the preface, and illustrated the book. Julia also
wrote three other books and numerous articles. In
addition, she shared Seton's enthusiasm for
wildlife.
By 1940 Seton Village held 30 buildings. One
ofthese was Seton's personal residence. Called "the
castle," it contained 30 rooms in three stories
which included a library of 70,000 volumes. Con-
structed of adobe on a stone foundation, the central
portion of the house ran from east to west. It was
on a hill facing west, and looming over Seton Vil-
lage, it must have presented something of a feudal
appearance.
Seton's institute was conducted during the
summer months. Seton Village could accommo-
date 150 children and adults, providing a unique
educational experience in a novel setting for both
young and old. One year, 1938, student enrollment
was 176 with many more turned away.
While running his school, Seton used his
influence to advocate federal Indian reform legisla-
tion. He urgled his longtime friend John Collier,
federal commissioner of Indian affairs, to lobby
Congress to pass the Indian Reorganization Act of
1934. The provisions of this act reversed previous
legislation on the liquidation and allotment of Indi-
an lands, stressed tribal self-help and self-govern-
ment, established the Indian Arts and Crafts Board,
and reaffirmed Indian religious freedom, to name a
few of the measures contained in this important
^^+
dLL.
By 1942, the United States had entered World
War II; public attention shifted from the Indian lore
and harmony with nature messages that were
taught at the Santa Fe College of Indian Wisdom
and courses were suspended as the country plunged
into the war effort.
After the war, the Setons resumed their lec-
ture tours. His animal tales and Indian legends
captivated audiences throughout the country, but
years old in 1946. Nevertheless, he and Julia com-
memorated his birthday that year by addressing the
student body of the University of New Mexico on
the subject of the Indians of New Mexico. They also
made plans for a 10,000 mile speaking tour for the
fall and winter, but the tour would never material-
ize. Seton died in his castle on October 23,1946.
Seton Village was designated a National His-
toric Landmark in 1975. Most of Seton's memora-
bilia, artwork, books and natural history collections
were given by Julia to the Ernest Thompson Seton
Memorial Library and Museum, established in 1968
at the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch and Explorer
Base, near Cimarron, New Mexico. This unique
man, giifted with an unusual strength and under-
standing of nature, remains a folk hero to this day.